Death of Radio or Not?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

The problem isn't with the mp3 player. It is the driver misusing the mp3 player. I believe it is against the law for drivers to be using any headset that covers both ears.

You are correct however tell that to those who break the law and don't even know it. At least an emergency overide will tell them impending doom or to move over will alert them. Fine em later after the alert saves their lives.

[Kalalau]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

On a radio board the other day I posted about a memory of KHJ, LA's big rocker of the '60's, covering the Watts riots live, of one of their newsmen being pinned down by gunfire live on air. The economics of the industry before it became so concentrated did allow stations to employ actual news departments with real reporters. There is nothing wrong with protecting the public interest, it worked fine for many decades.

[mel]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Craig, I repeat my mantra in that government should never mandate that a frequency for emergencies be built into an iPod or any other audio or visual device. It only increases the cost for both businesses and consumers.

If firms want to put something like this on their own, I'm fine, but never have it be a requirement because as we know the only ones who force something to be required is government. We don't need more of that.

Kalalau, once upon a time some radio stations used to have a news department here or at least someone doing the local news regularly. This was in the olden days of course, before Clear Channel and all the rest.

The harsh reality of the matter is that in a down economy employing any real live human beings is very expensive compared to using automation. Sure I don't like how most of radio is today, but we have to deal with the facts of cost and all that. In another thread, the cost businesses have to bear for unemployment insurance in Hawaii is increasing 10-fold.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

You are correct however tell that to those who break the law and don't even know it. At least an emergency overide will tell them impending doom or to move over will alert them. Fine em later after the alert saves their lives.

I say no thank you to any of that! If I'm listening to my iPod while I'm in my house, I don't want my music rudely interrupted by an emergency vehicle passing by. I don't believe in any kind of intrusive system that inconveniences those who are properly using portable music devices, in order to benefit those few who are breaking the rules (i.e. inattentive drivers who have both ears covered with earbuds.)

Kalalau, once upon a time some radio stations used to have a news department here or at least someone doing the local news regularly. This was in the olden days of course, before Clear Channel and all the rest.

The harsh reality of the matter is that in a down economy employing any real live human beings is very expensive compared to using automation. Sure I don't like how most of radio is today, but we have to deal with the facts of cost and all that.

The economic recession we're in has certainly taken its toll on many institutions and services we have grown up with. But when you think about it, the #1 underlying factor behind all of the media upheaval we are seeing can be traced to...... the internet.

1) More people are getting their news from various sources on the internet, which have taken a bite out of the demand for newspapers and radio news. Heck, even TV news (local and national) have had to struggle and adjust to the new marketplace.

2) More people are listening and buying their music over the net, which have had obvious consequences for terrestrial radio and bricks-and-mortar music stores.

3) More people are using e-mail, which in turn has caused a dramatic decrease in mail volume for the postal service. Talk to anyone who works at the USPS and chances are, they've got horror stories to tell you about layoffs, cutbacks in service, and overall poor morale.

Etc. etc. etc.

As wonderful and revolutionary as the internet has been with delivering new technology and conveniences for the masses, it has also been the death knell for many longtime businesses and services which have been rendered obsolete by the net.

[mel]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Frankie M... I definitely agree that the internet is probably the biggest reason for all the change in "traditional" media, the post office and record stores.

It is like when the automobile was invented and mass produced. People stopped buying buggy whips, horsedrawn carriages and horses! Same thing. Technology changes and people want the newer, better, faster, convenient technology.

Businesses have had to adjust or die. Hence the automated state of radio today. Cheaper to run a station with computers only vs. real people.

[DaleP]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Frankie M... I definitely agree that the internet is probably the biggest reason for all the change in "traditional" media, the post office and record stores.

It is like when the automobile was invented and mass produced. People stopped buying buggy whips, horsedrawn carriages and horses! Same thing. Technology changes and people want the newer, better, faster, convenient technology.

Businesses have had to adjust or die. Hence the automated state of radio today. Cheaper to run a station with computers only vs. real people.

Consolidation started the problem...then the "seller's market" that followed. Buyers paid astronomical prices figuring that they could sell to someone who would pay even more. Live radio is disappearing because the owners who paid way too much for their radio stations are cutting expenses in order to be able to pay on their notes every month. Stations that should be profitable are being dragged down by heavy debt service.

