Radio roadkill

Will Net car radios squash traditional broadcasters flat?

By Damien Cave

Jun 6, 2000 | Driving in my car, I turn on the radio, and like Bruce Springsteen (who penned that line), I'm on fire. Sure, it's 4 a.m. and the Wyoming grasslands lolling by my window make me want to sleep but my Internet radio is tuned to a samba station in Rio de Janeiro and I feel like I could drive forever. OK, this is still just a dream, but before long you will be able to tune in your hometown station from a car on the other side of the globe or sit through your daily rush hour while listening to an Argentine tango station or the jazz of WWOZ in New Orleans from wherever you live.

By next year, a few American cars, including some Lincolns, will roll out of the factory with Web-radio devices already installed. And Motorola expects to install its "iRadio," a wireless Web connection for cars, in some European autos in 2001. Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio are developing in-car devices that by next year should offer up to 100 radio channels each, and Aram Sinnreich, an analyst with Jupiter Communications, expects several other companies, like the General Motors subsidiary OnStar and the wireless audio on-demand service Command Audio, to add Internet radio capabilities to their dashboard devices.

What do these devices mean for traditional broadcasters? Will Internet radio -- a term that refers to traditional radio stations that stream their programming online, as well as stations programmed by amateurs or even yourself at sites like SonicNet or Shoutcast -- give independent and alternative stations a leg up? With Internet radio on the brink of having the freedom to travel wherever you do, broadcasters big and small are looking pretty closely at "the future."

"It's going to be a whole new ballgame," says David Freedman, general manager of WWOZ. His station counts about 50,000 listeners to its traditional broadcasts, and 50,000 listeners online; it has not determined how many of its fans listen via both methods, but Freedman is certain the station's Web presence has enlarged its audience. Soon it could go further. Freedman expects small, focused stations to become "international phenomena," partnering with companies, listeners and bands outside their cities, states and countries to create concerts, festivals and CDs.

"It's an incredible fit for us," he says. "In this new medium -- where there's unlimited spectrum -- people like us, people who know what they're about; they have some interesting possibilities."

Of course, traditional radio also "considers the Web an opportunity," says Dana McClintock, vice president of communications for CBS, the parent company of Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates Howard Stern and owns 163 stations including KROQ in Los Angeles and WXRK in New York. "It's like anything else; there's constant fragmentation. If you keep up with the times, and if you're adaptable, you'll succeed."

But we've heard this rosy outlook before. And while it's fun to give such scenarios a test run, to speculate about whether small stations will kill off the larger competition, it's much too early to predict our culture's station-surfing habits. What we do know is that the economics of Web streaming show that both sides have obstacles to face; and while small and big stations alike try to figure out how to make Web radio profitable, listeners should face the welcome challenge of deciding which of the myriad stations available strikes their fancy.

A "second heyday" for radio is imminent, says Joan Fitzgerald, director of marketing for Arbitron, which measures radio audiences. "We're going to see tremendous growth in streaming media usage in the next two years."

Next Page: Now, how will Web radio make money?

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