The Death of Radio: I just completed a great article in The New York Times that shared that Clear Channel Communications, the nation's largest radio station chain, is looking to start selling off their stations. The reason is that Abitron has just released the last ratings sweep and found a 14% drop in listeners over the previous year. The reasons were that people are getting their music elsewhere, primarily here on the Internet. The ubiquotous iPod also had some accounting for the drop. It seems to me that here in the office I can get great streaming jazz (currently streaming www.SKY.FM - absolutely smooth jazz), and at home I can slow the tempo even more with some mellow jazz or kick it up with some House Trance. If I am in the mood to listen to some great contemporary Christian music I can listen to WayFM online, because their signal drops in and out at home. But online they are terrific. I live in the country, so if I want to listen to news that is a little deeper than hog futures or the price of burley at the next auction I need to surf. So, I can listen to Rush or Sean Hannity for talk, WLS (Chicago) or WABC (New York) for some real news. Even in my commutes I am usually seen with ear buds listening to some MP3s or an audio book.

So is it a bad thing that radio is about to die? Not really, and it may not have to be terminal. We wouldn't have XM, MP3s, or streaming music if radio had not laid the foundation. But in business you have to remain relevant and radio hasn't really done a good job with that. Pretty soon someone is going to figure a way to turn radio around again and then all of those smart guys who bought up the Clear Channel castoffs are going to be rich.