DEATH OF RADIO

[BogusBoy]

From time to time, someone will doom and gloom over the dimise of terrestrial radio at the hands of technology. Somone always rasons that radio will be around forever. The one thing I'm sure of, is that while radio has a robust future, the future of the people involved with it is grim indeed.

Satellite radio, i-pods, automation, Internet, etc. Fads? The biggest threat, in my estimation, is HD! And corp radio is complicit in the crime. Each station will have up to four HD bands. Clear Channel in Memphis alone could have over 30. Sounds great for terrestrial radio. But nobody seems to worry about how this will further fragment the audience for the existing stations. Theoretically, for the owners, it's smaller pieces of the same pie, and more oportunities to sell to specialty markets. But while it may be good for radio, and perhaps listeners, I fear it may be disatrous for radio's most expendable commodity. It's people. Many of us will get to celebrate radio's survival from the side lines.

 

[DeadElvis]

Well, I don’t disagree with your basic premise – that radio as we have known it has changed, and will continue to do so. There will be an increasing number of choices in the marketplace, and the human element will become less important, at least in music-intensive radio.

But, your discussion neglects two important concepts:

First, increasing choice is always a good thing. I can’t imagine the public being upset because there are more, better-targeted radio stations more closely reflecting their tastes. More choice is better. Always.

Second, the radio industry owes no one a job. If Clear Channel, or Entercom, or Cumulus can make more money with less human intervention, that’s their call. If that leaves you or me by the sidelines, that’s life.

Radio isn’t dying; it’s changing. HD isn’t a threat; it’s simply a new medium. Saying that HD would be the death of radio is internally inconsistent. HD radio is terrestrial radio – it cannot be a threat to itself. But, if you're right, perhaps it's time to learn a new trade like HVAC repair, the hotel/motel industry, or, after a few years of post-graduate work, the legal profession.

Or, perhaps maybe we can learn how to live in the new environment, by learning software, management, or learning how to program multiple formats. The future belongs to the nimble.

Bring on the new stations!

DE

 

[Tynosaur]

When I started work at WJDX-AM/FM-WLBT-TV in Jackson, MS, in 1967, I was told by the PD of WJDX-AM, "FM is always going to suck hind tit." I wasn't overly prescient, but I thought that was a bit short-sighted.

40 years later, I've still no reason to change my mind. The most exciting thing about our industry is change. Change has expanded in so many areas: traffic, sales, continuity, engineering, programming, production, promotion, streaming audio, HD, websites, software, hardware...good lord, the list moves toward the horizon with departments not even dreamed of in the '60's.

The only sure thing in radio is change. The days of Billy Joe Blowhard, with his personalized jingles and shouts and his custom mike adjusted to give him what Nature didn't, have passed into syndication, thankfully. In my career in programming and production, I realized that success depended on the three C's:
Communication, Communication, and Communication.

Communication over the airwaves? Of course!
Communication among your peers? What a concept!
Communication between departments? Surely you jest!

That's the only thing that really works in radio and perhaps with fewer employees, communication may finally find a real place in our business and not just be paid lip service during those inevitable "Who Shot John" Post-Fiasco meetings we've all been in at one time or another.

Change? Great, bring it on. Just remember to pass the word so everyone's on the same page! Then change, whether it's the advent of FM or of HD, can be your salvation.

 

[jboydingram]

These are some some intelligent observations here... May I add that when I built my first FM station in 1973 as an independent, the nay sayers were everywhere...."nobody listens to FM", "TV is going to take over" etc., etc. Turns out that FM is still viable after all these years. Sure, I am a small market operation, but I have never deviated in trying to deliver what the audience wants...once you do that, reclaiming listeners is a difficult. Stay tuned to your listeners and respond to the best of your ability...lest you join the "silent" great ones of the past. IMHO...Thanks JBI

 

[radio_head]

I work for a station that has shown more people the boot due to technical changes (automation) than one would even imagine, but even those who were let go walked away in good spirit and knew that upon entering into this field they were only as good as their last show or last day on the job..Like everyone else has mentioned on this thread, it boils down to change and we all know that change is constant. HD operates to both the company's benefit, providing extra financial opportunties as well as the listener's advantage, giving them a better variety that's still free of any subscription cost, really that's all that matters.. To be honest, I've rarely listened to HD radio, but I know it's here to stay. If you're like me and you're willing to embrace the change, study trends, and ride the tide (it will eventually settle for a moment), then you'll remain in the game and ahead of the game. As far as employment in the industry, it could be a whole lot worst (ie: the auto industry).

