"Is "Technology Killing the Radio Star"?"

From the Sunday Times of London:

The days of turning on the radio to hear inane DJs rambling, or the
same irritating adverts being repeated hour after hour, could almost
be over.
A million Brits are now tuning in to personalised stations online
every week, and many are also tuning out traditional radio.

Taking personalised radio fully mobile, although it's available only
in the US for now, is Slacker.com's Portable Radio Player (from
$200/£100). Launched this week, it comes preloaded with up to 40
stations containing thousands of tracks. As you rate individual
tracks, Slacker learns your tastes and refreshes the player's built-in
memory with other songs, using your wi-fi connection.

Personalised broadcasts of the future will probably have either
advertising or a price tag attached, just as they do today. But once
your radio knows exactly what you want to hear, the idea of a human DJ
- however cheeky his banter - might start to sound a little dated.

In Germany last week, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), the service
that offers easier tuning and catchup facilities to radio listeners,
had its funding cut because of poor take-up. One reason was that
consumers were switching to listening online, a classic case of a new
technology being overtaken by an even newer one before it has had a
chance to take hold (remember how laser discs were overtaken by
DVDs?).

In Britain, a survey by Rajar, the research organisation, revealed
that one in six listeners to personalised radio were listening to less
live radio than ever before. Might this all signal the beginning of
the end for music radio as we know it?

Now let's sort out some of this.

The difference between radio as it is now (in the US) and what's being
described here is a difference between passive and active listening.

That is, the more "into music" or "active" you are, the more apt you
are to happily invest the time and effort (not to mention the money)
required to dramatically better fulfill your musical tastes. That, in
essence, is what personal radio is about, because the very act of
personalization requires personalizing by the user. And that's a task
that some are up for and many are not.

So, in other words, the folks who want their music to flow over them
without any effort and aren't really that into music to begin with
(and this describes a lot of people) are unlikely to be seduced by
these technologies.

For the other folks, however, the writing is on the wall, radio.

Over the long haul I fully expect the influence of music-oriented
radio to diminish. Because music, my friends, is a commodity. Not only
can anyone string together a playlist, but nobody can string together
my favorite playlist better than I can.

Note, too, the fascinating reference to DAB (the European equivalent
to HD radio), where the analogy is made between digital radio and
laser discs. The fact is that all technology is transitional - the
only question is how long you have between transitions. This is the
first time I've seen any evidence to suggest that Internet radio is
killing digital radio. Food for thought, folks. And not likely to
surprise any reader of this blog in the least.

Finally, note the survey indicating that a fraction of personalized
radio listeners were listening to less terrestrial radio, now that
they could have their own customized version of it. The most amazing
thing about this result to me is that the number is so low! Only one
in six? When you can have exactly what you want? Again the difference
between "passive" and "active" listening (sure, some folks want to be
introduced to new music by human beings - a "curated" music
experience. But nobody ever said those human beings need to have their
own radio show).

What it all adds up to is the gradual near-obsolescence of music
radio, not in a blink, but by a slow and persistent siphoning of
audience and attention and interest and advertisers. This process will
take years to happen.

Let me be painfully clear: If radio doesn't wake up and smell the
coffee the future will bring lower-rated music stations and a
disappearance of those stations which are driven by new music and
music fans. We will be left with an audience that is older, less
affluent, more multi-lingual, and perhaps less engaged in the medium
of radio and the advertisers who support it.

Indeed, we're seeing this play out in Alternative and Active Rock and
in the erosion of time spent listening among younger audiences
already.

What a fabulous opportunity for non-music radio. What a fabulous
opportunity for new non-music experiments (which may or may not be
"Talk"). What a fabulous opportunity for radio to plant its flag in
the future, given that so much of that future can be seen coming now.

Once upon a time, radio was built by programs, many of them non-music.

Then along came TV, and much of radio retreated into the world of
music, which it could own.

The exclusive ownership is no more.

And now the pendulum swings back....

http://www.hear2.com/2008/02/is-tech...44054#comments

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- Eduardo - just as I said, the music FMs are screwed!!!!
- YEEEEEAAAA Buddy!!

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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and Half-Crocked - Twice Makes You Gay !

and Why Do You What To 'Screw' FMs ? ~ RHF

On Feb 3, 6:46*pm, IBOCcrock wrote:
"Is "Technology Killing the Radio Star"?"

From the Sunday Times of London:

The days of turning on the radio to hear inane DJs rambling, or the
same irritating adverts being repeated hour after hour, could almost
be over.

Hmmm...that alone could be worth the price.