Friday, April 9, 2010

Terrestrial Radio Is Losing The Smartphone Race

(Weekend Edition)

Terrestrial radio's bread-and-butter listening sources are divided between in-car, out-of-home (or in-office) and in-home (Internet streaming included). When it comes to what is quickly becoming a major source of listening - smartphones, terrestrial radio is trailing far behind, especially with smartphone and iPod Touch users. According to a new study by digital research company Vision Critical, 31% of respondents have listened to Internet radio or a music streaming service on their device in the past week. Among U.S. adults who have listened to online-only radio in the past month, Pandora owns 42% of the music-source audience with Rhapsody (6%), last.fm (5%) and Yahoo (5%) taking up the rear. Only 19% reported listened to an AM or FM station. Those are U.S. figures. It's an entirely different story in Canada and the U.K...

Radio is king on smartphones and iPod Touch in both Canada and England with 14% and 31% of the audience, respectively for one reason and one reason alone - Pandora is not legally available in either country. That's how big Pandora has become in the U.S. Vision Critical senior VP Jeff Vidler says this about the results of his study: "This speaks to the kind of transformational impact that Pandora is having in the U.S. marketplace. It's no coincidence that the one market where we see web-only services trump broadcast radio on smartphone apps is the only jurisdiction where Pandora is legally available." Vidler also issues a warning to U.S. broadcasters...

Vidler's message is something we've been preaching for a long time now. " (The results) speak to the need for U.S. broadcasters to step up to the plate with their own streaming apps before Pandora owns the distribution channel." Does that sound familiar???

10 Timeline Memories:

1.1912] Play Ball: The 1st exhibition game is played at Fenway Park with the Sox beating Harvard 2-0 in a game played in the snow (4/9)...
2.1912] Where did you say the lifeboats are?: The Titanic sets sail on its ill-fated maiden voyage from Southampton, England (4/10)...
3.1924] Debuted on this date: WLS Chicago signs on (4/11)...1962] The New York Mets make their National League debut with an 11-4 loss in St. Louis (4/11)...
4.1947] Breaking the color barrier: 28-year old Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player to be signed by a major league team when Dodger President Branch Rickey signs Jackie to a contract at the team's Montague Street executive offices in Brooklyn (4/10). All Jackie will do is guide the Dodgers to 7 pennants and a World Series victory (1955) in his 10 years in Brooklyn...
5.1963] Cape Cod Tragedy: 129 die as the nuclear powered submarine USS Thresher fails to surface off Cape Cod (MA) (4/10)...
6.1974] Chicken is hatched: College student Ted Giannoulas answers a radio station ad for a mascot in San Diego and becomes the 'San Diego Chicken' (4/9)...
7.1988] Oscar time: Cher wins the 'Best Actress' Oscar for her role in "Moonstruck" (4/11)...
8.1992] Adios: Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega is convicted in Miami of 8 drug and racketeering charges and is sentenced to 30 years in prison (4/9)...
9.1996] Tragedy in the sky: 7-year old Jessica Dubroff, who was trying to become the youngest person to fly cross-country is killed with her father and flight instructor after taking off from Cheyenne (WY) (4/11)...
10.2003] Off his pedestal: Today was the day that that Saddam Hussein statue came down in downtown Baghdad as Iraqis celebrated the collapse of his regime (4/9)...

Music Memories:


"Happy Birthday...happy birthday": (4/9) "The Cosby Show"'s Keshia Knight Pulliam (31), Cynthia Nixon (44), Jeff Zucker (45), Dennis Quaid (56), Peter Gammons (65),"The Waltons" Michael Learned (71) and Playboy publisher and founder Hugh Hefner (84)...(4/10) Haley Joel Osment (22), Mandy Moore (26), Peter MacNicol (57), Steven Seagal (59), "Dandy" Don Meredith (72), Original Spinner Bobbie Smith (74), John Madden (74), Omar Sharif (78), Max von Sydow (81) and Harry ("Dragnet" & "M*A*S*H") Morgan (95)...(4/11) Joss Stone (23), Jason Varitek (38), Bill Irwin (60), Peter Riegert (63), Louise Lasser (71), Joel Grey (78), Ethel Skakel Kennedy (82) and former NY Gov. Hugh Carey (91)...

Timeline Countdown: 13 days until NFL Draft, 22 days until the Kentucky Derby, 30 days until Mother's Day and 52 days until Memorial Day...