Kurt Hanson Heralds 'Third Golden Age Of Radio' In RAIN Summit 'State Of The Industry' Address

RAIN Man

"Things are moving faster than we think they're moving," RAIN founder KURT HANSON told the audience at his annual RAIN SUMMIT "State of the Industry" address, listing listenership, revenues, and adoption of technology among the things moving forward and portending a "third Golden Age of Radio." 

HANSON noted the contribution of greater bandwidth to the introduction of more narrow and eclectic streaming stations to satisfy more tastes; the uncluttered, low spot load environment of Internet radio; and the ability to customize streams and skip forward as examples of how Internet radio is changing the radio landscape.  He ran through recent developments in smartphones and car audio and how Talk radio is moving to FM while music is moving to the Internet.  Advertisers, HANSON noted, are getting on board, with Internet radio ad revenues on pace to exceed $1 billion by 2015 or sooner.

Talking about PANDORA's success, he cited that PANDORA was the first online service not to be a line extension of another service (like YAHOO! LAUNCHCAST), following the RIES and TROUT theory of avoiding extending a brand.  He also noted a "great interface," financial backing, a "huge" sales force, a mobile focus, and other elements contributing to the service's success.

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