These listeners call up programs any time they like. VanOuse said he believes this aspect of webcasting will become vastly more significant as availability of portable listening devices increases. VanOuse said smart broadcasters will want get to the high ground in order to survive the coming Internet tidal wave. By high ground, VanOuse said he meant understanding technology and planning to use it. But Yourchak said the tidal wave will be little more than a leaky basement unless broadcasters cleave to the axiom that successful broadcasting means local broadcasting.
Statistics indicate that webcasting still has a lot of shaking out to do.
People are spending less time on the Internet than before, he said, and television also shows stagnation if not decline. Meanwhile local broadcast listeners are up. We have to sit up and take notice, and we must learn to serve people better or risk losing our audiences. Here at WBUS we're more convinced than ever that live broadcast is the way to go. But with young listeners and the Internet available to them, we must serve or they will make the decision to go.