Radio Reinvention?!?!

If you are close to the radio industry in any way you always hear the rallying cry of "radio can always reinvent itself", my question is can it really? It seems to me that more often than not we are following the leader instead of truly trusting our guts and stepping out.

Example you ask; Display banners on traditional media sites, how old and stale is this technology. For certain and far between events they make sense. Imagine if you visited a website once or twice a week that had no display ads. Then one day you show up and a full takeover with 300x250's are there. Bet you can recall that brand or message? Instead radio continues to place display banners (sometimes in the most odd and strange ways that it makes you ask yourself who is running this show) within their sites and claiming to investors, if we can just sell a little more of banner inventory we'll get through this hitch. My contention is that you are in a declining market already; what have CPM's done over the last few months?

Yet we have new emerging technology that deals directly with assets that our listeners are most ravenous about, video! Mass interactive video is just around the bend and radio could be the medium that owns it. Instead the minds are focused on selling just 10% more display inventory or streaming inventory. I'll bet you that when this masses finally have it radio will adopt it.... mark my words. Just one more thing we will look back on as an industry and say damn missed that one.

If you would like to check out a company doing this right now check out Video Clix

For more supporting evidence check out this read today in the WSJ, Video Site Entice Viewers to Stay and Play.