On September 7, 1979, The Buggles released their newest single, Video Killed the Radio Star. Two years later it ushered in a new era of music, being the first music video aired on MTV at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981. Fast forward for July 27, 2010 when The Limousines CD "Get Sharp" debuted. On it, a track called Internet Killed the Video Star became a hit among the electro-pop communities. Both tracks bring up how music has changed over the years, both in style and the public's tastes and opinion. To parallel this, in the past 10 years, media has similarly seen a shift when it comes to traditional radio. Its normal for ingenuity to breed change, and radio has been no stranger to that fact, though the evolution has made outstanding jumps in just the past 10 years, from AM and FM to XM and HD and more recently to .com.
In January of 2000, Pandora Radio was launched. With it came the rock that shattered the glass house on how people listened to music. With Pandora, people could get their hands on the dials and control what they listened to. No more commercials every other song. No more talk shows they cared nothing about. Just the music they wanted to hear, when they wanted it. After going public in June of 2010, Pandora decided it was time to reinvent themselves. What became was a new pandora for all. With the new update, Pandora put its hat into the social media realm, allowing listeners to share what they were listening to and connect to others with similar interests. How this this work out for Pandora? In the article Pandora Hits 100 Million Registered Users from July of 2011, it shows some information from the SEC Filings for Pandora in 2010. By the end of the year Pandora boasted a 2.3% share of ALL radio listening. Where do they stand now? 3.6% share of total radio listeners and as of Pandora's Annual Financial report released in March of 2012, boasts about 69% of all internet radio listening on their site. With resources like Pandora, what is traditional radio doing to survive? Everything it can.
If you turn on the radio to your favorite station, you will now hear a number of things that were not there 10 or 15 years ago. The key difference now? Internet. Shows and hosts all now have websites specifically for themselves, many of which offer the ability to listen to the show streaming as its happening, some even letting you listen to segments you may have missed throughout the day. In addition, traditional radio has embraced the power of the people and made the move to harness social media. Every day contests are run that require you to no longer call in, but to comment or follow on Twitter, Like on Facebook, or +1 on Google Plus. In introducing themselves, shows and hosts seem to have acquired an addition to their names. For instance, when radio celebrity Jason Ellis of Radio faction of SiriusXM introduces himself, not only is he Jason Ellis, but also @ellismate. Traditional radio is doing everything it can to connect to its fans, especially when it comes to the local fans. Hosts are regularly updating fans of their social media personalities with local events like concerts or other special functions, stuff they would not have time to mention on the air. Despite the power of internet local radio is still a necessity. You would not listen to a New York station for weather in Georgia. Nor would you listen to a California based station for when The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing in Atlanta. Where is Local Radio Surviving? points out exactly this, the decline in local radio is a boon on radio, and services like Pandora will continue this trend of declining local radio.
Traditional radio seems to have decided not to fight the internet counterparts though, instead joining with them. People like the internet, they want it, its natural human nature to embrace the new. It seems in an attempt to survive the internet blitzkrieg, traditional radio has jumped aboard and is hoping to co-exist with its usurper. In last years Radio Advertising Bureau Revenue Report for Q3, the RAB points out that traditional radio is no longer in a decline. In fact it has shown marked growth in nearly all its sectors for the past 7 quarters. Interestingly enough, the sector with the largest growth is its digital, which encompasses the internet. Clear Channel stepped up to the plate in 2008 when it decided to unleash its "Pandora Killer": IHeartRadio. Originally just a website, much like Pandora in its early years, Clear Channel's brain child to compete with the internet wave quickly grew into a solid competition with Pandora. It has everything Pandora has, custom play lists based on genre or other tags associated with the music, ability to share with friends, but IHeartRadio has something Pandora does not, more than 850 somethings to be exact- traditional radio stations. Clear Channel brought its horde of stations online with the service allowing people to listen in anywhere, any time. This will be the big battle, the one to decide how traditional radio will progress in the future, a paradigm shift according to Clear Channel versus Pandora and What The Iheartradio Coming Out Party Really Means. The Clear Channel CEO Robert Pittman does not seem afraid to "toot his own horn" about their new service either.
It is possible that traditional radio could soon see an end to how it functions now, but it is clear that they are fighting for their position with every thing they have. While internet radio provides a lot of convenience and niche programming, there is still something to be said about the personalities involved with traditional radio and the necessity for local programming as well.
