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Traditional Radio Endangered By New Tech
Rob wrote to mention a Reuters article discussing the danger to traditional radio posed by new new technologies. From the article: "The radio industry could find itself at the kids' table in the media banquet hall, as new technology threatens the business, advertising executives said this week at the Reuters Media and Advertising Summit. Satellite radio, digital music players and the Internet are slowly encroaching on traditional radio's stronghold on local entertainment and advertising. Plus, radio ads themselves are less memorable and creative, these executives said."
It's only a matter of time before the bandwidth gets reclaimed for something more lucrative. The only question is whether or not the Feds will reclaim first it so they can raise money from an auction.
If they do, it'll mean that the spectrum only goes to established companies who can afford it in auction. If they don't either the current media conglomorates that own most radio stations will sell the spectrum for more than the radio stations are worth, or they'll liquidate it at rock bottom prices as unprofitable until someone innovates in the space.
Knowing the current administration, I'd bet that the conglomorates will strike it even richer than they already are.
-JMP
Instead of hoping, how about writing a letter to your congressperson and senators?
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Radio stations will just add internet broadcasting and/or simulcast on satellite. It's not a restriction, it's an increase in avenues of broadcast. If and when radio waves no longer become viable, they will already be broadcasting through these other media. If not, then they've no one to blame but themselves.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Clear Channel is the threat to radio. Computers are just the new medium.
Yea, for this awesome display of man must be saved, so as to bore the crapnuts out of future generations.
StupidChildren...the reason jesus is crying
Wow. ClearChannel and Infinity are bitching that they're becoming irrelevant.
Who cares? Public Radio (NPR in the US and the CBC in Canada, at least) are vibrant and entertaining.
I used to work for ABC Radio. I remember installing a device that removed "umm..." and "dead air" from the announcer's speech just so they could slide in an extra commercial or two over a one hour period. Everyone who bitches and moans about the 25 minutes of commercials per hour deserves the media conglomerates.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Traditional radio is a wasteland thanks to outfits like Clear Channel and when they move into digital radio, it'll become a wasteland too.
I listen to ballgames when I'm driving. Sometimes I listen to Clark Howard or the news. Radio went into a downward spiral in the early 80s and with the advent of Clear Channel, it hit bottom and started to dig.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
It doesn't take long to get sick of hear over 20 min. every hour of ads on the air in any market where almost all the stations are owned by the same bunch of morons (Hi there Clear Channel, you bastards!). If you're not hearing the same add when you skip stations on the dial, you're hearing the same "crossed over" music on the today's mix station that you hear on the so-called hard rock station (one more round of Photograph by Nickleback and I'm going to say 'Goodbye' and move right to Satellite. Big stupid companies have been killing "Free FM" for years. It's sad, but it's just gone to hell and that's the way the people who are about to lose all thier money choose to run it.
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Plus, radio ads themselves are less memorable and creative, these executives said."
Ever notice that 90% of the stuff pitched on traditional radio is the same crap that we're constantly spammed with? I'm talking "herbal" sexual aids, non-FDA approved hair loss and weight products, "start your home business" and other get rich quick scams, "learn to be an MSCE for $10K" ads, etc. The targeted demographic doesn't care how creative the ads are.
it's free
you get what you pay for
there will always be a niche for radio, just like after the advent of television, movies, etc., there is still a niche for broadway theatre, just like the interent won't kill newspaper, but it will make newspaper more diminuitive and change it's venue
old media never dies, it just changes
at one time people used to listen to radio serials before tv "only the shadow knows" etc. now radio is driven by drive time: banter and music
radio changes, but it will never die, there will always be a niche for it, no matter how small or different than what was originally intended
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Since my early youth back in the stoneages, I've been an eager radio listener. The radio had personalities, and a great mix of the music they loved. But gradually, the DJs stopped playing the music they loved, and was forced into rotating a small set of really annoying "hits" intertwined with an enourmous amount of amazingly annoying advertising. With the recent payola scandals in radio, the spirit is definitely gone.
And this is in Norway. I hear gruesome tales of the situation in the United States of ClearChannel stations.
