Consultant Fred Jacobs says radio has a design problem:
The NAB's quest to stop the satellite radio merger has been well-documented, and perhaps will ultimately be successful. But the bigger threat to broadcast radio is on the inside -- turning around perceptions that the medium is out-of-step with consumer tastes and desires. It starts with that old clock radio on your nightstand and that dusty boom box in the garage. Dated-looking products won't cut it in this new gadget-filled millennium.
The whole thing's here. Fred's right -- compare any product made by Apple with the average radio available to the consumer.
I'll paraphrase something research guru Larry Rosin said last summer on a panel I emceed for a Bill Sobel Breakfast:
Go into Circuit City or Best Buy and ask them where the radios are, and they'll look at you like you're insane. They might have clock radios, or iPod accessories with AM-FM receivers built in, but you can't even buy a stand-alone radio in most places anymore.
Labels: radio business