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Who Needs Radio?
DragonMagic writes "MSNBC asks what many /.ers have been asking: Who needs the radio anymore? Rather, it goes on to really ask, who needs the RIAA anymore? With online music distribution sources, television, and the internet itself, how much longer will it be before the radio, and the RIAA, will be an obsolete means to promote artists?"
Why do you assume that only music is played over the radio? I listen to NPR for hours every day on my daily drive to/from work.
Anyone who doesn't have fast internet access or a television (or who doesn't want to pay for cable television).
Anyone who likes to camp and take a $5 transistor radio along, rather than lug a satellite uplink system for online-access.
Anyone who drives, and likes to have music or blather going while doing it (driving, that is).
In short, a LOT of people.
Maybe 'we' dont need them, but their miniturization and tiny cost make them a difficult technology to let go of, if you look across the demographic spectrum.
To say nothing about me prefering drivers listening to the radio rather than watching TV, if they are interested in having somebody else picking the tunes
Just some stupid thoughts.
"Old man yells at systemd"
The problem is that the 25 mile long ethernet cable running to my car gets tangled too easy.
Or, to be more specific, I love a few radio stations. WFMU (wfmu.org; 91.1 in the NYC/NJ area), KFJC, a few other great stations. The radio we don't need is all the monopolized Clear Channel stations. We all know they suck. But great, personal, free-form radio is still out there, and with web streaming is thankfully more available than ever. Maybe I'm crazy, but I like to be surprised by what I like once in a while. Without WFMU, I'd be listening to the same stuff over and over. If you're tired of radio, you're listening to the wrong stations.
I listen to the radio all the time in the car whilst driving. Its a much safer option than tape, CD or MP3. Less fiddling about changing song and the like. I just poke a button and I've changed channel. Radio's 'killer app' has always been being able to listen to music in the car for me. Better than listening to people honk at me when I cut them up at junctions anyway.
... or did everyone in the world become a computer user/music downloader over night?
...
Not everyone has a PC and not everyone get's their taste of new music from the interent.
In fact I would say that most people hear music on the radio then either buy the CD or download the mp3.
I doubt that services iTunes will make radio stations disappear
"Yeah Tommy, before Zee Germans get here
Maybe I just starting to get old, but NPR is a good way to stay abreast of the latest news during my daily commute and provides some sanity, compared to TV news stations like FoxNews. As for commercial radio, besides to occasional classic rock channel, I've found that local college radio has the best offerings.
IMO the RIAA should be turned into a reality tv show on which the executives slowly get voted off until none are left.
geek wear
The technology has been around for a very long time, and broadcast radio will probably outlive us all.
Using relatively simple and affordable technology, radio is a great medium to broadcast a message to a big audience. Even when the power goes out, all networks are fried and most infrastructure desroyed, radio is there. And its there as an important means for any government to communicate in such situation. If we'd loose the architecture, we might loose a medium that can save many lives when needed.
And yes, i mean broadcast radio there, since it is vital that recievers are common among the population.
However, radio's function in promoting music will probably diminish over the next decade(s), and largely be replaced by streaming etc.
at least the spammers of radio (ie legitimate companies, usually) don't launch DDOS attacks on those who wish to ignore them. Radio is regulated and that means it has somewhat better quality control.
Considering how easy it is for malicious attackers to bring down networks through DDOS, etc. it is useful to have a backup means for communications. And the electromagnetic spectrum is pretty much guaranteed to exist 8) Of course, you can jam that, too, but a script kiddy or spammer doesn't usually have such equipment.
How does that change the question? Can't you theoretically get talk radio content over, say, the Internet?
While driving?
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
Where are you going to hear a band for the first time? Are you going to trust all of the users on the P2P networks in that these "new artists" (filename renamed) are new artists, and even if they are legitamite new artists, are you going to like the style, genre of music? Radio stations are there to sift out a lot of this for you. Yes, Infinity owns most of them, and yes they play a lot of things per request of the record labels, but there are lots of legitamate radio stations that are free to play anything and everything (of course in the genre of the station).