At about the same time that operators began de-localizing and de-humanizing their stations, along came cheap high-speed data on the Internet and all of the integrated new toys for retrieving, storing and playing back audio. Now, anyone can be their own disc-jockey. The choice for many listeners is now between listening to only their favorite uninterrupted music on an IPOD or I-Phone or hearing just some of the music they like on the radio...interrupted by boring pre-recorded voice tracks and unbearably long commercial sets.

And how can radio compete with online social networking?

The new media have the younger audience hooked and I honestly don't hear anything anywhere that is innovative enough to get them to come to radio. Even scarier for broadcasters is the fact that the younger audience really doesn't consider radio to be a major part of their daily lives.

Radio programming innovations in past came from people who listened to the radio and came up with a way to make it better...or move it in another direction. The radio business is populated with people who grew up wanting to be in the business. When I was a kid, I wanted more than anything to get into radio. How many kids like that can you find today?

If the business doesn't adapt quickly, Radio could very well wind up in museums with phone booths and mimeograph machines.

[mel]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Once upon a time I wanted to be a radio DJ or newscaster. However the nature of the business from even the pre-consolidation days were already volatile with high turnover rates in personnel as station owners seeked ways to attract more audience and ad revenues.

Today I can be my own DJ with my own music with my computers, large music collection, iPod and other portable music devices and even share mixes online at places such as Finetune.com, myspace.com, Last.FM, sixty-one.com and several others. If I was more ambitious I like many other people can start my own podcast on any subject... except perhaps for popular music since licensing is still a huge barrier.

Yes, I think people like to be in control of their media, whether it be music, TV, social networks or whatever. And mostly they don't like to pay for it and don't want to be interrupted with intrusive advertising. I know a lot of people who won't watch TV because they hate the ads. They watch their programs online or just buy the DVDs, even if they are a year after the program airs. And avoiding ads and playing your own music is a reason why iPods and other audio devices are popular.

Also ad blocking of online content is popular and people will avoid websites that display too much intrusive pop-up or pop-under ads, not to mention long flash intros, flash ads and stuff. Traditional banner ads are generally accepted since most people I think are conditioned to simply ignore them. Plus website RSS feeds display only the content you want sans the ads.

And remember like radio, people still mostly want their online content for FREE. Hence sites like Twitter, Facebook, myspace, Google and more are and will always be popular as long as they are free. Start charging and many if not most will jump overboard like rats on the sinking Titanic.

It's a tough world out there for traditional media and established advertising revenue models.

BTW, I still listen to a lot of radio, but not too much to music radio. Today I prefer talk radio.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Nowadays, the only reason to tune into terrestrial radio is for the traffic information. And surely, even that utility will be rendered obsolete when GPS/navigation devices providing real-time traffic info become commonplace and affordable to the masses.

It seems like the only time people use the radio in great numbers is during a power outtage/emergency situation. It's during those times when radio becomes a vital and possibly life-saving outlet of information to the public. Traditional commercial radio obviously can't sustain itself providing that service alone. Dare I say it? Perhaps terrestrial radio will one day become an industry that is subsidized by the govt. (like buses and trains) in the belief that keeping some form of local broadcasting alive is in the public's best interest and welfare.

That vision may not bring much comfort to those who long for the "good ole days" of what radio was like when they were growing up. But then again, radio in 1990 was a different animal from what it was like in 1980. And still more different from that a decade earlier. Etc. Radio programming has constantly evolved over the years. And it will no doubt continue to do so in the future.

[Kalalau]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

I will always look at the death of radio as a matter of suicide--stupid business decisions by people on the top, like the death of the American car industry, or the series of collapses on Wall Street. Regulations usually exist to protect the public and the industries themselves from bad decisions but the public has been hoodwinked into believing regulations exist only to...to what? Please bureaucrats? If reasonable ownership rules had continued to exist in broadcasting owners would have never been forced by economics to can the very employees who made the industry.

On a related note if I am reading the New York radio boards right, it appears that New York will soon be losing its long time classical station WQXR. I do not like to be a cultural absolutist but I do think our culture is better off having at least one free radio station available with seriously great music on it rather than gaining a 16th playing Take Yo Panties Off. But I guess if it makes the obscenely wealthy Texas monopolists a little more money thats all that really matters.

