Connections

Speaking of "Radio's Hot New Team," which that we talked about last week, one of my favorite quotes of the year came from Jeff Haley, CEO of the RAB:

"Let's agree here and now that our goal will be to have radio on every mobile phone, PDA, and MP3 player in the next five years.  On-air, online, on-site, and on-demand, radio must be anywhere and everywhere there is a speaker or headphones."

And it couldn't come any sooner, because as we see in our Tech Poll IV, more and more radio listeners are using the many technologies and gadgets at their disposal.

Plus, the competition isn't resting.  XM announced recently that BlackBerry customers can subscribe to 20 channels.  Of course, they're charging $7.99/month for the privilege, so we wish them good luck with this venture.

But it underscores the urgent challenge facing broadcast radio operators in their quest to spread their content to other devices.  Haley's heart is in the right place, but the industry will need to move quickly in order to keep up with the Karmazins.