You can't really think that WE will do it on our own. I personally don't have that kind of time nor the will to search for good music on my own. There is just too much out there. I'd have to go to every local bar here in NYC to see even 1% of them, and then what?
Getting rid of radio is stupid. I see no real reason to get rid of it. I do see a reason to make it less monopolistic and let the smaller stations take control of themselves, but I see NO good reason to get rid of them.
"Time is long and life is short, so begin to live while you still can." -EV
Radio will be used for a long long time to come.
Ever try to watch TV without using your eyes? It is a visual medium. Most TV shows are unexciting and moronic without the visuals. Try this the next time you watch tv, tape your eyes shut, and just listen. How long before you are bored.
Radio, requires more imagination, more intellegence, and is better stimulation for the brain. Leftwingers have NPR, Rightwingers have Rush (well not at the moment).
Try making sense of beer commercials while blind. "And twins!". Lame. And don't get me started on Porn. What is the point of THAT if you are blind?
You see TV requires more attention while using less brain. Radio requires LESS attention while using MORE brain. Ever try taking apart an engine while watching TV?
I think you get the picture.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
We went on to discuss, however, that *regional* bands with not much beyond their own PR machine can and do acheive success in a DIY way. The local music scene of Columbus, OH, where I'm from for instance, is very encouraging.
A local band called Wigglepussy, Indiana is having so much success behind thier own marketing, that it spawned somewhat of a marketing-firm in and of itself.
I think this is what we need to... music from us, and for us, from where we are.
The dirty word that I never hear mentioned about the RIAA is that they are really no more than a bunch of record exec goons that are guilty of collusion. They've been essentially dubbed collusive as a result of losing that price fixing suit a year or so ago. They control prices, product, and are given the free reign to block competition. They are really no different from OPEC or DeBeers.
Who needs Oil when we have (someday) hydrogen fuel cells? No one, as long as OPEC is around. Diamonds are incredibly common gemstones, but they are the most expensive, because the product is under the complete control of one group of profiteers. The only difference between deBeers, OPEC, and the RIAA is that for some reason, the RIAA is the only one of those groups that is allowed to exist within the geopolitical boundaries of the United States. OPEC and DeBeers theoretically would have never been allowed to survive in the U.S. in the past. (We can also surely group the MPAA into this group, and their new ban of screeners is further proof of collusion used to kill competition.)
So why do we need RIAA?
Because they say we do.
Almost every university campus has an independent radio station where almost anybody can get airtime for a few hours, and say/play what they want. I know that very few people tune in, but I really enjoy it. You get a very eclectic collection of music, and usually some "interesting" individuals. I don't think radio will ever die, even the commercial stations, mostly due to car drivers and the ability to hear music that you didn't have to actively search out, even if the music is only being played because RIAA lined that radio station's coffers.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
it kind of makes me wonder at what point the "cost of illegal downloads" actually approaches the cost of payola for radio play (or "distributors" that work as agents).
imagine, payola ends, and suddenly certain songs flood the p2p networks, or "download centers".
Move to a college town!
I have lived in several college towns over the last few years... and those kids always put fresh interesting stuff on the air.
Yes, a lot of time it sucks...
but hey, at least it's not the same top 20 shit 24/7.
Davak
My musical tastes tend toward classical, jazz, some older rock, some avant garde, some weird stuff.
How do I learn about new music? From friends, live concerts and now free sampler CDs at places like Borders. Yes, I'm also now trying the Internet occasionally -- to satisfy my curiosity and broaden my horizons.
I make sufficient money to purchase CDs from people I really like. For instance, paying $15 or more for a CD at Maryland's Renfest is reasonable to me. Of course, I've heard the artists and know I'll like their work. It also helps to know the money is going to the artists, not some huge RIAA member.