We also have to note that big shots in the internets industry (thanks GWB) want to monopolize it, too, which will largely destroy its usefulness and appeal, too.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

A couple of generations ago, some high-browed listeners were bemoaning the gradual extinction of radio dramas. Oldtimers used to say stuff like, "No way can TV versions of the Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke beat the presentations on radio that allowed the audience to harness the power of their imaginations." Ah, but an appeal to people's intellect does not stop the inevitable march of time. Those people might as well be trying to convince their grandkids that playing with a plain ole cardboard box is really more fun than their Sony PSP. Yep, good luck with pulling that off!

Just as impressionable babyboomer kids of the 1950s would take the TV broadcast of The Adventures of Superman over the radio version of the same show when given the choice, why should any of us express surprise when young folks today will rather listen to their iPods than the radio 9 times out of 10? They've grown up in a world that is different from what their parents grew up in, just as the parents grew up in a vastly different environment from what their parents were raised in. And so on and so forth. The beat goes on. All the blame in the world can be assigned to the greedy bosses of radio. But when you come right down to it, there's no way to stop technology and progress. Hey, if a kid grows up watching all his favorite shows on HD and 5.1 audio, does anyone here honestly think that same child will be satisfied if you tried to switch them to a 12 inch B&W TV set?

Don't give me that look, Junior!!! I spent many an hour glued to this set when I was dorming at Swathmore. It was good enuff for me back then, it should be good enuff for you.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Hey, if a kid grows up watching all his favorite shows on HD and 5.1 audio, does anyone here honestly think that same child will be satisfied if you tried to switch them to a 12 inch B&W TV set?

Only if that HD tv set and Home Theater system deeped-sixed and all you have left is that 12" B&W TV set

I was just having a conversation with my 13-year old yesterday about the advent of video game graphics. He said it can't get any better than what it is now...I told him back in the early 80's when S-Video first came out and how astounded we were watching the demo's at Shirokiya on the Toshiba Blackstripe TV sets thinking the same thing back then...

So what's after HD? How about KAHD (Kick Ass HD) . Once long ago in the parking lot of Circuit City in Aiea I heard these two teenagers talk about watching regular TV noting that it wasn't High Definition but "Low Definition".

Back OT, when it comes to radio, I do love the DJ banter for a particular drive time. I tune in to some podcasts but quite honestly, some podcasters don't have the gift of gab.

Another thing I love about radio is the simplicity of it. Turn it on...there it is. No downloading, no internet connection needed, no configuring. It's simple and as you get older, simpler is better. I have an old Panasonic AM/FM table radio with a slide rule tuner. Two knobs ON/OFF/Volume and TUNE. I turn one knob and the radio turns on. Keep turning and the volume goes up. Simple and fast. After the live morning show is over, I turn it off.

I know there are stand alone internet radio devices that act like my table radio, however you still need a broadband internet connection. My BB can tun into internet radio however I haven't found an App that will let me stream radio stations yet.

[DaleP]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

Jerry Del Colliano's Inside Music Media Blog today is excellent. "How Consolidation Could Have Worked" contains everything and more that a number of us have been advocating for years. This one is a must-read.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/

[integlspwr]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

one word guys..

pandora..

[Kalalau]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

I took off for the store this morning to buy some milk. First thing I notice as I came over the hill was what looked like a lot of smoke to the north of the city. What is it?, I wonder. Another big fire starting? Maybe a jet crash at Miramar? So I try KOGO...hmm, Clinton is a Communist. Then KFMB...oh, Obama hates white people. How pathetic. Deregulation sure worked out well, didn't it? If all you care about is letting a single well connected Texas family control everything the American public hears on Our Public Airwaves, deregulation worked out great. Pre-deregulation...KFMB and KOGO would have had reporters on scene, KDEO a live phone report, KSDO and KCBQ and XEAK news vans on the way. So if a well informed public is essential to a well functioning Democracy, what is an ignorant and misinformed public essential to? Maybe thats why the country is bankrupt and in two wars and can't afford health care, etc.

[mel]

Re: Death of Radio or Not?

The face of reporting live news events have certainly change. More people today get the first inklings of breaking news from.... Twitter!