So What’s Radio’s Future in a World of Streaming? Five Radio Execs Discuss
From Billboard:
Relying on research or your own ears; syncing the pulse of a local community with the talk of the Internet — today’s radio insiders have the gargantuan task of pleasing a diverse audience of 243 million listeners a week (91 percent of all Americans 12 or older, according to Nielsen) while facing an uncertain future.
The business generates steady revenue — in 2013, year-over-year terrestrial revenue held flat at $14.3 billion, with online growing 14 percent to $570 million. But the arrival of Pandora, Spotify and YouTube in a market where traditional broadcasters and digital pioneers were already elbowing for space has upped the ante, bringing ancillary businesses like concerts and TV programming into the mix.
What’s the plan for the digital media age? For the participants of Billboard’s radio roundtable — Charlie Walk, executive vp of Republic Records; Tom Poleman, president of national programming platforms for iHeartMedia; Michael Martin, senior vp programming and music initiatives at CBS Radio; Steve Blatter, senior vp/GM of music programming at Sirius XM; and Anya Grundmann, executive director of NPR Music — the battle to connect is well underway.
Ugh.
The difference between the NPR exec, and all the others- beyond disappointing. It’s so hopeless for commercial radio to read that crap from the people in charge.