Montco Radio Embraces their Online-Only Status

In my final trend piece for 2009 over at Radio Survivor, I wrote about The Growth of Internet Radio as one of the top radio trends of the past decade. At the end of the article I covered implications specific to the college and indie radio scene and pointed out that many college radio stations have decided to go web-only, either because their schools have sold off their terrestrial signals or because online-only is a better alternative to other options (cable, carrier current, weak terrestrial signal, etc.). Additionally, some new college stations have been able get started due to the ease of online broadcasting (vs. the red tape involved with getting a license for an AM or FM station).

One example of an online-only college radio station is Montco Radio at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. An article in today's Norristown Times Herald covers the station's embrace of netcasting:

"'In terms of broadcast, I don’t know if a tower is better than what's going on now. People can get Internet radio in their car, so they can listen while they drive, no tower needed,' said Morgan Betz, co-adviser to Montco Radio and full-time faculty member. 'A goal would be to serve the community more one day. We’re very happy with the Internet. We get a lot done, and in the long run, we’re very happy where we are.'"

The article points out that Montco Radio has been recognized by CMJ as one of the top Internet-only college radio stations in the country (and by the way, they were featured in the pages of CMJ as well).

What do you think? Is it better for college stations to have terrestrial signals or do Internet-only stations reach just as many listeners?