The Gathering Storm is my look at the future of internet audio and the opportunity and threat it presents to broadcast radio. It started off by splitting the comparison between the two media into three parts – output, delivery method, and content. In the first column, I covered how internet audio, while not quite there yet, is approaching the quality of broadcast radio. In last week’s column, I explained that the delivery method of internet radio is improving every day – to the point where it may be equal or superior to broadcast radio in a few years.

So that leaves us with content, or the input part of delivering audio. As I explained last week, even with internet audio gaining, radio still has quite the ingrained advantage. It will take years for internet audio to approach the ease of use of radio – and even with the development of 4G and WiMax, wireless internet in cars is still going to take many years before it even approaches the penetration of radio. Even then, wireless internet will not replace radio in cars. I doubt car manufacturers will be pulling out radios to make room for wireless internet when radio is so common and free.

All of this does not mean that radio should not be concerned, however. This storm will be bigger than the iPod or the CD player or the cassette deck. Those forms of entertainment require planning, and they aren’t updated unless the listener thinks about it. Unless you remember to rip more music to your iPod or bring out a new CD, those options will remain the same. Internet audio is like radio in that the listener is presented with a multitude of changing options without even lifting a finger.

However, we have to remember that this is not a one-way fight. To quote Chuck Norris, “The best defense is a good offense.” Well, maybe not Chuck Norris – but the point is still valid. Internet audio hopes to someday be able to deliver its content wirelessly, just like radio does. However, radio can broadcast itself over the internet right now.

Many stations are doing just that. With some of the biggest companies in radio pushing their stations and other formats online as well, they are not just increasing their listening audience online, they are also going head to head with internet audio sources in their arena. As much as we in the industry complain about how bad radio is right now, radio has decades of experience in creating a compelling on-air product.

I was recently talking to Michael King, President of Abacast, an online streaming provider, for an interview for a later column. He reiterated that when radio takes on internet audio on their turf, radio does well. When Clear Channel and CBS started to really get into streaming, “internet only radio stations started complaining (to me) about the loss of their audience share to terrestrial stations streaming online,” he said.

Because of the various music licensing and commercial voice talent fee problems, internet only audio feeds had the playing field all to themselves. The licensing requirements to stream your station’s music online are complicated, but doable – especially since your blanket license fee (to BMI, ASCAP, etc.) allows you to broadcast a simulcast stream online (check the previous link for more details).

There is one catch, however. As Fred Jacobs has pointed out, (via hear2.com), if a stream isn’t a 100% exact copy of the terrestrial broadcast (and this includes spots) Arbitron will not treat the stream and the broadcast as the same station for ratings purposes, potentially splitting your audience.