Radio Ink - Radio's Premier Management & Marketing Magazine

SAN JOSE -- February 10, 2009: Kurt Hanson kicked off the "Interactive Strategies of Radio Companies" session at Radio Ink's Convergence '09 Tuesday with his annual roundup on the future of radio, and, he said, "Things are getting clearer every year." Though he believes broadcast radio is in trouble on many fronts, including falling stocks and the prospect of performance royalties, Accuradio CEO Hanson said, "Radio is on the cusp of its fourth Golden Age." The early days of radio, the Top 40 era of the late '60s and early '70s, the '80s surges in AM talk and FM music were the first three, and the fourth, he said, will be the era of Internet radio.

But Internet radio does require a different business model than broadcast, Hanson noted -- a global model rather than local, with low fixed costs and royalties making the variable costs higher. "Innovation and risk-taking are required," he said.

During the panel, Emmis Interactive co-President Rey Mena said that at his company, "We've taken a contrary view to the issue of streaming being the growth area." Instead, Mena said, Emmis Interactive looks at higher engagement and moving into the "many-to-many" Internet relationship, with feedback mechanisms to build a sense of community. On the advertising side, the company looked at all the channels for different value propositions. "We're in the relationship business," Mena said.

Salem SVP/Interactive Media Rick Killingsworth said Salem took a national approach with its websites years ago and now has a dozen national website brands, with about $20 million in combined revenue. Killingsworth did say he finds it frustrating that Salem has built great sites for most of its brands, "but they don't get the traffic." He added that a good site is necessary -- but said, "If that's your sole digital strategy, then you're in big, big trouble."

Mena said later that it's a myth that radio salespeople can't sell multiple platforms. In fact, he said, online can "revitalize" a sales staff. Mena and Killingsworth agreed that advertisers are looking to online advertising for measurability; Killingsworth said, "The accountability issue is the reason the Internet is picking up steam and taking some dollars from other media. It's not because it's cool and new."