Radio Digs Its Own Grave

[Thomps2525]

After a brief search of the various forum topics on RadioDiscussions.com, I finally decided that this forum is a good place for this story. (If it isn't, don't tell me---my feelings get hurt very easily.) A June 18 Variety essay says that terrestrial radio is digging its own grave. Bob Lefsetz cites Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, iTunes, satellite radio, and the soon-to-be-common wi-fi in automobiles as some of the listening choices that are eroding the audience of terrestrial radio. He condemns radio's "me-too music" and "inane commercials" and programmers' lack of innovation. I certainly can't disagree.

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

 

[TheBigA]

The problem with Lefsitz is he's not typical, in any way, shape or form. He's a boomer who wants radio to stay in the box it was in when he was a kid, yet he clearly wouldn't listen now even if it still was. He believes everyone wants to hear new music by unknown artists, and the reality is most people don't care. Sure, some folks have lots of time on their hands, and they search the internet for new and obscure bands and music, and it makes them cool and hip with their friends. But at the end of the day, most people are satisfied with the hits that get played every day on the radio.

Sure Bob can pick a couple of hits that were created on YouTube, and radio missed. But even today, there are hundreds that radio didn't miss, and radio is the most dependable way to get people to show up at concerts. Maybe not Bob, since he doesn't listen. But Bob gets his tickets for free. So he doesn't matter.

When you read this guy, he doesn't like anything. He thinks music should be pure and innocent. Yet be loves and sucks up to the label heads he hates. He thinks radio is dead. Yet almost all of the artists he talks about are airplay darlings. He hates big corporations, yet he has worked for several of them, and admitedly shills for Spotify.

I think the one thing he's right about is the reason Pandora and all these streaming sites haven't been as effective as OTA radio is they're run by techies, and music taste isn't about algorhythms. I agree with that. For all of his critism about OTA radio, it's still the only place with a human touch. Yes there are fewer human hands, but there are still way more people involved in the music on OTA radio than any other place. Which is why when people have the choice of thousands of streaming sites, the ones they end up at are the ones being run by OTA radio companies.

 

[Thomps2525]

Mister A, can you forsee a time when terrestrial radio will be mostly news, talk, sports and Spanish language...on FM as well as on AM? in the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than a third of the motorists in Los Angeles had their radio tuned to KFWB (then a top-40 station). In the latter half of the '60s, KHJ blasted from the radio of half the cars that drove down Sunset Boulevard. There are now so many stations, each trying to appeal to a specific "demographic group," that a station with a meager 5% audience share is considered successful. A format that would appeal to adults as well as to teenagers---a format such as KFWB once had---would never work today. It wouldn't even be attempted. People will listen to talk and news and sports but when it comes to music, an increasing number of listeners want to do their own programming. Radio may not be "digging its own grave," as Lefsetz claims, but how can music radio compete with all the do-it-yourself music channels?

 

[TheBigA]

Mister A, can you forsee a time when terrestrial radio will be mostly news, talk, sports and Spanish language...on FM as well as on AM?

That's a good question. My view is it's really up to the music industry. In other words, I would have titled this article "Music Digs Its Own Grave," because it has. The music industry is driving all the fragmentation we see in radio. And at the same time, the music industry is doing next to nothing to promote most of those fragmented genres. They just throw it, like spaghetti, against the wall and waits to see what sticks. The music industry NEEDS radio to promote its music, and they're doing everything they can to make it difficult.

Radio is a mass medium. They need music that appeals to the masses in order to attract advertising. Otherwise, the system doesn't work. So my answer to your question is I think there will be a few genres that WILL continue to attract mass audiences, and will continue to be viable music formats for radio. But Rock is not one of them. Rock killed itself. It began 25 years ago, and really hasn't recovered. There is no A&R in rock any more, no promotion, and no real strategy. Meanwhile, urban and country are very viable on OTA radio. Same with Top 40. I think they will remain viable for at least another generation, although the device may change from traditional radio to streaming.

 

[davideduardo]

Mister A, can you forsee a time when terrestrial radio will be mostly news, talk, sports and Spanish language...on FM as well as on AM?

News, talk, sports, religion, brokered, specialized ethnic.

Sports is making a somewhat gradual migration to FM and with much higher success than news talk, so it will be around. Coupled with the restrictions on broadcasting play by play via streams, where many teams hold those rights separate, radio will have a pretty long hold on lots of sports.

Spanish, not so much. Hispanics have a higher percentage of smartphone ownership and make considerable use of station streams, amalgamated stream providers and Pandora.

We'll have a very slow, gradual change in FM, and the virtual death of AM over the next 5 to 7 years, with FM signals being just one of several distribution methods for content and most consumers switching to new media devices and not radios.

 

[Groove1670]

The problem with Lefsitz is he's not typical, in any way, shape or form. He's a boomer who wants radio to stay in the box it was in when he was a kid, yet he clearly wouldn't listen now even if it still was.

Very true. He never was the typical radio listener anyway. He never liked mainstream radio in the first place.

The problem is the record companies now will take a certain type of music (such as turbo pop) and milk it to death.

Radio factors in with that model.

Yes it has always been that way, but more rapid now.

Artists are now disposable, and have a very short shelf life. (Justin Bieber anyone). How many songs can we push at the same time on the Mumford & Sons album to the public, or who can Pitbull sing with now to make a quick and instant hit.

With a drum machine, the music industry can produce a endless supply of low cost talent.

A public with a short attention span, declining music sales, and the internet, has changed the industry.

Mark em down, and move em out. The artist is now music inventory.

The days of a Billy Joe or Elton John are over. To find an Adele will be rare.

 

[TheBigA]

I agree with what you're saying, but that's why I say the article should have been titled "Music Digs Its Own Grave."

Lefsitz builds his whole premise about radio around the idea that radio is ignoring the web. Guess he hasn't heard of iheartradio. Maybe CC should invite him to their festival this year. He only "knows about" things he goes to for free.

 

[butlerguy03]

The days of a Billy Joe or Elton John are over. To find an Adele will be rare.

It always was rare. That's why certain artists are considered "elite." Elton John spanned several decades and generations, I would argue that Mariah Carey has too. Every generation has their stars.

 

[SaltyDog]

After a brief search of the various forum topics on RadioDiscussions.com, I finally decided that this forum is a good place for this story. (If it isn't, don't tell me---my feelings get hurt very easily.)

In that case, it was a brilliant article. Until now, we'd never considered the impact of the Internet on terrestrial radio.

 

[Thomps2525]

I'm researching another big story about how the new invention of television may start cutting into motion-picture theater attendance.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm researching another big story about how the new invention of television may start cutting into motion-picture theater attendance.

Right...now we have RedBox, NetFlix, and other outlets for movies, and theaters are still doing fine.

I can't let Lefsitz say something like this completely unchallenged:

Terrestrial radio listenership is not close to what it once was.

The fact is it IS! It's almost EXACTLY what it once was, 25 years ago, before deregulation, before all the layoffs, before the internet, and before the collapse of the music industry. If you look at radio usage as a percentage of the population, it's just about the same.

So he builds his entire article around false premises like this, and then the article gets emailed around the country. I received at least five copies myself! I don't have the heart to explain to them all of the problems with the article.