Drucifer said:
My point is that radio is losing and in some cases has lost it's compelling edge, it no longer has the advantage of being the only "in car" or "personal media device." It's very existence and ability to morph into the next generation of programming is coming...I hope but so far, I'm not hearing it.
I view things differently. I believe the audience has splintered into many many smaller groups, making traditional methods of measurement, like cume, obsolete. The word "compelling" has infinite meanings depending on the specific individuals we're talking about. So what's compelling to you is probably not compelling to, on average, 92% of the other people in your listening area. So this idea of radio magically "morphing" into something "compelling" is kind of silly. Radio will continue to do what it does, aiming at the largest of the small groups available. If you're not in any of those larger small groups, then you'll chase after something more personalized, like the aforementioned iPod. In your case, you've said you've tuned out. So you're not counted any more. And if something "compelling" comes along, you'll miss it because your attention is elsewhere. That's the reality of the situation. Creating something new and compelling is unlikely to have much impact because attention spans are shorter, and few people actually SEEK OUT or SCAN radio dials as they once did. They have their favorites lists, and they continue to frequent them, while tuning out all the clutter.
I'm constantly amazed at people who complain about "limited play lists" or "playing the same songs over and over." I ask them if they've ever tried a different station, maybe one with a different format. They say no. So it decomes a self-defining circumstance, where a station plays the same songs, and yet they keep tuning in to the same station. If you've heard every song on the classic rock station, try listening to country for a week. I promise you'[ll hear lots of songs and artists you never heard before. We control our media, not the other way around. If people truely want something different, it's out there. But it won't be on the favorites list or among the presets on the radio. But that takes time, has an element of risk, and challenges our sense of what we really want. Do we really want something different, or something similar.
Meanwhile, AM radio is still in the last century. If you're waiting for something compelling to come along on AM, my guess is you'll be waiting a very long time. There's not much money there, the audience is older, more stuck in its ways, less attractive to advertisers, and there's probably only a couple AM stations per market worth a damn. That's not going to change.
