Radio Execs Will Beg If They Have To

Obviously, if you own a chain of radio stations, corporate board meetings have to be a real delight these days. Ratings are down, the satellite radio merger makes them a vastly more viable player in the industry, advertisers are fleeing left and right, the majority of your programming sucks…there’s very little happy news going around. But then again, maybe you’re just understood. Things aren’t as bad as they seem, right? What’s the only solution? EXECUTIVE ROAD TRIP!

According to Inside Radio, executives from seven companies will hit the road to meet with advertisers across the country to let them know terrestrial radio is a viable media option in the months to come.

Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan says they’ll deliver the message that radio is still “vibrant” and its reach has declined just 3% in the past decade. A Radio 2020 goal is to get manufacturers to include a radio on every mobile phone, PDA and MP3 player within five years.

Hey, only a 3% decline? If you picked a different sector of the industry, Jeff Smulyan, you’d be up for a big raise. Either way, is there anyone who’s asking for a radio in their iPhone 2.0? I can’t think of a single moment where I’ve thought “All this music I’ve selected for myself from an nearly endless well of online options isn’t quite enough for me…I’d really like to listen to the nu-metal revival going on on my local alternative rock station right now.” But maybe that’s just me.

Radio goes on offense. [Inside Radio]