Radio Digs Its Own Grave as Cultural Currents Shift

[StageFright]

http://variety.com/2013/music/news/radio-digs-its-own-grave-as-cultural-currents-shift-1200500285/

 

[secondchoice]

IMHO:

1. If Sirius XM wasn't so digitally compressed, they could be a real threat.

2. I would hate to be a Pandora shareholder:
http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/P/tab/5

3. The most of the cell companies either limit or throttle your data.

4. even WIFI can get overwhelmed with too many users.

Being "free" radio wins. The younger generations will not pay for recorded music, as long as there are file sharing sites.

 

[Leykis101]

Yep. Radio is whistling by the graveyard. They hesitated to get streaming and podcasts online, but finally caved. Now with Internet radio, tons of free, high-quality streams specializing in all genres all over the globe are at your fingertips on apps like tunein. As streaming apps get real estate space in car dashboards now and in the future, the playing field will be leveled. Data costs are bound to go down over time as technology moves on.

Just take a look at what former radio talkers like Tom Leykis (www.blowmeuptom.com) are doing online now. Uncensored, streaming live and 24/7 on replay until the next live show. Trending in tunein daily, tons of listeners, a social media presence. Selling premium podcasts, selling and attracting advertisers and making money. It can be done. Content is king, not the appliance. And people will pay for quality. They did it for TV and will do it for audio content as well. Look at the listeners that Howard Stern took to satellite radio back in 2006 and continues to bring.

It will take time to form a bigger community, but this Internet radio thing is a force for music variety and especially talk radio hosts who don't want to be limited and listeners who don't want the FCC to babysit and censor content and opinions.

 

[Nate Wesley]

I don't think terrestrial radio speaks to its listeners' lifestyles as well as it could, both across music formats and within formats themselves.

Technology is one such format-neutral subject. Why is most of the talk on computer/smartphone/software/app stuff stuck on the Kim Kommando show, buried on talk station weekends? CNET, Engadget, The Verge, etc. publish news and reviews on products almost every weekday that somebody could use, from a Kickin' Country listener to someone listeing to 'La Jefa'. For a morning, midday, or drivetime show, why not have a local tech expert take quick calls or text questions?

Tech too heady? How about a finance expert? One for pets and animals? (ESPN host Dan Lebatard has such a segment on his local Miami sports show, and its often pretty hilarious what Zoo Miami's Ron Magill gets asked.)

Allow me to stereotype some within formats (but with good intentions): Outdoors experts on country stations? Urban-friendly sports/talk and news/talk segments for hip-hop/R&B stations (since the audience for 'mainstream' sports or news/talk isn't quite the same)? A foodie or fashion blogger on the CHR or Hot AC stations?

Of course, some of these ideas involve people who might want to be paid (perish the thought!). But I think they're worth experimenting with, because radio's days of being the sole jukebox are definitely over.

 

[Tom Wells]

Streaming is going to have to work a WHOLE lot better before I ever begin to try to use it in all the places I use radio.

I don't know if I should be blaming AT&T or who, but I still keep trying to stream audio in the car, and it's mostly a bust,
lots of waiting, buffering, and re-linking. I want to listen, not fuss endlessly to get a connection.

I'm just trying to use it over a 20-mile path from home to work in market #3, and it's very disappointing.


Meanwhlie radio works seamlessly.
I hope I'm as strong and vital as I "dig my own grave".
Digital distrubution seems to have a hard time just getting out of the incubator.

 

[secondchoice]

If the IEEE 802.16e (mobile WIMAX) gets past the FCC into the US:


http://www.cs.tut.fi/kurssit/TLT-6556/Slides/3-802.16e.pdf

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/logi...re.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=4594817

http://www.fastcompany.com/1760834/wi-not-south-koreas-seoul-blanket-city-free-wi-fi


A lot of OTA, cell and cable operators will have to rethink their business model.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Yep. Radio is whistling by the graveyard. They hesitated to get streaming and podcasts online, but finally caved.

Most people went to streaming sites to get away from radio. Bringing product to the internet doesn't magically make it better. The "predictable unpredictability" of radio is gone so if one is looking for just music the streaming sources are a better choice. I say more Art and showmanship, less science. Anyone can do research.

 

[FredLeonard]

All the concerns raised here about new media speak to when terrestrial radio succumbs, not to if. Sooner or later, a new delivery system for audio content will supersede rusty towers and the broadcast model.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Sooner or later, a new delivery system for audio content will supersede rusty towers and the broadcast model.

That day is already here. All it comes down to at this point is mainstream acceptance, and that is fast approaching.