Podcasting is taking the air back. For the longest time I couldn't be bothered to listen, because it's such a benign concept on the surface (and the term "podcast" is so braindead). But eventually I got myself a $75 mp3 player and started sampling some of the shows, and now I listen every day, to a wide variety of fun and/or interesting shows. With the "Podsafe Music Network", a collection of independent music approved for play on podcasts, growing every day, there's a decent amount of great music in the shows too.
If you want to get started with podcast listening, I recommend setting up Juice and subscribing to Adam Curry's Daily Source Code. It's a show about podcasts, playing (amongst other things) promos for other shows that you may want to listen to. Before you know it, your subscription list has grown plenty. Some of the shows are just plain crap, poorly done, almost perfectly uninteresting, but then some are really worth listening to. Check out Podcast Alley for some of the most popular shows.
"Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
I don't think so. I reckon the BBC will be in the game for a while yet - let me know when the local geek podcast can give me professional production value world music broadcasts, interviews with internationally renowned scientists and artists, history programmes scripted by teams of world experts..... (etc).... without adverts. All effectively for free, and online if you prefer. You can always donate and get the TV shows as well by getting a TV licence - sometimes 126.50 (UKP) a year is an *ouch* but hey divided between 5 of us in the house it doesn't feel so bad.
Yep.
Personalized internet streams such as Last.fm and Pandora give people a much better alternative to radio while they're working at a computer. You can get the music you know you like, while at the same time get exposure to new music - and not new music that the labels are promoting like crazy, but new music that will fit into your existing tastes.
Then you take this information to buy music that fits you more, toss it on portable music players such as an iPod, and you've got a ton of music wherever you go.
But this wouldn't be quite as necessary if radio wasn't getting worse and worse. The variety has gone downhill as ClearChannel and other corporations take over mass control and standardize everything to a small playlist and shove more and more ads in.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Here in the UK raido is doing just fine:
*No one wants to set up a music player with new content just for the drive to work.
*The commentary is generally interesting or informative.
*No adverts! Even the commercial stations have far far fewer adverts than the US.
It's no wonder the medium is dying in the US where you have to listen to the same ad over and over again followed by a Rent A Moron yelling *more* adverts at you - just disguised as 'content'. Then, to cap it off, you get to hear essentially a paid musical advert.
Compare this to the UK:
*Radio 1 - not my thing, but they play popular music and talk about popular events.
*Radio 2 - some alternative and older music with some other great programmes.
*Radio 3 - great classical music and discussion about the history and styles and composers.
*Radio 4 - the one true radio station - all the best comedy, programmes to make you think, news that does more than scratch the surface but takes a deeper look. Humphries (morning news presenter) is an abrasive moron, but you can forgive him for winding up politicians.
*Radio 5 - sport, waste of bandwidth, but at least it has no adverts.
*Classic FM - more populsr classical music - adverts no more than once every 5 minutes or so, and no interrupting pieces.
*All the local stations, BBC - no adverts, good local coverage.
*All the local stations - commercial - a bit like US stations, but even they have not managed to sink so low.
If you had that lot available on a device costing $9.50 wouldn't you listen more?
Beep beep.
Yah...traditional FM broadcasters have managed to produce a product that people will not only not accept for free, but will pay $10.00 or so a month to avoid....
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
Satellite radio is totally pointless. Why do you need realtime delivery of prescheduled content?
Because when I'm travelling back from my parents' house in PA to Ohio, I can only hear 1/2 of the Steelers game that is playing. Once I hit mid ohio, if the Bengals or the Browns aren't playing them, then neither are the radio stations.
Don't be so quick to dismiss the fact that there are SOME events that are better enjoyed realtime. It may not fit your lifestyle, but definitely does mine.
Karnal
It's based on proprietary technology which comes from a single vendor.
The startup costs run around $100,000 per station, thus shutting out the few independent station owners that remain.
You can hardly find the HD Radio receivers anywhere, and even if you can, they start at about $500 per.
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
I can only comment on XM here, but there aren't commercials on the music channels*, but there are some on the talk stations as most talk shows are syndicated to terrestrial radio (so they have commericals). *XM over-promotes the programming available on other channels, such as live concerts and things.
