Google gets out of traditional radio world

Yesterday Google announced that is would be ending its radio insertion program that has been on its AdWords platform for the past 2 years. Many of my colleagues around the country have heralded this move and started the whole we're smarter than Google chant. I could not disagree more and am saddened that this is the foresight we have as an industry. Why do I think this? For a couple of reasons:
1) Google was using the audio and video's uploaded through AdWords to perfect their video and audio spiders. This was free content to them for this project which is rumored to be close to completion.
2) Google said that they are pulling out of the traditional radio ads but are still going to be in the streaming insertion business. Streaming revenue for the radio industry are a fraction of the traditional, so why would Google do this? As I mentioned in my first post on this blog, WiMax will revolutionize radio and bring accountability to the industry. Google's WiMax project with Sprint, Clearwire, and Brighthouse must be much closer than they are willing to let on.
3) They also announced that they are going away from print media insertion as well.

Conclusion: Why learn to clone an horse when the automobile is coming? This is what I am sure Google is reading in the tea leaves. Both traditional radio and print media will be obsolete in the next 5-10 years if not sooner. So why continue to spend millions in a dying industry; it was fine when they had a dual purpose (rich media spiders) but now it's just a money pit.

So as my radio brothern out there drink the radio kool-aid I'm more worried than ever that our tactical approach will be our undoing. Radio better get smart, stop pimping HD, and invest heavily in how to sliver-cast streaming radio in a real and meaningful way.

I wonder if this was what it was like in the last days of the dinosaurs? Read my lips, this is the validation of streaming radio and that it works!