Topics

[Mario500]

What types of discussions would you prefer to hear on radio and would you like to hear those discussions more often? I usually enjoyed discussions about technology and broadcasting more often than any other topic normally discussed on radio and wish to hear those types of discussions more often. If I were in charge of programming for a local radio station, I would produce a program for folks to discuss local broadcasting on a regular basis from Monday through Friday and get the local rights to broadcast "Leo Laporte the Tech Guy" (broadcasting the program locally would get the attention of folks who had never heard of the program, even folks with computers capable of accessing live streams and recordings of the program).

 

[Info-warrior]

A show about radio would be interesting, There are loads of issues related to local broadcasting that I never really though of until reading these boards; zoning, environmental impact studies, interference studies, and so forth. The concern is if staying truely local, the show might run out of steam. The focus may have to be expanded as these issues are handled differently in other states, heck, different counties in the same state may vary significantly.

While these are not all strictly broadcast related, you may consider covering topics such as Ham radio, short wave listening, FM/AM dxing, pirate radio, CB. I'd be willing to bet if such show existed, you'd find members involved with all those activities who would have a discussion.

The trouble may be getting the advertisers. A show like this would probably work best as a shortform program, say 1 hour each night. Some might see that as a detriment, but I don't. The short format allows you to break up a large issue over a few nights, allowing for a more indepth discusion, without overwhelming the audience.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I can't see focusing on "broadcasting" day after day after day. Now and then, yes. So something else has to be the underlying threme of the show you are trying to visualize.... or is that "audiblize"?

Maybe think: How does society communicate in the 21st century.

Discuss newspaper industry on some shows. Discuss the role Service Clubs like the Rotary and the Lions Club and Kiwanis have played in comunities and neighborhoods as a communications vehicle (as separated from the COMMUNITY SERVICE they perform.)

Discuss the roll of "houses of worship" as a communications vehicle in addition to it being a place of worship.

Discuss the role of the local library as a vehicle of communication.

But going back to the proposal: Just how many minutes or hours of discussing the grimy, squirmy guts of the radio industry does the general radio listener, even the hard core TALK listener want to sit through?

Color me "uninspired" but I have trouble seeing it as a regular topic that would draw any significant audience.... long term.

 

[mescutia]

Maybe think: How does society communicate in the 21st century.

Discuss newspaper industry on some shows. Discuss the role Service Clubs like the Rotary and the Lions Club and Kiwanis have played in comunities and neighborhoods as a communications vehicle (as separated from the COMMUNITY SERVICE they perform.)

Discuss the roll of "houses of worship" as a communications vehicle in addition to it being a place of worship.

Discuss the role of the local library as a vehicle of communication.

But going back to the proposal: Just how many minutes or hours of discussing the grimy, squirmy guts of the radio industry does the general radio listener, even the hard core TALK listener want to sit through?

Color me "uninspired" but I have trouble seeing it as a regular topic that would draw any significant audience.... long term.

Sounds like something that would work much better as a podcast than a radio show.

 

[Mario500]

Mescutia reminded me of a series of shows from the This Week in Tech (TWiT) Network called "Ham Nation", as in ham radio.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Maybe think: How does society communicate in the 21st century.

Discuss newspaper industry on some shows. Discuss the role Service Clubs like the Rotary and the Lions Club and Kiwanis have played in comunities and neighborhoods as a communications vehicle (as separated from the COMMUNITY SERVICE they perform.)

Discuss the roll of "houses of worship" as a communications vehicle in addition to it being a place of worship.

Discuss the role of the local library as a vehicle of communication.

But going back to the proposal: Just how many minutes or hours of discussing the grimy, squirmy guts of the radio industry does the general radio listener, even the hard core TALK listener want to sit through?

Color me "uninspired" but I have trouble seeing it as a regular topic that would draw any significant audience.... long term.

Sounds like something that would work much better as a podcast than a radio show.

I danced all around it and failed to see the obvious. I think you are right on the money.

My personal schedule right now discourages me from following some podcasts that I find very interesting. Maybe in the coming months I can plunge into this listening genre (again).

So how is Podcasting working out? Some things seem to operate just below the surface where do don't see them unless we are looking. One of things keeping me busy is moving into audio book narration. I stopped this afternoon at a music store to buy a "music rack", or "music stand" if you please. The 'senior citizen' waiting on me wanted to be helpful and he kept asking me questions about what kind of stand I wanted and why I turned my nose up at one he suggested. When I explained that it would be used to hold scripts for book narration... out came HIS story. He just finished listening to a book on Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly.

How many people do we way hello to in a given day and we never know that they listen to Podcasts or they listen to Audio-books or whatever else. The Podcast format would be so great for a "forum" on radio because drop-in audio tracks could be included to illustrate what was being discussed.

 

[radiocph]

The hams have a news program called "Newsline" (http://www.arnewsline.org/) that is often played over repeaters and simplex amateur radio stations. I suppose it could go out over an AM/FM broadcasting station, although as far as I know, that's not been done.

There's another podcast that might work well over the air - Let's Talk Trains (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/letstalktrains) for the railroad/railfan hobby.

Let's get creative. There's more to life out there than politics and sports, and it just takes a pd willing to stick their neck out a little...

 

[wadio]

My personal schedule right now discourages me from following some podcasts that I find very interesting. // Some things seem to operate just below the surface where do don't see them unless we are looking.

What's missing is a Spotify-like or Pandora-like service for spoken word programming. Such a service would stream a series of shows and podcasts based on the user's input or could be programmed to stream specific shows at a specific day and time, allowing the user to in effect create his or her personal virtual radio station.

Currently the access to streaming radio and podcasts is too chaotic and the technology of listening too cumbersome.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What's missing is a Spotify-like or Pandora-like service for spoken word programming. Such a service would stream a series of shows and podcasts based on the user's input or could be programmed to stream specific shows at a specific day and time, allowing the user to in effect create his or her personal virtual radio station.

I am not sure what you would like to see in a new service that isn't there... but iTunes will do exactly what you have described. I'm not an Apple person so I was not keeping up with iTunes and iPod like things. I was editing some church worship recordings which had in the past been distributed by CD. Then some creative rascal in the group grabbed us by the ears and said... "no, no, no. Put them on-line... like this."

I had an interesting learning curve. Had to get up-close-and-personal with a language... well, not so much a language but a file type called XML. For a while I had a mixture of Podcasts coming to my computer automatically. It was a little bit like subscribing to an e-mail or blog. Various audio programs magically appeared in my computer. I could listen on the computer, or port them over to my mp3 player and listen during my daily walk.

So... what you asked for, what you described... is pretty much here. Look into RSS and iTunes.

Why do I describe all this in a "past tense" kind of way? About a year and a half ago my computer blew up at the same time some one very special to me became a cancer patient. No time to load everything onto the new computer. No time for nice long walks while listening to my mp3 player.

But this year... when Spring arrives on the scene, maybe both the iTunes and the walks can fit into my schedule.

P.S. For anyone wondering: Good outcomes on the cancer front.

 

[wadio]

GRC, what you're describing is kinda my point -- for average people with busy lives there are too many acronyms, too big a learning curve! I'm not an Apple person either -- I know people who use iTunes but I have yet to find anyone who actually likes it. OTOH, people love Pandora because it's easy to use and "discovers" things for them. I think iHeart is supposed to work that way but its talk content is limited.

The major advantages of terrestrial radio are still convenience and portability. I guess digital media is moving in the same direction but still has a way to go, IMO.