Advertising Age explores how new phone technology could do to radio what the Internet has done to newspapers and television: chew away at core audiences.
Until now, radio has been less affected by changing technology, but other technologies are moving in. The article said:
While TV and print have been hemorrhaging, radio has remained more resilient in the digital age. It reaches 93 percent of the population for 18.5 hours per week, according to Arbitron. This is only down from 22 hours per week 10 years ago. The U.S. -- despite rising fuel prices -- remains a car culture. We live in our automobiles, and radio still rules here, despite the iPod invasion.
This, in part, is because radio serves as a powerful discovery engine for new music. However, the medium today is one-way. That's about to change thanks to sophisticated mobile devices. The broadband-connected cell phone turns this experience into one that harnesses crowds to become far more personalized. All you need to do to see this yourself is to buy an iPhone and download some of the free streaming audio applications, such as Pandora and Last.fm.
The iPhone 3G and other smart phones like it will change how people access and interact with audio. Already, the Pandora music-discovery service is the fourth-most-popular application in the iTunes store. And bloggers such as
Jeff Jarvis say they believe it will disrupt radio.
