Ever since Milton Berle became "Mr. Television," since kids were mesmerized by Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob, the Merry Mailman and the first and "real" Mickey Mouse Club, since Sid Caesar and Imogene Cocoa, the Ed Sullivan Show and all the rest captured the primo spot in the American limelight, people would readily declare: "Radio is dead."

Decades of predicting its actual demise gave way to the eventual realization that radio had a place, even if it was no longer the hottest ticket in town, just a way station for rookies on the rocky road to the big-time: Network television.

So, what's happening today comes as a bit of a surprise: Radio - or rather its core essential: audio - is passing television in the fast lane, and it may never look back.

Think about it. When you watch television, you have to be there in front of it, committing your eyes in addition to your brain. Your hands clutch the remote control, or pass food unconsciously to your mouth, until the commercials come on and you can spend a minute or so with your crossword puzzle, or flipping through the stations.

But radio - or rather audio - is different. You can drive your car, work out, walk around the park, wait for your spouse, cook dinner, and look even forward to waking up in the morning … all with audio. In fact, every time you can possibly watch television, you can alternately choose to listen to audio. In the traditional Venn diagram way of looking at things, the circle for the time you can potentially watch TV is a tiny little one, and it lies at the center and totally within the very big circle of audio. It would be a tough target to hit, if the game we were playing was darts.

Yet, this big potential for audio has always been there - why hasn't it made a difference before? And the answer is: new technology.

Sure, audio still airs on radio stations, and yes, there are more radio stations than ever, but it's also on ipods and real media players, it's on personal computers, and it's moving all over the Internet. Not only that, we're sending audio to each other via email and giving each other the direct weblinks.

Audio is fast becoming on-demand, and it's inexpensive to produce, putting more and more content into play.

It's hard to believe this should make a big difference since we've been able to record TV programs for 20 years, but it goes back to the nature of television. Whether it's yesterday's VCR or today's slick TiVo, you still have to commit your eyes and your hands and practically speaking, a single geographic location.

Since people can now get whatever audio they want, whenever they want it, wherever they want it, the math in that Venn diagram just takes over: The circle for when they can listen to audio is so much bigger than the circle in which they can watch television, audio trumps.

Parents were once concerned that their children watched too much television, and that gave way to too much Internet. Today, parents suspect those tiny little earphones permanently glued to their offspring's ears 24/7 may not be such a good thing, but whether or not it's a good thing, it's a harbinger of things to come.

Mark my words: The Golden Age of Radio was eclipsed by the Golden Age of Television, which is now being consumed whole by the Golden Age of Audio.

I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.