While I’m here in Austin frolicking at SXSWi where, judging by the attendance and attitude, business is good and there doesn’t appear to be a recession, comes word that B101 in Philadelphia has decided to pull the plug on streaming it’s content on line.

At first blush, those who follow radio and it’s current struggle to remain relevant, at least compared to it’s historical barometer, this appears as sheer madness. How could we possibly not be online with our product? Isn’t the point to be everywhere our potential listeners are?

The answer to these questions is, of course, yes! But the overriding factor here is for radio to also be successful at redefining it’s business model in the long run. And frankly, the current SoundExhange fee structure does not provide for that. Jerry Lee, owner of B101, who would never be called short-sighted, is actually reacting more to the future of rates. He looks down the road, factors in the success of his current monetization efforts and sees no way of sustaining the model….as it stands.

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