 

[Tenn Radio Boy]

Huh? What? I'm sorry, I was too busy shuffling my I-pod and creating my own personalized playlist to participate in the discussion about the death of radio. It's gone, the technology is outdated. Used to be, people needed radio to get their entertainment, the only place to hear a new song. Now radio is far down the list of music options.

Local coverage? Right! When bad weather hits, usually there is no one at the station because it's vt'd or coming out of the market.

You get the best weather coverage on the internet for a dozen different sources.

Sorry, nothing special about radio in 2007.

 

[smedge2006]

The success of HD Radio is hardly a sure bet at this point. Saying it's here to stay is like saying "AM Stereo is here to stay" in 1983. The jury's still out.

David Eduardo has posted on other boards about how the fragmentation caused by 80-90 and more FM licenses led to the dimunition of community service, made worse (IMO) by the later consolidation of ownership.

I think many of the posters assume that "more choice is better." Obviously, they've never heard or understood the sentiments behind the song "57 Channels and Nothing's On." People are suffering from "choice fatigue" in many areas, having to spend time sorting out their options as consumers.

Since staffing levels at many stations these days are minimal, HD channels will inevitably be unstaffed or fed from out-of-market if they follow the current business model. It's not a Luddite sentiment to say that depersonalized "stations" take away terrestrial radio's big advantage over satellite and the net -- localism. You can't have localism if you have no local people and all your programming is piped in from someplace else.
At least Billy Joe Blowhard drove the same streets and experienced the same weather as his listeners.

Nobody owes any of these radio companies a license to use the public's airwaves, yet they possess them as if they were a genuine property right. If they have "squatters rights" to the airwaves, is it so extreme to assert that the underpaid, underappreciated people who make up most of the radio workforce have a right to something better than a kick in the pants from a contracting industry? At least the UAW guys had buyout packages.

This is not just another industry. There is a public obligation here, one that can't be served by computers and satellite feeds. Exactly what is radio without people? An I-Pod without control, and what good is that?

 

[DeadElvis]

> yet they possess them as if they were a genuine property right.

That's because they ARE a property right, not just de facto, but de jury. Case law makes that abundantly clear, plus, with the advent of FCC auctions, the matter is simply now out in the open.

In today's world, a broadcast may do as he wants with HIS air. And, considering what he has presumably paid for the stick, that is as it should be. Fortunately, as HD gets on the air, and other, less traditional media come on line, the public may "vote with its feet," and find outlets that more appeal to needs and tastes.

Has localism taken a hit over the past decade, or so? Sure. But, one might argue, if the public were clamoring for such radio, there would be a smart broadcaster begging to fill the void. It just ain't happening, is it?

Seacrest Out!

DE

 

[radiosaur]

"David Eduardo" and "Seacrest" mentioned in the same thread....the Memphis board is officially in the toilet.

But I digress..how about


"Radio as an art form" is dead....?

 

[w9wi]

I think many of the posters assume that "more choice is better." Obviously, they've never heard or understood the sentiments behind the song "57 Channels and Nothing's On." People are suffering from "choice fatigue" in many areas, having to spend time sorting out their options as consumers.

Yet TV services (and yes, Sirius and XM) seem to sell nicely based on the availability of large numbers of choices.

(dual disclaimers: 1. I'm in Cheatham Co. & haven't listened to HD2 in Memphis. 2. My professional affiliation is TV, not radio.)

