With the success of the Fox Vancouver Seeds and Power97 River City Rocks communities, Supernova Interactive was ready to share their learning on the role of community in saving future radio stars at NXNEi.

Supernova CEO Elliott Hurst joined co-panellists Ira Haberman of Corus Interactive/ExploreMusic, Jeff Rogers of AUX.tv, and moderator Elizabeth Leahy of Studio 101 to discuss how communities are helping to drive the industry machine, giving radio new reach & relevance.

"By having an online platform through which local bands can promote themselves, music programmers can carefully hand pick the best crowd-sourced music to play on air; then radio again becomes the lynchpin in emerging artist development.”

With CD sales drying up, radio listeners disappearing, and the “visionaries” who had been living off the backs of artists now suing kids for downloading MP3s, we are seeing things are start to change. And though radio still presents a necessary channel for new music, the extreme volume of available music makes it increasingly difficult to deliver quality music into the hands of programmers.

“Radio is entering a 4th renaissance,” explained Elliott Hurst, “In the 50’s TV threatened radio and they responded with the Top 40 format. In the 70’s the FM band became available and radio responded with limiting the AM band to "Talk Radio" and music to the higher quality FM band. In 2000 listener fatigue, consolidation of the radio stations and the Internet began the threaten radio again. “

Furthermore, issues of monetization arise even within traditional media channels like radio. The shift to the online consumption of media requires a new approach for connecting traditional channels to new audiences in an exponential / viral capacity.

Supernova Interactive is immersed in this challenge on a daily basis. “We’ve witnessed the strong growth in online listening to webcasters. The Brand is now the GUI. You can have personalization and control like Pandora and Last.fm, or you can have non-personalization like DJ podcasts or live365. Plus there’s less commercials and the ultimate convenience of listening, it’s EVERYWHERE, on your PC, on your phone, and soon, in your car dashboard.”

“Radio is not dead; it’s evolving,” says Ira Haberman, “ It will continue to play a strong role in helping to develop community devoted to music.” Ultimately, the panel agreed, radio has three things going for it: a station is a trusted brand, radio doesn’t pay fees for online streams, and they are LOCAL.

“Being local is the context that allows radio to take their listenership, or community, and strengthen and grow it on an online format, “ says Elliott, who has seen two radio online communities flourish through local talent contesting. “ But since radio is one way directional, and online is two way interactive, radio has to adapt again to the new listening and music discovery experience of the listener, or user.”

And this concept isn’t only affecting radio, but also TV and media streams beyond. Jeff Rogers, Music Director for AUX.tv, oversees the production and development of programming for the 24-hour digital music channel. He has also been involved with the band Spiral Beach, who owe much of their success to building an online fan base through social communities.

“It’s like Justin Bieber couldn’t have gotten a record deal, and ruined Ludacris’ career, without the help of YouTube and all those fans. But then by playing him on the radio or in the media, it fuels the hype enough to generate sales – and that, that is really something.”

“The model has been turned upside down,” agreed Sandy Hurst in reflecting on today’s panel. Sandy works with Supernova Interactive, in live concert and artist development. “A band used to go from recording a song, to marketing and promoting that song, so that it would be picked up by radio. Then radio would help build a local market for that band to play live; But today online community is helping get bands on the radar and attempting to replace hiring radio trafficking.”

For the fans it seems, online communities give access to controlled artist content, yet still provide for crowd sourced discovery, real-time user experience, and the shared connection to a “local” market.

“This is the 4th renaissance response for radio,” says Elliott. “For the bands, online community helps keep radio relevant and even instrumental in local music discovery and promotion. By having an online platform through which local bands can promote themselves, music programmers can carefully hand pick the best crowd-sourced music to play on air; then radio again becomes the lynchpin in emerging artist development.”