Bridge Ratings has released a survey that outlines the effect of digital media on terrestrial radio listening. The results are broken down on overall listenership, and then broken down by format. Overall, Internet radio caused the most amount of loss, with Satellite Radio coming in at #2. Here's the breakdown:

Satellite Radio caused 36% of respondants to listen to less traditional radio, while 23% actually listened to more radio and 41% said it had no effect. Overall, satellite radio caused a -12% loss in listening to traditional radio.

When broken down by format, here's how satellite radio listeners responded when compared to :

Time Spent with Various Media Persons 15-64

[More on FMQB]

Just as we thought, the NAB stirred the FM Modulator pot with their own testing so they could go crying to the FCC. Surprise surprise. This from Billboard Radio Monitor:

[...] NAB spokesperson Dennis Wharton says, “Our tests showed that 13 of the 17 wireless devices (76%) exceeded field strength limits set by the FCC. Six of those devices exceeded the FCC field limit by 2,000%. One device transmitted a signal that was 20,000% stronger than allowed by FCC rules. Many of the devices also transmitted signals that were substantially wider in bandwidth than permitted by the FCC, resulting in potential interference to 1st and 2nd adjacent channels as well.”

The NAB has sent letters to both FCC chairman Kevin Martin as well as Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens and co-chairman Daniel Inouye notifying them of the results.

If they spent this much time on creating innovative programming, they'd have masterpieces.

Mark Ramsey of Hear 2.0 is suggesting it just might be. He considers the fact that Howard Stern is now streaming online to be a pivotable moment for Sirius Satellite Radio as a company - transforming them from a company that sells radios to one that sells content.

Instead of the "pain" the customer feels of having to plunk down cash for a receiver, now subscribing to Sirius is "as easy as buying a book on Amazon." According to Ramsey, the online streaming alone will again re-ignite the subscription flame and send the hoards running towards Sirius with credit cards in hand.

Now, I'd love for Mark's scenario to come true though honestly I don't think it would happen. He's making it a bit bigger of a deal than it really is. But hey, he's trying to make a point here. Stern is online now and there's one less barrier of entry to listen to him. The Radio itself. Will it drive more Stern fans to subscribe? Maybe, but it's not like Sirius was advertising "Howard Stern is coming... all over America (but not online)." Instead I think it's an added benefit for current subscribers, and probably will drive WoM from subscribers to non-subscribers.

But back to the Radio itself. Is the satellite radio receiver yet another hurdle for adoption? Or maybe the receivers are still just too complicated (Bob Lefsetz's biggest complaint) for Joe Sixpack to give a shit about it?

One of the advantages that terrestrial has - other than being free to listen to - is that the AM/FM radio is ubiquitous. They're EVERYWHERE and for the most part are SIMPLE to use. Yet satellite radios need to be setup with suction cups and vent clips and long wires and antennas that need to be pointed in wacky directions. Imagine Joe Sixpack's surprise when he buys a "plug and play" receiver, only to realize that it has no speakers?

Yes, Mark's point here is that terrestrial needs to stop looking at HD Radio to solve their problems, and instead look at their weakness (content). But the message applies right back to satellite, only we should look at our own weakness (complexity). Because in order to listen to all that great content, the consumer still needs to know how to turn the radio on.

[Hear 2.0]

With local television stations carrying only 23% of MLB games now - with a total of seven major-legue teams being exclusive on cable - some feel that the same result is inevitable for radio. Edison Media Research's President Larry Rosin said to the WSJ, "it is probably inevitable that baseball radio broadcasts will go to a 100% subscription model... It will happen because there's too much money in it not to do it."

That could spell real good news for XM Satellite Radio as they will hold the exclusive rights to all major-league baseball games for over-the-air broadcasts. The MLB's own online subsription Internet radio, MLB Radio, will undoubtedly benefit as well.

And since revenue between XM Radio and MLB Radio is split evenly among the 30 teams, there's an added financial driver to make this happen. With already 23% of XM subscribers signing on primarily to hear the MLB, the revenue driven (and shared) due to exclusivity would make dropping terrestrial radio the inevitable future.

[Wall Street Journal (subscription req'd) via Inside Radio] 

This Father's Day, Broadcasting & Cable gives us an extremely indepth interview with "The Godfather" of Sirius Satellite Radio, Mel Karmazin. Mel pulls no punches in this interview, starting off with some nasty comments about the NAB, in respoinse to their recent complaint to the FCC to include satellite radio in indecency regulations.

"I'm a little embarrassed to see where the NAB is today," said Mel Karmazin in the interview.

It goes on to talk about Janet Jackson and current state of indecency in America, the "big four" in Radio come 2007 (and that would be, Sirius, XM, Clear Channel and CBS Radio), Sirius' stock, and that's just half of it.

Definitely worth the read.  

[via GSI]
Thanks Todd!

It's not a good day for earthly radio. Not only are indecency fines now 10 times more expensive, but they're also getting slapped around by Eliot Spitzer for pay-for-play charges.

George W. Bush has signed into law legislation that increases the fines $32,500 to $325,000 per violation. And of course, the NAB has to whine a bit more by stating: "If there is regulation, it should be applied equally to cable and satellite TV, and satellite radio."

Meanwhile, with EMI settling with Spitzer over payola charges, this marks the third record label in recent months who has admitted to essentially bribing radio stations to give artists airtime. Some EMI artists who have benefited from the payola scheme include the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Norah Jones, and Gorillaz.

As a result, EMI has agreed to the immediate cessation of payments and other inducements to radio stations, discontinuance of independent promoters as a pass-through for securing airplay, hiring of a compliance officer to monitor promotion practices, and implementation of an internal system to detect any future abuses.

[via Radio Ink & FMQB] 

HD Radio has a dirty little secret. No, it's not the fact that it doesn't actually stand for "high definition" radio (it doesn't), though that alone illustrates the level of dignity behind the technology.

Nope, the dirty little secret is that HD Radio's coverage is far less than regular analog radio. About 60% of analog radio's reach even.

I'll quote Robert Conrad, respected owner of WCLV-FM, courtesy of Audiographics:

We were told back in the beginning that the HD coverage would be equal to the analog signal. Unfortunately, the industry is now finding out this is not the case, that the HD coverage is considerably less, something like 60% of the analog coverage. We've also found that even in a strong HD signal area, a dipole antenna is required.

We were also told that the HD would lessen interference with adjacent channel signals. That also appears not to be the case.

This is really very discouraging and is leading us to wonder why we should bother to promote HD. To do so will only disappoint, and, perhaps, antagonize a significant segment of the audience who finds that the system doesn't deliver.

That means that if you buy an overpriced HD Radio unit, you may not be able to listen to the same station that you heard advertising the benefits of HD Radio in the first place. Youch.

NAB Chairman/CEO David Rehr recently sent a letter to the FCC urging the commission to investigate satellite radio's offering of free trial subscriptions XM and Sirius have included in cars. The concern? According to the NAB, these free satellite radio subscriptions are allowing listeners to hear potentially offensive and indecent material without having paid for it. The NAB is also concerned with recent reports of radios being able to pick up satellite radio broadcasts that are "bleeding through" onto FM radios.

Rehr says that the NAB is "concerned about the unequal regulatory treatment between free over-the-air and satellite radio."

Rehr also discusses free trials of satellite radio in new cars and in rental cars, and says that "To the extent that satellite radio service is now received free by nonsubscribers, this undermines the frequently-made argument that satellite radio should be regulated very differently than traditional broadcast radio simply because satellite is a subscription service."

You can read the full letter to the FCC here (PDF)

[via FMQB]