NY Times profiles Radio audiences... or lack thereof

[x13thfloorrand]

From NY Times: Sept 15, 2006

The radio industry keeps losing people like Danny C. Costa, a senior at Boston University who grew up listening to radio in New York and New Jersey.

For the last few years, Mr. Costa has tuned out radio in favor of Web sites where he can get access to downloads or videos he heard about from friends. He prefers these to the drumbeat of the Top 40. He burns his favorite songs onto CD’s or copies them onto his iPod....

Nytimes.com has the 'rest of the story'

 

[Mark_Giardina]

The New York Times article, while interesting to read, doesn’t reveal anything that people in broadcasting already know.

As for Clear Channel considering selling off some of their “smaller market” stations, all that means is that another major media conglomerate will just come in and scoop them up. Just look at what happened with the CBS radio stations in Rochester were for sale. Who had the money to purchase them? Entercom.

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[anoldguy]

The New York Times article, while interesting to read, doesn’t reveal anything that people in broadcasting already know.

There was nothing in the article that indicated that station owners would try to make the stations more interesting to listen to and do what satellite and I-pods can't do -make it sound local

As for Clear Channel considering selling off some of their “smaller market” stations, all that means is that another major media conglomerate will just come in and scoop them up.

I took it to mean "smaller markets" like Utica or Akron. C. C. doesn't need to own stations in Remsen or Little Falls. They can't be major revenue producers for a big corperation.

 

[Radknowski]

I've driven I-90 and the New York State Thruway Radio Corridor more than 500 times in my life and my former career in radio. It's amazing how bland and don-descript radio stations sound along the way. "Big Blocks" of non-stop rock; "Thirty Minute Music Marathons;" "The Most Light Rock Favorites" and on and on. Froggy, Lite, Soft Rock, Mix, Drive, Classic Rock, New Rock, B, X, Z, Q, Magic, Star, Hits, Lake, River, Creek, NewsRadio, SportsRadio, NewsTalk, Talk, Left, Right but oddly, no Center.

That's it... I've just stumbled upon it... the next big thing in talk radio: The Center... Fair and Imbalanced, brought to you by Zoloft!

I'll say this, though. There are some unique voices, there are some talented people, there are some interesting quirks and nuances. But unfortunately, the talented people are saying almost the same things whether they're in Utica, Erie, Albany or New York.

The other day, I was listening to The Lake for the first time in weeks. The music wasn't bad. A bit more hit-oriented and familiar than a few years ago. The station still uses those worn out Lake positioners that have become tiringly familiar. Still, I was listening. But it occured to me the jocks sounded droll, dispassionate and unexcited. I heard a song from Jefferson Airplane that I'd not heard in a while and thought, "if I were back-selling that song, I'd exude some genuine excitement for just having played a good song by a good group that doesn't get played by any other radio station in Buffalo." Instead, the backsell sounded like the jock was reading the instructions for assembling an outdoor grill.

Posters in other threads have offered that markets like Canandagua, Amsterdam and Fredonia are pretty interesting places. You'd hardly know it by listening to the radio stations that are licensed to serve those cities in the public interest, convenience and necessity."

I'm still a great defender and proponent of radio, but a friend of mine is fond of ridiculing my interesting in the medium, telling me, "Don't expect too much from radio, you'll only be disappointed."[/Mike]

 

[raymond_shaw]

"Don't expect too much from radio, you'll only be disappointed."

A good point. And in today's deregulated radio world(like much of the rest of the buisiness world): "Don't love the corporation because the corporation won't love you back"