There have been some interesting comments to my previous postings about iPod’s and Personalized/Mix CD’s impact on radio.  (We like comments!)  The theme has been that the cell phone and iPhone may have more impact on radio than any New Media device to date.

Point taken…after all, our Annual Youth Radio and New Media Study purports to track the impact of New Media.  Questions probing the impact of music listening on cell and iPhones can be added to the 2009 survey.

Despite 90% of respondents owning cell phones, cell phones didn’t have any impact on radio TSL this year or last in our survey.  

Youth Radio slide 73

Youth Radio slide 74

The key point our blog commentators make is that the cell phone may become a commonly used way to distribute and listen to music.  Already people can download music on their cell phones.  Could the cell replace the iPod?  What if the cell phone challenges radio as a way to receive audio programming?  This would be a new delivery/distribution system that could easily bypass the radio tower to the listener model, thus profoundly affecting radio.  The key is what would cell phone music users be tuning into?  Would it be traditional radio, or internet radio stations?  Once there is a standardized, convenient, and affordable way to receive 100 or 200 stations, the entire distribution system changes.  Cell phones could be that new media distribution device.  The question then becomes how do all these new audio programmers pay for (monetize) themselves?

Detailed results of the complete Second Annual Youth Radio and New Media Study on our website www.paragonmediastrategies.com