Air America, home to talk show personalities such as Ron Reagan, Rachael Maddow and others, has closed it doors, stating Industry economic problems for the decision.

In a message posted on their website, Air America has ceased live operations, and is in the process of entering Chapter 7 Bankruptcy to wind down the business.

I found the following paragraph from the message to be very interesting:

"With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies."

Radio, much like other media types like television and music, has failed to adapt to the Internet. They fail to understand that simply porting your content to the web isn't going to work. It's a different animal altogether. We don't live in a "broadcast only" state anymore - it's all about engagement. Big media has yet to recognize the reality of listening to it's audience and create programming/content that they want. The days of force feeding are long gone, proved by the severe decline in revenue for the last 2+ years.

Unless traditional and satellite radio starts adapting (listening and engaging), Internet Radio shows (like the ones here on Phibble Radio) will continue their year over year growth and Air America won't be alone the graveyard of defunct radio stations.

What do you think. Does traditional radio fail you? Have you moved on to Internet radio, or do you still think terrestrial and satellite radio still has value? Let us know in the comments below.