Radio At The Crossroads Again

[davideduardo]

From a British source comes an interesting article (not behind a paywall) that evaluates where radio is as the pandemic years get past us.

Radio at the crossroads, again

RedTech • Technology publication and platform created by multicultural professionals especially for the international radio broadcast and digital audio industries.

www.redtech.pro

I quote one paragraph:

"The increasing popularity of talk radio is also evident in the U.K. Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services have stolen some of the advantage FM had for pop music. But now radio has proven yet again to be that “friend in your ear,” with the recognizable voice and the warmth needed perhaps more than before the pandemic."

For those of us in the US, the contrast of stations eliminating personality and humanity is obvious.

 

[TheBigA]

For those of us in the US, the contrast of stations eliminating personality and humanity is obvious.

However, for the most part, US radio has more local personality that other countries. And when the local personality gets eliminated, effort is made to replace it with a human voice from someplace.

 

[Kelly A]

However, for the most part, US radio has more local personality that other countries. And when the local personality gets eliminated, effort is made to replace it with a human voice from someplace.

I agree. Compared with the way Europe has been for decades, even U.S. based groups centralizing their programming production is still heads and shoulders above anything found in Europe or Asia, when it comes to hosts or personalities on the radio.

 

[TheBigA]

The other thing is that as new generations of people are becoming more familiar with the approach being done at Spotify or Pandora, where the music is either unhosted or hosted by an artist or celebrity, the concept of local hosting will become less and less important.