Is HD2 really delivering additional choices? Over here in Nashville, there's nothing on HD2 that you can't find on an analog signal in the market. [0] To a radio pro, the difference between 107.5-HD1 and 107.5-HD2 may be obvious but as a listener, they sure sound like time-shifted versions of the same thing. Likewise for the other commercial HDs.

[0] except on WPLN/NPR which counter-programs its HD2 - talk programs when analog is classical, classical music when analog is talk. I'd love to be able to get WPLN's *AM* station in HD - and I can during the day - but their analog disappears at night and HD isn't going to fix that.

=======================

What's going to happen with HD2 in the long run? Eventually you're going to have to start selling advertising in the HD2 channels - can't keep siphoning sellable ears off of the money-making main channels forever. Will the audience stick with HD2 once it's no longer commercial-free? Will stations stick with their (marginally, IMHO) niche-filling HD2 formats once there's pressure to do something easier to sell? Or are these HD2 channels being operated solely in an attempt to entice people to not buy Sirius/XM?

 

[J-Rod]

This may not be a problem in Memphis, but in the surrounding area I think the biggest problem with HD will be the cost.

In the Smaller Markets (were radio is still live and local) owner aren't going to be able to fork up the cash to convert to HD. I don't see huge corporate firms clamoring over these stations either, so I expect many will just go dark.

and to me that is the real threat of HD. I know many of you look down on small market, but to me... it's the only place where radio is still alive.

 

[littlebigradio]

I can imagine a day when there is no radio as we know it today. But God, I hope I don't live to see it! If radio as we know it no longer exists, what other things will go away? Will there still be refrigerators, electric drills, wall to wall carpet, picture frames........just rambling here....but all this makes as much sense as a world without radio.

 

[FastBytes]

Local coverage? Right! When bad weather hits, usually there is no one at the station because it's vt'd or coming out of the market.

You get the best weather coverage on the internet for a dozen different sources.

Yep... try getting that information from the Internet after the local disaster dejour when your cable/phone/cell lines are down, the electrical grid is damaged. Radio still has its place in those events where nothing else works. Just ask the folks down south effected by Katrina....

 

[DeadElvis]

> Just ask the folks down south effected by Katrina [about cell coverage, etc.]

Don't need to, really.

My Mom's house is in Biloxi. Though she evacuated, by brother was there the day after the storm, and called her from his cell, telling her the house was a total loss.

My brother lives in Pensacola. That same season, he called me from his radio station DURING the eye wall of Hurricane Dennis, on his cell. "Hey, this is sooo cool!"

The biggest mistake people made during the storms was letting the batteries on their cells go dead. If the towers stood, they generally worked.

DE

 

[radio_head]

Huh? What? I'm sorry, I was too busy shuffling my I-pod and creating my own personalized playlist to participate in the discussion about the death of radio. It's gone, the technology is outdated. Used to be, people needed radio to get their entertainment, the only place to hear a new song. Now radio is far down the list of music options.

Local coverage? Right! When bad weather hits, usually there is no one at the station because it's vt'd or coming out of the market.

It's funny how when people argue radio not being local as they expected they point to weather coverage. Like mentioned in the post, radio will stand strong in the wake of another natural disaster, but locality in radio now a days goes a bit deeper than weather. Prime example, Memphis In May this weekend and stations opening up for acts, getting the crowds pumped, handing out station memorabilia (great radio presence overall), I'd love to see someone get that satisfaction from an I-pod or sat radio channel. How about tickets to those major events/ concerts? A free DVD or two? Movie passes..In times like today, when the cost of everything is inflated, don't you think an average listener would feel that it's nice to know they have chance to flip over win something from a radio station once and a while? That's locality as it's finest---Promotions. Only local radio (and tv) can pull of the Ronald McDonald radiothon annually, a race for the cure event, pull together a few hot acts for a small scale local performance, you have to look at the bigger picture..Radio will be a form of entertainment, information, and local support for years to come ONLY IF people in the biz today treat it as such..A high-tech device isn't going to give you much "real life satisfaction" but it's guarentee to provide grief when it screws up or when it needs a new $50 battery ..No discredit to those who chose to go that route =)