Re-inventing Atlanta Radio

[jabba17]

...These are baby steps toward the future of radio. I believe that ultra niche and on-demand will be the norm and big corporations broadcasting a few generic formats for the masses will decline.

It’s true that right now you need a certain amount of geek skills, but new gadgets make it easier every day. It’s gonna be cool…Now, where’s that flying car they promised me in the 60’s?

Ultra-niche may be the norm...but how will that happen on terrestrial radio? It won't happen with the current station landscape of 8-12 full power stations, a similar number of lower-power cram-ins, and some rimshots. Everybody, from CC on down to the mom-and-pop operations, will be going after the money with the money formats (see above). Generic may be generic, but it brings in the listeners (and consequently the advertisers), even if by default. Rich hobbyists who don't need the money (like Joe Weber) are the exception (and he's on AM, not FM). The only niche format on a major signal in ATL is Dave, and they have a 2 share to show for it. Dave's days are numbered unless they can get some more share.

It could happen if each signal can spawn, say, 5 HD subchannels (not the current 1 or 2) that could be targeted towards particular niches, and if IBiquity gets off its butt and sells some radios.

It's always fun to forecast the future. Everybody predicted flying cars, but nobody predicted being able to put an entire movie on a palm-sized disk read by a laser beam, or being able to cook food in minutes with radio waves, or being able to put your entire record collection in your pocket (and your friend's record collection, and your friend's friend's record collection... ).

In Back To The Future II, set in 2015, fax machines were everywhere and everyone still primarily used telephone landlines. Nobody expected the Internet/WWW (except Algore ;D )--and there's little excuse for that considering that Internet email and Usenet (but not the WWW) were alive and well in certain circles on college campuses in the 80s.

We finally got the Picture Phone (via webcams), but nobody wants to use it, even for free.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Ultra-niche may be the norm...but how will that happen on terrestrial radio? It won't happen with the current station landscape of 8-12 full power stations, a similar number of lower-power cram-ins, and some rimshots. Everybody, from CC on down to the mom-and-pop operations, will be going after the money with the money formats (see above). Generic may be generic, but it brings in the listeners (and consequently the advertisers), even if by default. Rich hobbyists who don't need the money (like Joe Weber) are the exception (and he's on AM, not FM). The only niche format on a major signal in ATL is Dave, and they have a 2 share to show for it. Dave's days are numbered unless they can get some more share.

It could happen if each signal can spawn, say, 5 HD subchannels (not the current 1 or 2) that could be targeted towards particular niches, and if IBiquity gets off its butt and sells some radios.

We were touring in Maine and in the back seat was an architect. As we oooh and aaaaah over the beautifully maintained and restored Victorian homes, from the back seat she asks: "Do you know why these homes have all that lace and gingerbread?" Her answer was this. Some fool had invented the scroll saw. Every builder who was successful bought one and then they felt they had to use it. How else would people know they were successful and owned one of those trendy new saws unless the buildings they built had trim that could only have been created with such a saw. IT WAS AN EGO-TRIP FOR CARPENTERS!!!

Well, here we are a 100, maybe 150 years later, and some fool has found that if you are willing to make the audio crippled, you can actually stack maybe 6 or 8 channels of sound on each radio transmitter frequency. And in the tradition of those Yankee Craftsmen, our ego will cause us to prove we are rich enough to buy the digital stuff, and prove we are smart enough to make it work.

The amazing thing about this thread so far is that NOBODY has come forth with recipes and ingredients to make the current channels better, as we expect them to be in the future. So if we have a dozen or so primary frequencies in Atlanta and another dozen viable secondary frequencies and they all can have, say for round numbers, six additional audio streams... let's see: that is 24 stations times (primary channel plus six additional) 7 = 168 terrestrial channels.

We don't seem to have much inspiration for the channels we currently have. So what are we.... wait a minute... I am having a brain spasm as we type... Here you go: Channel 163: "Lawrence Welk Plays the Music of Latvia, Left Handed on the Solid State Accordion".

Here we go: Brain spasm #2. In the news lately has been all this political discussion about funds paid out by the Department of Agriculture to rich people with incomes up to 750,000 per year for not planting crops on land they own somewhere, and to subsidize some of the crops they do plant. Atlanta needs, right now, an agriculture station so these people can hear the county agents from the various communities where all this land is located telling them when to plant and when to harvest, and what the current market price is. These people may wine and dine in Buckhead, but if you haven't noticed, there are no cotton farms, corn farms or prairies of wheat in Buckhead or Dunwoody.

 

[Uriah]

Lots of noses pressed up against the glass here. Step back and look beyond the radio industry for perspective. WSJ reports that 30% of 18-24 year olds live in homes with no landline phone - for 25-29 year olds it's 34.5%! The landline is to the phone industry as the FM and AM bands are to radio - contracting in use, and eventually limited in relevance and profitability.

So what's a phone company to do? The armchair PD's on this post would probably say hire better operators - or maybe a shock operator where she can say what she really thinks to callers! Bet there’s even someone who thinks the phone line EQ is the problem….

The land line phone can’t be reinvented - nor can radio. We define radio as AM/FM. Listeners need "tuners" less and less to be informed or entertained - like their lessening dependency on a land line phone.

Evolving radio is the call to action. And it’s happening!

Cox, Emmis and CBS are utilizing more contemporary channels to reach their audiences, going beyond the two traditional bands of frequencies. Emmis, for example, now consults other groups and shares web technology advances. They also were one of the first to partner with iTunes for chart downloads. CBS's last.fm, and the very cool Pandora.com, build a playlist around artist you choose using code that could one day allow listeners to instantly refine a playlist.

Market dominating stations live with their audience. What once was a request line or remote at a concert has evolved into texting on big screens and sending email updates for the weekend movies to opt-in cell #'s with a value offer for being a member of Station X’s VIP Club.

It’s nothing more than a romantic notion to suggest reinventing AM/FM radio (anyone still use a rotary dial phone?) The future calls for radio owners and operators to fully utilize new delivery channels and to continue providing the most relevant, entertaining, sought after content.