Guys like Roxalot (and others) have posted about new challenges facing terrestrial and satellit radio. The future is now. And here's some encouraging news for radio, especially CHR.
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The Future Of Radio
- Thread starter Radknowski
- Start date
There will always be radio, but the question that needs to be answered are whether there will be live local talent around in the future, and what kind of radio programming will be available?
A professor of communications at a local college informed me that he's noticed a major decline in the number of students that desire to make radio a career. He feels that's because a number of broadcasting companies would rather rely on automation or use syndicated programs instead of paying salaries and benefits to local staff.
Anyone who is either in the business or follows broadcasting is quite aware that there are radio stations in a market that airs copy-cat formats to compete with their competitors. Normally that means a live morning crew, followed by repetitious music and voice-over talent for the rest of the day.
Radio listener ship has declined for a reason; that being people are tired of hearing the same ole thing. So the future of radio will depend on what course of action station owners will take. If they go the present course then I believe you will see even more audience erosion.
A professor of communications at a local college informed me that he's noticed a major decline in the number of students that desire to make radio a career. He feels that's because a number of broadcasting companies would rather rely on automation or use syndicated programs instead of paying salaries and benefits to local staff.
Anyone who is either in the business or follows broadcasting is quite aware that there are radio stations in a market that airs copy-cat formats to compete with their competitors. Normally that means a live morning crew, followed by repetitious music and voice-over talent for the rest of the day.
Radio listener ship has declined for a reason; that being people are tired of hearing the same ole thing. So the future of radio will depend on what course of action station owners will take. If they go the present course then I believe you will see even more audience erosion.
Even so, an iPod with 1,000 songs -- which the iPod owner presumably likes -- will have a much deeper playlist than most music stations. And the iPod user won't have to endure repetitive programmatics, eight minute stop sets and 20 minutes of commercials an hour.
A
alw
Guest
Ed Trefzger said:
This, of course, presumes that everyone listens radio for nothing but music.
I contend that as one puts some years behind them, and we all do, we need more from radio than music.
A) weather conditions
B) school or work closings
C) election results
D) local, national & international news
and other things of interest to adults.
iPods don't offer these features.
What Mr. Radnowski posted about is the advent of new, wireless internet appliances that will function very much like a radio. The device will make it possible for a user to program Internet streams like station presets on a traditional radio.
One of the posts from our resident painter was about a chip set that can be incorporated into a small device, like an MP3 player, that will allow wireless Internet access from the device. BTW, one of the distinguishing features of the new Microsoft Zune player is that it has wireless network capability.
The bottom line is this: we are on the verge of a new delivery system for data. That data may include music, news, sports, traffic, election results, school or work closings, and anything else that may be found on the Internet.
Radio stations can look at this as competition, or as an opportunity. Those stations that provide compelling content, or add value to content that's already available elsewhere, will thrive. Those that stream syndicated or automated content that is available elsewhere - with the addition of commercial content - will be in trouble.
I believe that live and local content will be the coin of the realm. Whether we're talking news, information, or music, the local programmers will have to tailor their content to the tastes of the local populace, and add local insight to their presentations in order to offer more than a megacorporation can offer with their generic stream.
One other effect is that there will no longer be practical restrictions on the number of radio stations, and it will no longer cost millions to obtain a broadcast license and start a broadcast stream. You can be in business for a few thousand dollars, fighting for listeners and advertising dollars with the big boys.
One of the posts from our resident painter was about a chip set that can be incorporated into a small device, like an MP3 player, that will allow wireless Internet access from the device. BTW, one of the distinguishing features of the new Microsoft Zune player is that it has wireless network capability.
The bottom line is this: we are on the verge of a new delivery system for data. That data may include music, news, sports, traffic, election results, school or work closings, and anything else that may be found on the Internet.
Radio stations can look at this as competition, or as an opportunity. Those stations that provide compelling content, or add value to content that's already available elsewhere, will thrive. Those that stream syndicated or automated content that is available elsewhere - with the addition of commercial content - will be in trouble.
I believe that live and local content will be the coin of the realm. Whether we're talking news, information, or music, the local programmers will have to tailor their content to the tastes of the local populace, and add local insight to their presentations in order to offer more than a megacorporation can offer with their generic stream.
One other effect is that there will no longer be practical restrictions on the number of radio stations, and it will no longer cost millions to obtain a broadcast license and start a broadcast stream. You can be in business for a few thousand dollars, fighting for listeners and advertising dollars with the big boys.
Now that the telcoms are offering broadband wireless connections there may be something to the idea that "radio" is dying. There still remains the issue of paying for the content and as far as I know advertising is the only way to do it. Arbitron will have to have a deal with Microsoft to include ratings software with every computer sold in order to keep track of the listenership. Stay tuned.