There's another reason I'm listening to less radio that wasn't mentioned in the article. Radio quality is declining. Here's the current playlist for WGMS (a Washington, DC classical station):
Mozart's Jupiter symphony is more than 9 minutes long. WGMS now seems to be going in much more for short selections than full works -- especially at drive time. I'd rather stick with my CD player. No, I don't get exposed to new music (precious little of that on any radio station around here). But I also don't get pestered with commercials.
"Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- B. Franklin
For those Slashdotters from foreign lands just tuning in:
NPR is a good way to stay abreast of the latest news during my daily commute and provides some sanity, compared to TV news stations like FoxNews.
NPR is left wing (although it seems middle-of-the-road to liberals). Fox News is right wing (although it seems middle-of-the-road to conservatives.) NPR is commercial-free, being underwritten by corporations, donations, and tax dollars (to the great dismay of conservatives). Fox is a commercial enterprise owned by Murdoch and the top-rated newschannel on cable/satellite (to the great dismay of liberals).
Now, draw up sides, and... engage!
FM Music Radio programming just sucks. Check out sattellite radio and you'll understand just how entertaining radio can be. It's well worth the $10/month.
In case you weren't affected by the GREAT FEARSOME BLACKOUT OF 2003 , those of us who were crowded around radios to get news.
Don't forget the 20 million so-called "dittoheads" that hang on Rush's every word every day. Republican shill talk radio has never been so popular (depending on where you read your stats).
There's big money in radio and the guy who owns it is raking it in.
Speak truth to power.
Clear Channel stations are certainly not worth listening to. I used to think local call-in contests were bad enough, but Clear Channel has made them nationwide. Combine this with their highly censored playlists, their blind dedication to the war in Iraq coupled with sensationalist misreporting (a Clear Channel station here reported four buried vans in the desert as "Vindication for Bush: underground chemical weapons Labs were found today in Iraq") and their propensity for hiring the most moronic, annoying DJs possible, and you have the recipe for a radio station I never want to listen to. Contrast this with our local independent station, 99.5. They don't have call-in contests, you simply sign up as a "community member" of their station and they randomly give away concert tickets. They play an enormous variety of music, and it's rare to hear the same song played more than once in a single month. They have knowledgable DJs who discuss things you never knew about the music they play in a calm, conversational manner so it's pleasant to listen to. I conclude by saying, in the words of Frank Zappa, "KILL UGLY RADIO"
For sure. News stations that feature only news all the time are a godsend when commuting, and important in emergencies as well.
Remember The Blackout? I was at work patching the office for the Blaster worm when the lights went out. If it wasn't for radio and other wireless communication, we would have had no idea wtf was going on. Thankfully radio stations with reserve power managed to transmit so everyone could get into the car or use battery powered tranceivers to get the news updates.
I used to drive to and from Toronto all the time across a strech of the 401 and if it wasn't for 680 news I would have gotten into a lot of traffic jams.
Thus radio is still needed because it is an important way of disseminating information quickly, especially when only battery or small generator power is available.
At home I listen to the BBC's Radio Five Live for news and current events with an international perspective, NPR's program stream for interesting domestic programming that my local public radio station isn't playing at the time I choose to listen, and for music, an awesome jazz stream from Korea (they play some crap, but a lot of really great stuff too, and no the music isn't Korean).
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Rush Limbaugh (and his guest host's) 20 MILLION LISTENERS every week is pretty damn significant.
While it seems most slashdot readers are socialist left-wingers... some of us, myself included, listen to many hours of radio daily.
Of course that wouldn't occur to the slashdot moderator who accepted this story since nearly every successful talk radio program is conservative.
(yes, I'm old enough to remember more than one) everything failed. My internet connection went down, my TV went black, my electric lights went out ( my oil lamps chugged along like always).
My portable radio worked like a charm and the emergency generators the radio stations employ kept them on the air.
