The results:
- 52% said yes
- 30% said no
- 18% said yes and no
We also invited comments, and those who took the time to explain their positions showed off a range of attitudes. Some selections:
- Get over it: “The radio industry needs to get over this question. We should only care about this question if the customer cares, and I think they don’t.”
- Missing parts: “It is missing news or talk content for it to be ‘radio.'”
- Strict definitions: “Pandora is Internet audio not radio! Radio is AM or FM.”
- Hidden opportunity: “Who cares? If Pandora wants to call it ‘radio,’ then that gives broadcast radio a chance to re-define what it does.”
- In radio’s face: “It’s not radio but 80 % of the revenue model is based on audio ads. So we have to consider Pandora as a competitor in the radio industry.”
One thing is certain: the word “radio” has been changed. Radio originally described a technology; now it increasingly describes an experience.
It is marketing which has driven the changed definition. Technology companies use old words to describe new products, to help users understand and adopt them. Radio and Pandora are completely different technologies. But in both cases, you turn it on and listen. For many users, that experience describes radio. And for Pandora, using the term radio is a key marketing tactic in its quest to disrupt and displace radio.