Actually, you may be "paying for content" by paying for Internet service. In that case, the "advertising model" is still the way that streamers make money.
As far as Arbitron is concerned, isn't the new Portable People Meter supposed to monitor the sounds that a wearer is hearing, regardless of the source?
Maybe...just maybe...the future of radio is radio...
*Come Back, Mr. DJ*
Tom Van Riper, 11.24.06, 12:00 PM ET
/"I've been around the dial so many times, but you're
not there.
Somebody said that you'd been taken off the air. You
were my favorite
DJ, since I can't remember when..."/
It was tough to know just how prophetic those words
were when Ray
Davies
of the Kinks penned them in 1981 for a song called
"Around the Dial,"
which pays tribute to an anonymous former disc jockey
who seemed to
have
disappeared from the airwaves. Davies may have been
about two decades
early, but he was right on the money.
Times are tough for traditional live local disc
jockeys, as satellite,
online radio, pre-recorded voice tracking and
syndication across
markets
have taken huge chunks of their audiences, especially
among younger
adults. Veterans struggle to hang on, while aspirants
struggle with
fewer openings and lower pay.
Karen Blake, who's been spinning tunes on Boston radio
since the
mid-1980s, most recently on oldies station WODS, says
the new media
outlets have brought big-time changes to her job.
"Radio personalities need to have a lot of local
content and be more
entertaining than ever," she says.
A favorite DJ? What a quaint notion. But now they may
be on the cusp of
a comeback.
"It's an interesting and scary time," says veteran New
York City DJ
Carol Miller of classic rock station WAXQ. "It's like
a game of musical
chairs where one chair keeps getting taken away."
The Connecticut School of Broadcasting, which places
graduates into
many
facets of radio and television work, is seeing more
students lean
toward
the production side of the business, given the
technological advances
that allow for computerized programming of content,
according to Steve
Williams, the school's Wellesley Hills, Mass., campus
director.
But don't be surprised if things begin to change.
Those who lament the
"cookie cutter" radio being offered up by most FM
music stations around
the country--syndicated, plain vanilla programs with
tightly fragmented
play lists--could get their wish of seeing it go the
way of the
television variety show.
Some industry experts say radio's efforts to scale
costs have failed,
and that a return to developing local talent is key to
the future
success of what is largely a local medium.
And the recent announcement by Clear Channel
Communications, about to
go
private in an $18.7 billion buyout by Thomas H. Lee
Partners and Bain
Capital Partners, which will look to sell off 448 of
Clear Channel's
1,150 stations, could push the pendulum back again, to
a time when DJs
exuded a local flavor and educated their audience on
the artists whose
tunes they played. Clear Channel has lost a third of
its market value
over the past five years.
"Absolutely, for radio to be competitive it has to be
local," says Tom
Barnes, CEO of MediaThink, a business strategy
consultant that works
with several radio stations in various-sized markets.
While syndication
works for relatively generic shows like pop chart
countdowns and some
morning drive slots, everyday music radio isn't going
to compete with
MP3 players and online streaming by mimicking them.
Differentiation is
the key.
Barnes notes that while 95% of U.S. households still
tune in to
broadcast radio, the average time people spend
listening has dropped
steadily for years.
A renewed concentration on going local "is the only
thing that can save
the industry," he says.
Given the high costs of developing talent and the low
costs of
distribution, it's easy to see why radio executives
turned to
syndication and voice tracking to stretch its on-air
talent across as
much of the country as possible. But it's like former
Continental
Airlines CEO Gordon Berthune said about cost cutting
when he compared
selling customers on an airline to selling them
pizza--once you take
away the cheese, sauce and topping, you're left with
nothing but a
piece
of dough. An airline can't differentiate without good
service and
unique
features, and broadcast radio just isn't a compelling
listen without
live talent the locals can identify with.
"The stuff between the records is what's key, it's
what separates radio
from iPods," says Mark Ramsey, president of Hear 2.0,
a media research
firm in San Diego. He acknowledges that a lot of the
syndicated
programming out there sounds better than what most
local stations could
produce, given their managements' current reluctance
to invest in new
talent.
In other words, as Miller says, "You get what you pay
for."
Miller, who's been entertaining and informing New York
rock fans since
the early 1970s, hails from an era when DJs mixed
music with concert
specials and artist interviews and mostly had the
freedom to choose the
music that went on the air.
Want to know what Bruce Springsteen has been working
on lately? Tune in
to Miller's show.
In a partial concession to the times, she has taken a
second job
cutting
a daily program on Sirius Satellite Radio. She'd like
to see the young
up-and-comers in her industry have a chance to mix it
up with listeners
and artists on more local stations, but figures radio
needs to
seriously
step up its marketing for them to have much of a
chance.
"We're like the Maytag of media; you never see a story
about a great
refrigerator, but what keeps your food cool better?"
she says.
