Rebuttal: To Media Life Magazine's Interview with Talkers Magazine

Today Media Life Magazine posted an interview with Talker Magazine publisher Michael Harrison. The interview revolves around the coming year in radio. The parts of the interview that addresses satellite radio are mostly negative in outlook.

Rad Sat Daily would like to address excerpts of the interview made by Talker Magazine publisher Michael Harrison.

Below are the comments from the interview that pertain to satellite radio that we would like to rebut:

How is new technology influencing radio?

The new technology was one of the major influences of radio dealing with the internet before the recession, and now it’s being sped up. The new technology is not providing talk radio with as much competition as it is enhancement. That enhancement is applied on the internet.

The idea that radio stations can now offer multiple channels and more in-depth coverage, and also unlimited advertising inventory via the internet, is an incredibly liberating aspect to this new era.

Radio’s no longer limited to its local region, its power on the dial limited to only one channel. The idea of each station having its own media station component is even superseding HD [high-definition] radio, which at one time everyone thought was the answer.

We’re also seeing a continued devaluation of the broadcast license. So I think in 2009 we’re going to see the continuation of the era of deconsolidation, and the bright spot is there will hopefully be fresh money and a new enthusiasm about radio and radio programming on the part of new owners.

It’s amazing that parts of terrestrial radio are still not on the internet. Terrestrial radio has been by nature very slow to move to new technologies. There are certain terrestrial radio stations that to this day can not be listened to on the internet. I must point out that satellite radio is already on the internet in the form of Sirius Internet Radio and XM Radio Online. Though people do not like to admit it, Inherently those two services make satellite radio a subset of internet radio. Currently, those two satellite radio based internet services are paid services but there is nothing to prevent satellite radio to make a portion of that service free in the future.

Will Sirius/XM finally emerge as a viable challenger, or is it still struggling from the merger and the economy?

I think Sirius/XM will sink like the setting sun. And it has nothing to do with their programming, it’s about the platform.

First of all, the idea of having to provide this type of programming to a special appliance, a special radio, is not convenient or economically efficient. It can be done on the internet and people know it, it’s just a matter of when the internet is all over place, including in cars, which is happening rapidly.

Their major strength was the car, and the car is not strong right now. So their problems have only been multiplied and intensified.

"A special radio" as Michael calls it, is currently being factory or optionally installed by every automobile company across the Continental United States. It's not just an idea, it is happening. Additionally, satellite radio is a part of internet radio. Application developers are working hard daily to take advantage of the internet radio service being exposed by satellite radio. It will be a significant amount of time before the internet is everywhere. Also, realize that if internet radio was everywhere "A special radio" would need to be created to factory or optionally install it in every automobile across the United States.

Howard Stern recently hinted that he may retire soon. How would that impact satellite, if at all?

Sure, Howard Stern is still an attraction, and if he leaves that’s one less attraction. He won’t be the main catalyst to anything for satellite, but it’s another significant element, so it doesn’t bode well.

Howard Stern has already been the catalyst for satellite radio. He has taken a company Sirius that had 600,000 plus subscribers and made them into a 20 million subscriber organization. Howard Stern is probably the biggest catalyst to the Sirius XM merger. No other individual in radio could have done what he accomplished for Sirius Satellite Radio. Sirius Satellite Radio may not exist today if it wasn't for Howard Stern.

Read the full Media Magazine Interview with Talkers Magazine here.

Terrestrial Radio and others currently rejoices over the current financial state of satellite radio but the book is not finished yet. Only time will tell.

Source - Media Life Magazine