Pandora: Has it siphoned off listeners locally?

[JamesAnderson]

Saw this story, has AQH and cume for the top ten markets in the nation, and Portland, Oregon.

Look at what the rating and cume were, has Pandora affected the Salt Lake market in a similar way?

finance.yahoo.com/news/pandora-records-local-radio-market-133000289.html

I suspect it's had an impact in and on some formats, but not so much in others. But it should be noted that they claim 125 million users, 40 million active users, and are available to users of over 450 different devices, not just iPhones and Android devices.

[henry]

It certainly has.

The only thing stopping me is my lousy cell carrier which has spotty 3G and a very small data cap which I'm always hitting.

But we're 5 years away from having PLENTY of fast, reliable data --- and a lot of Bluetooth A2DP head units in cars. Quite a few FM players (but not all) are going to start sinking like AM already has.

[BonnevilleMariner]

I recently read an interesting blog post by industry insider Eric Rhoades, which argues the definition of 'radio' and whether or not Pandora meets that definition. Rhoades claims that Pandora is an online jukebox, or playlist service, that cannot be considered radio.

Radio, he says, is a curated experience targeted to a specific audience, and the product of extensive research. Other radio gurus add broadcast to that definition, which I think is an important distinction-- with radio you're part of an audience. Good radio brings you into the fold, makes you feel involved with that audience. With Pandora, you're the only person listening to that particular stream. Others add the live, local argument.

I generally agree with both his definition and Rhoades' conclusion. But I also agree with one of his commenters, who points out that however the industry may define radio, to anybody under age 30, Pandora IS radio. Any music streaming out of any device IS radio to them.

His point? Traditional broadcast radio should stop quibbling about over linguistics and start watching its back.

My $.02? Radio keeps hanging its hopes on the listeners remembering those curated, human qualities of traditional broadcast radio and eventually returning.

There are two problems with this:

1. The younger demo doesn't necessarily remember (or even be aware of) those curated, human qualities. How can they value them enough to return?

2. To be honest (and no offense to those of you in the business), those values have been lacking for some time now. I'm a radio lover and I don't really feel that connection. KSL genuinely seems to get this (even though I'm no big fan of their daytime personalities, their political correctness, or the voice of that one guy who does about 98% of their commercials).

Other than KSL, I don't/can't connect with SLC's radio scene. At least not enough to sit thru commercials.

I'm not a fan of Pandora (if I want a playlist, I'll configure my own and not risk hitting data caps). But a heck of a lot of people love it, so real radio better watch it's back. ClearChannel is smart to mimic Pandora via IHeartRadio, though it may be too late.

[JamesAnderson]

Local advertisers are showing up on Pandora now. Was listening last night, and a Rocky Mountain Power refrigerator recycling ad came up on one of my stations there. There could be more, but still getting national ads otherwise.