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'Audio Content Is Expanding Everywhere You Look'
ATLANTA -- February 12, 2008: In his second State of the Industry address as CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau, Jeff Haley this morning kicked off the first full day of the annual RAB conference by urging the industry to move aggressively on rollout of digital platforms that can expand radio's reach.
"New distribution channels expand radio's ability to meet consumer demand for our content where they want it, and when they want it," Haley said. "Radio is uniquely positioned to do this because radio is the only medium that does not change its form when you move from channel to channel. Print and video are different experiences when they move from digital -- radio is not. The Rolling Stones still sound like the Rolling Stones, no matter the channel."
To illustrate his point, Haley cranked up audio from several sources; his laptop -- which was streaming RAB Radio, the group's online stream of selected conference sessions -- an IP radio that was tuned in to a local Atlanta station, and also a Microsoft Zune MP3 player, which was using a built-in FM receiver. In fact, Haley asserted that MP3 players' future depend on radio.
"The Zune has an FM receiver because a Microsoft product study found that 46 percent of Zune owners listen to the radio receiver function at least once a week," he said. "And the radio feature has higher-than-average importance to Zune owners, scoring 8 out of 9 points." Haley also noted that in a product feasibility study, Microsoft found that 74 percent of respondents listed radio as their primary source for new music, leading online (31 percent) and in-store (8 percent). "The long-term success of an MP3 player requires users to continue to source and use new music," he said. "Without new music, the player becomes stale and irrelevant, relegating the MP3 to just one more fad. FM radio will definitely drive the success of the MP3 player."
He noted, however, that radio's future is also linked to MP3 players, over 100 million of which are in U.S. consumers' hands. "What would it mean for our business if all of those players featured access to radio content?"
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