Marketing itself is something the industry just never
felt the need to
do until music downloading and satellite radio hit
like a sudden storm.
Instead, the focus has been on cost cutting, an
important component of
any business but not a formula for helping an industry
reinvent itself
and stay relevant. And you never know when that
reinvention catalyst
could hit. Miller was struck by the reaction she got
while strolling
down the street listening to a 1963 Fleetwood
transistor radio she'd
pulled from the closet.
"At least five people asked me, 'Wow, what's that?'
For all they knew
it
could have been the next big thing," she said.
A portable player carrying live radio. What a concept!
*Come Back, Mr. DJ*
Tom Van Riper, 11.24.06, 12:00 PM ET
/"I've been around the dial so many times, but you're
not there.
Somebody said that you'd been taken off the air. You
were my favorite
DJ, since I can't remember when..."/
It was tough to know just how prophetic those words
were when Ray
Davies
of the Kinks penned them in 1981 for a song called
"Around the Dial,"
which pays tribute to an anonymous former disc jockey
who seemed to
have
disappeared from the airwaves. Davies may have been
about two decades
early, but he was right on the money.
Times are tough for traditional live local disc
jockeys, as satellite,
online radio, pre-recorded voice tracking and
syndication across
markets
have taken huge chunks of their audiences, especially
among younger
adults. Veterans struggle to hang on, while aspirants
struggle with
fewer openings and lower pay.
Karen Blake, who's been spinning tunes on Boston radio
since the
mid-1980s, most recently on oldies station WODS, says
the new media
outlets have brought big-time changes to her job.
"Radio personalities need to have a lot of local
content and be more
entertaining than ever," she says.
A favorite DJ? What a quaint notion. But now they may
be on the cusp of
a comeback.
"It's an interesting and scary time," says veteran New
York City DJ
Carol Miller of classic rock station WAXQ. "It's like
a game of musical
chairs where one chair keeps getting taken away."
The Connecticut School of Broadcasting, which places
graduates into
many
facets of radio and television work, is seeing more
students lean
toward
the production side of the business, given the
technological advances
that allow for computerized programming of content,
according to Steve
Williams, the school's Wellesley Hills, Mass., campus
director.
But don't be surprised if things begin to change.
Those who lament the
"cookie cutter" radio being offered up by most FM
music stations around
the country--syndicated, plain vanilla programs with
tightly fragmented
play lists--could get their wish of seeing it go the
way of the
television variety show.
Some industry experts say radio's efforts to scale
costs have failed,
and that a return to developing local talent is key to
the future
success of what is largely a local medium.
And the recent announcement by Clear Channel
Communications, about to
go
private in an $18.7 billion buyout by Thomas H. Lee
Partners and Bain
Capital Partners, which will look to sell off 448 of
Clear Channel's
1,150 stations, could push the pendulum back again, to
a time when DJs
exuded a local flavor and educated their audience on
the artists whose
tunes they played. Clear Channel has lost a third of
its market value
over the past five years.
"Absolutely, for radio to be competitive it has to be
local," says Tom
Barnes, CEO of MediaThink, a business strategy
consultant that works
with several radio stations in various-sized markets.
While syndication
works for relatively generic shows like pop chart
countdowns and some
morning drive slots, everyday music radio isn't going
to compete with
MP3 players and online streaming by mimicking them.
Differentiation is
the key.
Barnes notes that while 95% of U.S. households still
tune in to
broadcast radio, the average time people spend
listening has dropped
steadily for years.
A renewed concentration on going local "is the only
thing that can save
the industry," he says.
Given the high costs of developing talent and the low
costs of
distribution, it's easy to see why radio executives
turned to
syndication and voice tracking to stretch its on-air
talent across as
much of the country as possible. But it's like former
Continental
Airlines CEO Gordon Berthune said about cost cutting
when he compared
selling customers on an airline to selling them
pizza--once you take
away the cheese, sauce and topping, you're left with
nothing but a
piece
of dough. An airline can't differentiate without good
service and
unique
features, and broadcast radio just isn't a compelling
listen without
live talent the locals can identify with.
"The stuff between the records is what's key, it's
what separates radio
from iPods," says Mark Ramsey, president of Hear 2.0,
a media research
firm in San Diego. He acknowledges that a lot of the
syndicated
programming out there sounds better than what most
local stations could
produce, given their managements' current reluctance
to invest in new
talent.
In other words, as Miller says, "You get what you pay
for."
Miller, who's been entertaining and informing New York
rock fans since
the early 1970s, hails from an era when DJs mixed
music with concert
specials and artist interviews and mostly had the
freedom to choose the
music that went on the air.
Want to know what Bruce Springsteen has been working
on lately? Tune in
to Miller's show.
