Last Friday I wore a headset and listened to '80s music on WROZ-FM 101.3 "The Rose" while designing pages at work — and I didn't use a radio. I listened online through the station's Web site.
Internet radio allows you to listen to your favorite radio station anywhere you go. It's mobile and free, and you don't lose the station's frequency when you leave the area.
Internet broadcasts present a continuous "stream" of audio, usually accessible anywhere you can get an Internet connection. So you could travel to Europe and still listen to a central Pennsylvania station. Clear Channel Communications, which operates more than 800 radio stations, restricts its listening to the United States because of music licensing and advertising concerns, but most stations allow streaming anywhere.
The signal is cleaner on the Net, although there can be some glitches with the programs that stream the audio. It's not 100 percent foolproof, but neither is radio.
To listen to a station online, visit its Web page and look for a link that says something akin to "Listen Live." Popular clearinghouse sites that specialize in providing Internet radio service include Slacker (
http://slacker.com) and Pandora (
http://pandora.com).
Todd Toerper, general manager of WARM-FM 103.3 and WSOX-FM 96.1, said radio is perfect for the Internet. While listeners with more advanced — and expensive — devices such as the iPhone can currently listen to Internet radio on their phones, Toerper believes that all cell phones will soon have this capability. When that occurs, he said, it will be even more popular and mobile than satellite radio.
The number of online listeners continues to grow. In January, a national survey conducted jointly by Arbitron and Edison Research found that approximately 42 million people in the United States over the age of 12 tune to online radio on a weekly basis, which is more than twice the number in 2005. Today, in a week's time, 17 percent of the population will listen to radio online, compared to just 2 percent in 2000.
According to the survey, an estimated 69 million Americans listened to Internet radio in the last month, and Web radio reaches one in five people between the ages of 25 and 54 per week. The key radio demographic of listeners ages 35 to 54 is growing, with men listening slightly more than women. The survey noted that Internet radio attracts an upscale, well-educated, employed audience.
Radio stations are finding a second source of advertising revenue online. Although Internet listeners hear the same songs that are played on the radio, stations are restricted to playing only local commercials online because of royalty issues.
During commercial breaks on WARM and WSOX, an advertiser's visual ad appears simultaneously with the airing of its commercial, allowing listeners to link to the advertiser's Web site. These types of online ads can sell for as little as $1 or as much as $1,000 for a banner ad on a station's Web site.
Ronnie Ramone, promotions director and on-air personality at WROZ, said Internet is a great companion for radio, as stations hold contests online and tie advertisers into packages in both formats.
Some stations even require online listeners to watch or listen to a 15-to-30-second ad prior to streaming the radio broadcast.
It seems the Internet isn't just an emerging content stream; it's an important new revenue stream.
Staff writer Eric Stark discusses trends and tidbits in broadcast media each week in the Sunday News. E-mail him at estark@lnpnews.com. 