With respect to radio, there are two distinct elements to consider at the next level – the medium and the message. With respect to the medium, AM and FM radio are transitioning to HD Radio. The technological changes that HD Radio can bring are going to make radio very competitive when it comes to delivery and audio quality. This is especially true when competing with such "pay for play" technologies as downloaded music and subscription-based digital satellite radio. There is a tremendous opportunity for audio manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, audio retailers, and the radio station to engage in partnerships to promote and sell the "new" HD Radio. Further, there is an opportunity to market and sell services to listeners using the additional bandwidth stations will become available once listeners convert to HD Radio.

The other aspect of HD Radio is the name itself: HD Radio. The media, in general, has programmed Americans to understand that high definition means the best quality and that it is something special. The industry could not have picked a better term to market in-band, on-channel digital radio. The name, HD Radio, sounds a lot better than IBOC!

What is the next level of the message? The days of 55-minute music hours and FM jukeboxes will certainly end. The reason is pretty simple: young people do not use radio as their source of new music as they once did, nor do they use radio as their acquisition medium for new music. Radio must, as the radio announcer said, "return to the thrilling days of yesteryear." Radio has to distinguish itself by doing something the Internet and an MP3 player cannot. Radio has to return to being a friend. Radio has to return to its roots of communicating with local listeners – it must talk to them, give them personality radio shows they cannot get anywhere else, and be involved with listeners so that the station becomes listener interactive in everything the station does. Above all else, stations should be local, local, local. If you look at the powerhouse radio stations across the country, they understand whom their audience is and how to communicate with them. Listeners can get music anywhere, but a good friend is hard to find.

Certainly the methods of delivery will change as technology permits. Small-market radio stations often lead the way with cost saving and innovative programming solutions as a matter of survival. Small-market stations were the first to adopt live-assist, voice-tracking, and full automation systems. There are small-market stations that are doing remote broadcasts with no one in the radio station to run the control board. They access the station automation system with a laptop over an AOL connection and run the radio station from the remote location.