In a partial concession to the times, she has taken a
second job
cutting
a daily program on Sirius Satellite Radio. She'd like
to see the young
up-and-comers in her industry have a chance to mix it
up with listeners
and artists on more local stations, but figures radio
needs to
seriously
step up its marketing for them to have much of a
chance.
"We're like the Maytag of media; you never see a story
about a great
refrigerator, but what keeps your food cool better?"
she says.
Marketing itself is something the industry just never
felt the need to
do until music downloading and satellite radio hit
like a sudden storm.
Instead, the focus has been on cost cutting, an
important component of
any business but not a formula for helping an industry
reinvent itself
and stay relevant. And you never know when that
reinvention catalyst
could hit. Miller was struck by the reaction she got
while strolling
down the street listening to a 1963 Fleetwood
transistor radio she'd
pulled from the closet.
"At least five people asked me, 'Wow, what's that?'
For all they knew
it
could have been the next big thing," she said.
A portable player carrying live radio. What a concept!
M
Mark_Giardina
Guest
I have always maintained that localism is the basis for good radio. Despite what consultants might claim, people do tune into radio to hear familiar voices telling them what the weather is going to be, if schools are open or closed, and items of local interest. Why do you think there is such a major emphasis on morning shows? For those who just want music, it’s cheaper to go out and buy CD’s.
Now whether the pendulum swings back to personality radio remains an unanswered question. The idea that the sale of Clear Channel stations to new owners might infuse local programming into those stations is just a theory at the moment. There is no evidence that this might be the route taken. It’s not impossible that the new owners of these stations could keep everything status quo.
So what’s the fate of local radio? I have no idea. Everything I’ve read and seen over the past years points to a shrinking professional workforce and not enough younger talent to fill what jobs are left. You have to remember that most media companies are interested in profit, not product. If they can make money on a format consisting of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas songs they will air it.
Local radio means hiring personnel. Hiring personnel means cutting into profits by paying salaries and benefits, along with unemployment insurance and sick time.
While it would be nice to see more stations hire qualified local people instead of depending on voice-over talent living thousands of miles away, one must still take into account the cost-factor.
If I were a betting man I wouldn’t invest my entire paycheck or IRA into the concept that personality radio, as I remember it, will be returning in the near future. Broadcasting is not run by broadcasters. It’s run by business executives who only look at the bottom line each month.
Now whether the pendulum swings back to personality radio remains an unanswered question. The idea that the sale of Clear Channel stations to new owners might infuse local programming into those stations is just a theory at the moment. There is no evidence that this might be the route taken. It’s not impossible that the new owners of these stations could keep everything status quo.
So what’s the fate of local radio? I have no idea. Everything I’ve read and seen over the past years points to a shrinking professional workforce and not enough younger talent to fill what jobs are left. You have to remember that most media companies are interested in profit, not product. If they can make money on a format consisting of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas songs they will air it.
Local radio means hiring personnel. Hiring personnel means cutting into profits by paying salaries and benefits, along with unemployment insurance and sick time.
While it would be nice to see more stations hire qualified local people instead of depending on voice-over talent living thousands of miles away, one must still take into account the cost-factor.
If I were a betting man I wouldn’t invest my entire paycheck or IRA into the concept that personality radio, as I remember it, will be returning in the near future. Broadcasting is not run by broadcasters. It’s run by business executives who only look at the bottom line each month.
Mark Giardina said:
A wonderfully thoughtful thread! A key point is that, if bandwidth is less of a concern, then it appears that Clear Channel and their ilk overpaid for all this RF spectrum space. Further, if radio content indeed ought to be localized (not necessarily local) -- a concept I agree with -- then the cost advantages that CC & others hope to gain through satellite-delivered formats doesn't mean much.
One likely outcome is that stations who program "traffic on the 2's" etc., will need to inject variability into their format timings, because I will listen to my iPod / Sirius radio until it's time for the local traffic / weather, when I'll press "pause" and hop over to the radio station to catch that traffic report. If the station is lucky, I'll hear and ad that directly precedes the traffic report.
That solution is, at best an interim solution...Here's a scenario that I would expect in a couple years if not sooner: Standardized, tagged audio packages (e.g. news, weather, traffic, shtick) are digitally delivered and then stored TiVo-style on my car radio. When I want the latest traffic, I simply punch up "traffic" and hear the most recently-transmitted report. That report contains an ad somehow woven into the content...or I pay a subscription fee (what a concept!) for the privilege of downloading said news or weather. That process would efficiently utilize local bandwidth and deliver localized content.
Much like JetBlue is capable of designing a global telephone reservations system based on people working at home in their pajamas with high-speed Internet access, vs. the traditional "call center" full of cubicles, so also will radio be increasingly produced and created by people who are *nowhere near* the location of the radio station. In other words...voice tracking.
Richard in Allentown, PA (but virtually in WNY)
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