Promoting RIAA "stars" is hardly the only use for radio. In fact, small radio stations are still the most used medium for promoting obscure music unaligned with the RIAA, why do you think they oppose the proliferation of small neighborhood radio stations?
Radio is one of the true modern marvels, its usefulness is far from past.
KFG
They'll become popular in ways artists became popular before the RIAA existed. Plus we have the internet now, which is the point.
Programming is the issue, not the medium.
Radio is the delivery mechanism but programming falls into 5 categories:
Local with syndication
ClearChannel
College
Public
XM and Sirius satellite delivered
I don't have Sirius but do have XM at home and at work and the programming is very diverse. For example last night was a sneak preview of the entire new Moody Blues album.
People will listen to "radio" if timely and high quality music is delivered in a high quality format.
TG
How about dialup users like me?
C|N>K
Quoth the article:
There was a time when deejays could play whatever they wanted, and the radio was the place to go to hear a variety of music and discover new artists.
What about college radio stations? The station I volunteer at bans any Top 40 music from the past 10 years on our air, and we have loads of new music to discuss and recommend.
Also there are still quite a few good college stations around like KJHK in Lawrence, KS which was recently voted by the local paper as one of the best reasons to live in Lawrence. Check the link and catch the stream!
If it wasn't broke, why the hell did you fix it!
Well, it's a bit unfair to tout noncommercial radio on this discussion. But Pacifica Radio is full of fresh surprising viewpoints, and my local Houston affiliate kpft.org actually plays great music. It gives you a sense of how fun dj's used to be.
Robert Nagle, Idiotprogrammer, Houston
Rather, it goes on to really ask, who needs the RIAA anymore?
No, it doesn't. If the the submitter had read the article without his anti-RIAA glasses on, he would've realized that the article just questions the relevance of radio in a world dominated by the internet and visual media.
The article specifically mentions Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. Kelly received quite a bit of radio play, while Clay was seldom heard on the airwaves but still outsold Ms. Clarkson. Quote:
But the heir to her throne, runner-up but reigning king, Clay Aiken, didn't have as much luck with radio. Deejays across the country mocked him, didn't take him seriously, and often refused to play his music. Well the joke just might be on them.
Despite little radio play, Aiken's debut album went double platinum in its first week of release, out-selling Clarkson's album by a landslide. Aiken's success serves as a shining example of the power television now has over the music industry, and the arguably insignificant power radio has these days. (emphasis mine)
This article addresses radio's lessened impact on the recording industry, and not the recording industry's impact on society.
Yeah, three groups that vote overwhelmingly liberal. I hope that's a troll, and that you're not actually as stupid as you seem.
Cute--but I hope this doesn't give anyone the idea that it's okay to mentally disengage; to think of everyone as fitting into the false dichotomy you present then feel smug about being somehow above the fray. People who come away with that impression are often the people who should be challenged to think more critically.
It is valuable to provide yourself with a deeper understanding of the power to frame a debate. I've learned this first-hand by getting involved at a low-power community radio station (WEFT 90.1 FM -- I host "Digital Citizen"). I encourage everyone to get involved in their community radio stations (or start one).
Digital Citizen
NPR's funding breakdown. An excerpt:
The only direct government funding NPR receives is through competitive grants from government agencies for specific projects. Such grants are awarded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, and typically represent only 2% of total revenues.
I am no fan of Clear Channel, IMHO they have done way more harm than good when it comes to radio in general. They are in the top 5 of my most hated entities, MPAA, RIAA, IRS, Clear Channel, and the State Franchise Tax Board.
;)
Just FYI, 90% of the hosts on KFI hate clear channel too. Jon and Ken are no fans of clear channel, Bill Handel doesn't like them, and Matt Drudge (syndicated) rarely has anything good to say about them either.
Clear channel is smart enough to realize that the reason that they have the Number 3 station overall in the LA market (including FM) is because they give the hosts a very wide berth when it comes to their opinions, that is why the republican and democrat lambs really don't like the station.
