The big problem we're seeing is....
This was a thoughtful, well-framed opinion. Nicely stated.
Newspapers, magazines. Newer technology like the internet and AI has made older technology more and more vulnerable.
Some do still exist and the New York Times in particular has found a business model that works in the current environment. But a lot of others have not, and the contraction of these industries is painful for those who work in them and for the remaining audience that has to endure watching them wither and die.
Then you have other entertainment platforms taking screen time away from Radio and TV. Internet gaming is a very big deal, especially to Zoomers and Millennials. Every hour they spend online gaming is an hour they're not using traditional media like Radio and TV.
It's a multifaceted problem but the main part of it is the platform is slowly fading.
One big issue in my view is that while advertising business at these traditional media companies continues to dramatically shrink, they are owned by giant corporations that require endless growth in order to satisfy both investors and the executives who lead them. Many of these companies are billions of dollars in debt that they will never be able to repay, especially as the advertising revenue becomes less and less. So they continue to slash and burn staff and reduce the product to a shell of its former self in an effort by the executives to extend their tenure and keep collecting those sweet multimillion dollar executive salaries. What we have is a field that is trending more and more toward a size more suitable for being run as a small business, but remains in the grip of big businessmen determine to ride their gravy trains to the end of the line and off the cliff.
Also, I don't think younger demos are as into talk shows -- any talk show -- as much as the Gen X'er and Boomers are. Their idea of mass communication is different.
Younger demos live in world where everything except live sports is expected to be had on demand. So they use streaming platforms for music and podcasts for talk. But you're right, not everyone is a fan of talk shows that do nothing but talk. And there's a piece missing -- because podcasts, absurdly, can't play music thanks to the music industry's licensing obstacles. In my opinion, if that barrier can finally be removed allowing for podcasts to present hosted music shows, that would be another game-changer that seriously impacts music radio stations.
I've listened to BIN, I don't hear pandering.
The entire presentation is something like this: "In our next story, Mister So-and-So, who is Black, did something and Mister Such-and-Such, who is White, responded." Nearly everyone who is brought up is prominently identified by what race they are. Call it serving their target audience if you want, but if that's not pandering I don't know what is. Try doing that on any other kind of media outlet and see if it doesn't generate massive criticism. A regular news station can hardly even bring themselves to tell you anyone's race as it justifiably opens them up to questions like, does it matter?
Also the production quality is quite poor with levels that vary so drastically that the AGC often can't even keep up. There is frequent distortion and digital clipping. The reporting sounds fragmented with stories voiced by different presenters, not well tied together by an anchor. In other words, it sounds like automation at its worst.