It's not just the technology that "endangers" broadcast radio: it's the industry itself. There are so many things wrong with commercial terrestrial radio, that it's become a joke, and the broadcasters themselves don't seem to realize they've worked themselves out of the market and over-valued the stations so much that no one else could possibly come in an FIX broadcast radio.
Could it be fixed? Certainly. FM Broadcast technology is not inherently sucky. It's quite possible to set up transmitters to provide a killer sound with a nice broad range. Does it happen? Rarely. Station managers want it LOUD so they get heard, and to do it the compress the crap out of the signal and lose all the quality. But it sure is loud when you tune past it! It -sucks- too, but they only care about the advertising dollars their LOUD station brings in.
It's no surprise people have migrated to MP3 players, Sat radio, etc., etc., etc. It's a better alternative. Better sound, and no 40% commercial load.
Personally, I'm waiting for the bubble to burst in that media and the bottom to fall out. Once it does, the stations may get into the hands of people who can actually -do- something good with it.
"You had the time. You had the power. You're yet to have your finest hour. Radio."
Freddie Mercury: Radio Gaga
Never attribute to malice what can as easily be the result of incompetence...
Actually, the US government is pretty much mandated not to compete with private industry. I only found this out recently when a piece of software I wrote for the Air Force looked like it could be useful enough to be used outside of the Air Force itself. I was told that if that were the case, it couldn't be released for free, because by doing so, we could be competing against people in the industry.
Satellite raido is going to go the same way as satellite TV - in a few years time you will have exactly the same crap there when the execs realise that terrestrial raido is dead and they can squeeze out a few more pennies by running adverts.
Huh... I was actually under the impression that they were already doing this. There's a commercial that frequently runs on an FM station I listen to in town, sponsered by ClearChannel, I think, which details the history of radio, leading up to satellite radio where they end with a line somewhere along the lines of "satellite radio where you pay for installation, pay for subscriptions and now? *dramatic sound effect* There's commercials." I guess that was just FUD?
Myself, I still enjoy broadcast radio. I think they key is that I listen to classic rock and classic country. The Classical X stations usually employ about three decades of material to work with and they've weeded out a lot of the crap. (Was it Stranger in a Strange Land where one of the characters claims he likes classical music because they've had 300 years to weed out the crap?) Because they're both local stations, you feel somewhat connected to the personalities because you'll see them at the local mall or at city events. Too, you get breaking local news including which roads have been closed down by accidents. I actually don't like the "50 minutes without commercials" stations because they then have a big clog of commercials later on. I can deal with a commercial every few songs. Again, local talent is often being utilized for the commercials, so you have less of the feeling of being spoonfed generic copy.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
However, FM provides ample bandwidth for the broadcast audio's frequency range. With digital radio, you get artifacts because they're trying to cram a 200 kHz-wide analog FM channel into what I've read is, on average, a 96kbps encoded digital stream (and that's consistent with the quality I heard---about like a 96kbps MP3). Even in the rental car I was in, IMHO, it absolutely sounded like crap.
Don't get me wrong, FM isn't perfect, but I'd rather have the occasional bit of static going through the mountains than continuous HF flanging any day, particularly if I would have to pay good money for the HF flanging. No thanks. As for the commercial-free thing, so is my iPod....
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
...As I soon realized on 9/11. At the time I was a PhD student in a London University. The short hop to the London Internet exchange and bandwidth afforded to my office and Lab meant I had given up on analogue radio and TV and was using news web sites, real player news clips and streaming internet radio of major radio stations. When the disaster unfolded ALL of these technologies failed on me (news sites no longer loaded, streaming radio would not buffer) and I had to dust off the old radio discarded at the back of the lab to get any information as to what was happening. Do not underestimate the usefulness of the old radios.
Remember when subscription TV did not have any commercials either? it is not a matter of the technology, but the whole system. Radio is mature, and it has commercials. Satellite radio does not have commercials because very few businesses would invest publicity money in it. Whenever it goes mainstream, it will have them, and you won't have broadcast radio to fall back to.