On 13 Jul 2004 04:34:38 GMT, Garrett Wollman ("Garrett") writes:
Garrett People I talk to in *my* business (computing, not broadcasting)
Garrett are of the opinion that traditional, reserved-spectrum broadcasting
Garrett will cease to exist inside of three decades, for various reasons,
Garrett social as well as technological. (That's assuming it isn't already
Garrett dead -- many of the people I know, my age and younger, are simply
Garrett no longer users of radio at all. It doesn't connect with them in
Garrett any meaningful way, nor does it serve their needs.)

Specifically, your "business" is computer systems support at
a techie university, so I am guessing that the people you're
referring to are students? (If that's not the kind of people
you're talking about, could you describe who you mean?)

Most of the people I know at MIT don't to any AM radio, but they
may listen to a few NPR shows. Entertainment is mostly not from
the radio: music is on portable media or file-sharing networks.
But MIT students (in my few decades of experience with them) are
particularly un-representative of popular culture or societal norms.
I think you would find that the people of the same age across the
river at BU to have somewhat different behaviours. When you say
that it "no longer" servers their needs, I think maybe you're just
suggesting that they now live on campus or in the tiny walking city
(with demographics unlike anywhere else in the country, anyway),
they don't like talk radio, don't drive cars, and are very busy studying.
I would not base a prediction of whether people will be interested
in broadcasting on the behaviour of MIT students, because they've
never been very interested in popular commercial broadcasting,
as it has never really served the needs of the uber-nerd subculture.

What shows do you listen to while driving in your car,
and what do you do for traffic reports, and how do you
get your local news and weather on video or while driving?

But I would be interested in hearing technical and societal arguments
about how traditional broadcasting won't be interesting or viable in
the near future, or even in 30 years. (2035 is a long ways off, and
I think there could be major technological changes by that time which
could affect how broadcasting works.)