Sometimes it's amazing how little these people get it when it comes to the future of radio. Jeff Smulyan, chairman and CEO of Emmis Communications, was quoted in Hollywood Reporter: "No one has ever made a penny, anywhere in the world, on subscription-based radio."

Spare me your poisonous barbs! Please, it's not that XM and SIRIUS aren't making money, they just haven't reached CFBE yet. No biggy, wait a year there Jeff.

He goes on to say, "This doesn't mean that Sirius and XM won't make it. ... But even if you take the most wildly enthusiastic estimations of their penetration, they will reach 30 million Americans in the next five years, 40 million. Radio ... will probably still reach 275 million people a week."

I love the spin, as those numbers are not nearly as wildly enthusiastic as he makes them out to be (55 million according to Jupiter Research). But whatever, play your game. If terrestrial radio is truly reaching the 275 million people a week - which, ahem, is based upon Arbitron's wildly enthusiastic "extrapolation" numbers - then realize they're not as captive an audience as satellite radio. Soon, advertisers won't care about your big numbers.

See, advertisers want a captive audience - not necessarily a huge audience - because throwing money at the wall just doesn't cut it anymore. The numbers game is dying, and it will be all about verticals very soon. The world of media is changing: DVRs and VoD are threatening the 30-second spot, blogs and consumer media are threatening mainstream media, and yes satellite radio is threatening the radio landscape.

Come talk to us in five years, see how much you're laughing then.

[PaidContent] 

HD Radio is commercial radio's big gun when it comes to war against satellite radio, and today it was announced that Bonneville, Citadel, Clear Channel, Cumulus, Emmis, Entercom, Greater Media and Infinity will band together to form the new "HD Digital Radio Alliance" (cue Starwars music)

Together, this brave band of crusaders will battle the evil of satrad as one! They have agreed on HD Radio "standards" such as what to name multicasted stations ("HD-2") and how much money to spend against the cruel satellite radio empire ($200 Million). And they also have named a fearless leader: Peter Ferrara will be President/CEO of the Alliance.

[Inside Radio] 

You'll recall back in the beginning of November, XM Satellite Radio started broadcasting it's Highway 16 country music channel on NYC's terrestrial station WNYE 91.5FM. Well, now they're expanding this project through December 14th.

Each day, WNYE will play programming from a different XM Satellite Radio channel including XM's Oldies, Country and Modern Rock programming. NYC currently has no oldies, country or modern rock stations.

I wonder what this is all about?

[FMQB] 

So you wanna hear how Terrestrial Radio is trying to duke it out with Satellite Radio? Just listen to the ad spots yourself:

• Baseball :30
• Heavy Metal :30
• Leading Man :30
• Lewd Act :30
• Steroids :30
• Traffic :30
• Weather :30

I love these! Perfectly highlighting that satellite radio has compelling sports, music, news, traffic and weather advisories. Great stuff, thanks.

[NAB]

Clear Channel said at the Reuters Advertising and Media Summit that they're planning on offering local radio services, like traffic and weather data, to cellphones as early as 2006.

John Hogan, Chief Executive of Clear Channel Radio, they're in talks with all the top U.S. mobile services and might run tests for local cellular radio services with the goal to begin offering the service next year.

This is the first good idea from them that I've seen in a long time. HD Radio sure isn't going to cut it, regardless of whatever big announcement is coming next week. 

[Reuters]