I am passionate about radio. I don't care for the direction it has taken in the past 15 years or so. Still, I have to admit radio still works, people still listen and stations still make money. I think we have worked our way into a box we will have a very tough time getting out of (short playlists, ultra-calculated formatics, etc.) and I think we suffer from a lack of innovative ideas because no investor is ready to stand behind what has not been proven to wotk time and time again.
For those of us who love and still work in the business, I think we recognize that radio is in a transformation time. Other media options will affect radio but nobody has built a better mousetrap yet. So I think radio will be around. Change always comes too slowly but it happens everywhere. I think most of us are frustrated because we come from the creative side of the radio building and we see how those putting up the cash care a lot more about a return on the investment than creativity. Luckily, we're unstoppable rebels who sneak a little in here or there meaning the new trends we create evolve much slower than in the past when a desparate owner would try anything yesterday to stop the red ink from flowing.
