Radio trying to reinvent and compete

Randall's post yesterday on Clear Channel had great timing with regards to the radio industry. Truth be told, traditional radio is dying a slow, painful death. When satellite radio hit the airwaves, radio said "Why would you pay for something you get for free?" I suppose that the radio industry paid no attention to the pay-TV model that cable and satellite adopted in the last few decades.

Ironically, the radio industry is asking the same question today, but this time they are looking for a different answer. John Hogan, the CEO of Clear Channel's radio organization, just asked "Why would you pay for something you get for free?" This time he expects to win customers back with a similar radio model that's used by XM and Sirius. More channels and better quality, but all for free. Clear Channel expects to upgrade over 95% of their 1,200 radio stations to digital in the next two years.

Could we see digitial terrestrial bring a wave of new portable receivers or iPods with timeshifting and recording ability for digital or HD radio? Will podcasts be adopted by mainstream radio? Who knows, but one thing is certain: if the radio industry doesn't react quick enough this late in the game, you won't hear anything but static on that dial. What do you think terrestrial radio needs to do in order to compete? Or...is it too late?