The Infinite Dial

According to the newly released Edison Research/Arbitron study, "The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio's Digital Platforms," the percentage of respondents saying that they listened to online radio in the last week has increased from 13% to 17% -- approximately 42 million listeners -- over the last year. That's the biggest jump since 2006 when that number went 8% - 12%.

If one had to venture a guess as to why online radio would post its biggest gain over the last 12 months, you would have to include:

* The buzz that the iPhone and its attendant apps created -- even beyond those respondents who actually own an iPhone -- on Pandora and other online radio;

* The online rado initiatives by Clear Channel, CBS and others -- e.g., Clear Channel using outdoor advertising to promote its iHeartRadio. 32% of respondents said that they discovered the station they listen to most on-line from hearing it talked about on the air (followed by 28% friends' recommendations);

* The relatively stable availability of station streams in 2008, at least before Renda stations and WBEB (B101) Philadelphia pulled their streams. There weren't a lot of major radio brands that weren't streaming last year.

* The dominance of broadband (82% of respondents now have it);

* Perhaps, the explosion in the streaming video audience -- 18% to 27% last year.

Broadcasters can take just a moment to feel good about the 13-17% jump last year. The now-constant crossplugs for a station's stream and Web content are easy to parody, but they're paying off more than the high-annoyance/low-yield HDRadio spots. Okay, that moment is now up. And now we've got to ask...

* How can radio streams match the excitement about streaming video, and further ride that rising tide, if that is what indeed happened?

* With peer recommendations as the No. 2 way stations are discovered, is it time to bring back an old favorite contest -- "tell a friend"?

* Would the relatively low "discovered the stream through an Internet search engine" be higher if stations were doing a better job of SEO and working their stations to stream aggregators?