Seismic Shifts Remake the Radio Industry

[Commentary] There is a tectonic shift undermining the very foundation of broadcast radio. Multiple metrics make it clear that serious threats imposed on the FM/AM platform by new online competitors are escalating exponentially. As change happens all around them, radio broadcasters tout the health of their business and how the competitive threat of Internet rivals is overstated.

I understand the need to present their case to advertisers. But their sales narrative, an echo chamber of their own making, cements complacency and fosters lack of innovation. A new Edison research study warns that among the six most common places where listeners consume audio media, broadcast radio dominates in just two of them (in a car, at home); is tied with Internet radio for two (at work, on public transportation); and is defeated by Internet radio in two (while working out, while walking around). Another red flag in the study for broadcasters is that 50 percent of at-work listeners who listen to Internet-radio-only stations/services (that is, stations/services that don’t broadcast on FM/AM) have replaced their FM/AM listening time with Internet-radio-only stations/services.

[Paul Goldstein is an award-winning audience development executive]