Summary
As with other mediums, revenue is down but radio is far from out of business. New technologies and a return to localism will help.
Analysis
Seems it's now popular to kick radio while its down, but the smart money knows radio has a good chance of coming back. Wasn't it newsppaers that lost touch with their audience by minimizing local coverage in favor of less expensive news services? Radio has always maintained a one-to-one relationsip with listeners and advertisers, as a medium it too has fallen into the "less is more" trap. In this case it's not the Clear Channel commercial length solution but rather getting away from its roots,bringing local news and relevant information to listeners. We're not going to see the return of high priced on-air personalities but let's make radio what it once was, user friendly for advertisers and a best friend of listeners. Yes, technology will give broadcaster more frequencies and channels, the key is how are they going to use them. If it's more of national rather local programming it won't matter how many channels they broadcast on, it will still add up yo less rather than more relevance to listening audience. Advertisers always appreciated the implied endorsements of on-air talent, perhaps a return to that can help server all masters.