Free minded individuals that dare to question the establishment a little bit are who listen to the station, which, as shown by the recent recall election, is most of us. The recall effort was very much spearheaded by John and Ken, and although I don't think the state elected the best candidte he is better than Gumby, and more importantly we sent a message to the politicians.
Back to my point, there are very few who would like to see Clear Channel and the other radio conglomerates disappear more than I. Sorry Robert
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
(Typing this from Cairo, Egypt, where there IS internet of course)
In the third-world / developping world, the radio is THE main means of communication. People here listen to radio all day long; this is where I get the news reports related to the place I live in (I mean, when you're in Egypt you care more about what's happening in Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Sudan, etc, than the bushfires in Los Angeles). Radio is great in that it provides localized information, as opposed to the web.
Cheap, also. I bought a 6 dollars radio that does its job perfectly well, allows me to browse in local / arabic music (go find that on Kazaa when you don't have a clue about arabic music!!).
Easy to maintain, too... Most *very* remote places (Africa, south america, asia, etc) have ONE radio + a number of batteries when the power goes out, and with only this equipment, they manage to stay in touch with the rest of the world (how the hell do you think people in, say, Guinee-Bissau managed to learn about Sept. 11?).
Internet is WAY more difficult and expensive to dispatch, operate and mantain.
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
I remember listening to a professor of mine discuss the problem with TV with his head teaching assistant, and it boiled down to this: the simultaneous images and sound of TV are so overwhelming to the senses that it is very difficult to think about what you are watching while you are viewing it. OTOH one can think critically about a show on the radio. This is why talk radio is so popular.
Additionally it is nice to listen to something new; this is impossible if you are creating your own tracklists. Listing to someone else's tracklists can lead to interesting new music.
Finally there are many situations where video is not feasible. The car is a great example; other sitatuations may involve a lack of space or funds for a video screen.
However radio is not without problems. There are many times when we cannot get the content we want due to the physics of broadcasting. Only a very limited number of channels are available, and if we are in the wrong place we cannot tune in our favorites. And the costs and licensing required to broadcast mean that only a select few get on the air.
The solution is to keep our favorite radio shows, but change the delivery mechanism. It would work like the internet; all our favorite shows would be sites with streaming content that we tune in over a wireless network. Of course we would need to find bandwidth to provide nearly everyone with a hi-fi channel, but that is just a matter of time. Then almost anyone could broadcast content, there would be no geographical barriers to reception and we could have virtually unlimited channels.
They are already doing this. In addition to This American Life someone else mentioned, you can also get Car Talk, Fresh Air, To the Best of Our Knowledge, Says You, Studio 360, and Science Friday. I may have missed some others.
Last week, the senior vice president of the RIAA came to my college for a debate on copywrite and p2p. When asked how the RIAA can continue to justify the existence of the record labels with iTunes et al, his response was that we would have no new popular music without the promotion offered by the labels. I call BS. On the contrary, instead of the labels actively pushing the latest crap from Britney Spears through radio promotion and advertising, truly good music would spread through word-of-mouth. Every single day the RIAA and its cohorts continue to exist is another day our ears are spoonfed by what some executive at one of the Big 5 labels believes the public can be manipulated to purchase thorugh relentless marketing. Unfortunatley for the labels, p2p makes it easy for people to figure out that album x is crap before they have a chance to buy, hence the rapid erosion of their dated business model and the RIAA's desperate fight for survival.
For some time I'd given up listening to mainstream music on FM stations. I can't stand listening to the same songs over and over when they aren't playing five or six ads in a row or some DJ isn't rambling on about something or other. I'd listen to NPR and some college stations in the area, but that was about it.
