Google Radio?

Nobody seems very excited about traditional radio these days.

In an era of streaming video, satellite radio, podcasts and scores of entertainment alternatives from on-demand movies to the XBox 360, good old fashioned terrestrial radio (as in AM and FM) seems like a dusty afterthought from an age gone by.

So why is it that Google, the standard-bearer for all things leading-edge, is reportedly hiring up to 1,000 people to lead their charge into an industry that produced it's first commercial broadcast in 1927?

I've got to figure they see money in there somewhere.

While Google is notoriously tight-lipped about their plans in all of their ventures, it is being reported that they are putting a great deal of effort into hiring veteran radio ad salespeople and paying them up to 50% more than radio firms to sell the same spots. The company also recently paid over $1 billion to acquire DMarc Broadcasting, which automates the radio spot buying process for advertisers.

Reports are also coming out that Google may be interested in purchasing a stake in Clear Channel Communications, which owns local radio stations across the country and controls approximately 20% of all local radio advertising inventory.

Radio is a uniquely personal medium which makes it an excellent advertising channel. Listeners are paying attention to what's coming live from their speakers and local stations lend an element of connection that satellite companies and recorded programs cannot match.

I've been a fan since listening to crackly nighttime baseball broadcasts on a transistor radio as a kid and have also had the great fortune to be behind the microphone many times on both AM and FM. This lifelong love affair makes it difficult for me to be objective about the future of what for me is a cherished medium - one whose demise would be heartbreaking.

Google's huge move in support of traditional, terrestrial radio is music to my ears.