You Know The Medium Is Dying When...

[DavidKaye]

...when people look forward to a column called Radio Waves that always looks backward, never forward.

 

[tripton99]

And how would BFT do that? Even if he didn't have a deadline 10 or 11 days ahead of publication, how much news, not speculation, would be in his column if it were about things that were going to happen? Or did I misunderstand your statement?

I for one understand his penchant for nostalgia in radio. There isn't much in today or tomorrow's radio that would be worth writing about.

 

[DyingMedium]

Well..the Medium is Dying. However, not much BFT can do about it. You can blame a lot of things...Number 1! Corporate Greed. 2. De-regulation. 3. De-localization of radio stations 4. And new technology which enabled listeners to give the one fingered salute to radio stations and record companies. Sad, really...I remember how attached I became to various stations/jocks while growing up. Try to find that passion in listeners today. (Listeners that aren't mentally unbalanced).

 

[WordLife]

More than anything it's the way you can pick and choose your own things to listen to. Just too many options. Back then it was cassette or radio...Now it's CDs, mp3 players, Satellite, iPods, etc...

What can radio really do?

 

[LKellerIII]

...when people look forward to a column called Radio Waves that always looks backward, never forward.

Always looks backward, never forward? Not true, at all. At the risk of revealing myself as a person with too much time on my hands...I checked the last 11 Radio Waves columns on sfgate.com. Seven of the eleven columns - that's 64% - were primarily about current happenings in the Bay Area radio world.

Of the 4 that looked "backward," one was an interview with Terry McGovern. Though he's not on the radio anymore, and talked about the old days at KSAN and KSFO, Terry is very much alive, and has things to say. The rest of the column was about the reunion of Sarah and Vinnie at Alice - a current story.

Another column that looked "backward" was about Les Crane. Though it was a retrospective of Crane's years in the 60s at KYA and KGO - it was written because Crane had died - a current story at the time it was posted.

Another backward column was about the new nominees to the Bay Area Radio Museum. Though there's an obvious nostalgia element to talking about old radio veterans, the nominations were a current story of interest to radio nerds everywhere.

So I think we need to give Ben a break, here. My college Stats professor would say my sample size was too small, but I don't have that much time on my hands.

 

[DavidKaye]

And how would BFT do that? Even if he didn't have a deadline 10 or 11 days ahead of publication, how much news, not speculation, would be in his column if it were about things that were going to happen? Or did I misunderstand your statement?

Let's see, he could write about the changes in Metro Traffic where people are getting laid off and the changes evident on stations. He could write about the various doing at KGO, which is still live and local and doing interesting things. He could write about the competition or lack thereof between KYLD and KMEL, or about how much Hispanic radio has made inroads in the area. He could write about the logistics of trying to cover the Bay Area (why KFOG bought a full-service repeater, KFFG). There are all kinds of current things to mine.

 

[DavidKaye]

What can radio really do?

Like any business it's a matter of determining what's different about the medium from other media. Radio has the distinction of reaching a large number of people in a small area extremely cheaply. No papers to print and distribute, no need to watch it on a screen. The live and local model that KGO uses obviously works, even on an AM station. Imagine what could happen doing something like that on FM.

KOIT also does live'n'local, though it doesn't seem that way because (except for Bobby Ocean) most of the KOIT DJs sound automated when they're not.