Then, several weeks ago, I decided to hook up my TV antenna to my stereo at home so that I could pick up one of the college stations I listen to in the car and after doing so I carefully scanned the band to see if there were any stations I could pick up with the TV antenna that I couldn't get in the truck. Sure enough, I found 104.1 KMFR, and it wasn't all that weak either. Turns out, it was a new FM station that first went on the air in 2002! I was suprised to find it because I figured that all of the available spectrum space in the San Antonio metro area was already claimed but what the guy who set up KMFR did was get a license to serve a rural community about 40 miles south of San Antonio (Pearsall) and then built a 100,000 watt station that "just happens" to reach San Antonio. (All of the station's ads are for San Antonio businesses.)
What's really interesting about KMFR is that it's a high power FM station fed by a PC (or dedicated PC-like device) that randomly picks songs (in KMFR's case, classic rock) to play along with commercials and station promos. The format is two or three songs, one 15 or 30 second spot, 5 second station promo (My favorite: "KMFR, a marginally profitable enterprise of Radio Tuna, Limited) and then another two or three songs, etc, etc.
There's no DJ or studio. About 1/3 of the commercials, all of which are done by the same announcer without background music or other special effects, are aimed at potential advertisers and provide the station's phone number. One time I called that number and got the owner's personal answering machine. I looked in the phonebook for KMFR but there's no listing so apparently KMFR is run by one guy out of his house! (To quote some of the ads: .. "We've recently added a high dollar answering machine so you can now call us anytime!" .. "Call and talk to the big man himself!" .. "How can KMFR make any money with so few ads? The answer is: Low overhead!")
While I find it refreshing to find a commercial station that plays a very wide playlist (they even play John Lennon's "Imagine"!) with very little interruption, I'm also concerned that it has the same lack of public service capabilities as the remotely controlled Clear Channel stations.
Error:
Radio can suck at times, but sometimes a little exploration of the dial reveals a show, or song, or some news - that you're glad you found in the end.
The best part is it's free. Yeah, yeah...you've got to listen to commercials, which may be annoying as hell, but it sure beats paying a monthly bill (cold, hard cash).
***
Radio Shack. You've got questions...we've got blank stares(TM).
Check out For example, according to the report (pp 13) 67 percent of Fox News listeners think there is an Al-Qauda Iraq link. only 16% of NPR-PBS listeners/watchers had the same wrong idea. If you think that there was such a link you may care to kno that the President of the United States said there was no evidence of any such link. All right, mod me down as not conservative now.
...as a communications medium for those situations when there is no direct wire alternative and/or people don't want predefined content and/or want access to news and the likes. I know that Europe has the RDS system which can interupt your car player with traffic bulletins, but who's going to run a purely traffic news content channel? I personally prefer to use the car radio during the rush hour with my CDs as backup for when the radio content is not to my taste, that way I can concentrate on the matter at hand - driving safely.
Apart from the obvious situations of car, cycling, walking and etc. where there is no viable direct connection possible, what about when the power goes down or there is no/inadequate infrastructure - people here in the Aussie Bush have enough trouble just getting reliable land-lines, never mind dial-up and broadband; and as for Africa/Asia/etc... 'nuf sed!
Perhaps radio will become a less popular medium for music promotion but, until the whole world is reliably wired, it will continue to use music in addition to providing other content, if only to fill the gaps between the news, traffic and ad. breaks.
Go permanent? In your dreams and my worst nightmares.
I just got XM Satellite Radio. It's great, has genre specific channels so that I'm never blasted with music I dislike. I guess there are enough 1980s fans to warrant a niche chanel like "80s on XM 8". XM limits commercials to 6 minutes an hour and some channels have none.
XM has made radio fun again. It has eliminated DJs who talk too much, too many commercials, and "Hits of the 70,80,90, and Today" where the station attempts to be the "universal" choice and just becomes "universally" annoying.
Nothing wrong with radio, just make sure you have the right radio..
I do listen to an undisputably independent radio station, Boulder Free Radio, which operates (illegally, of course) without an FCC license.