"Stinger" wrote in message
...
You make some good points, Frank.

Another thing that I believe is going to change the domestic radio
landscape
is satellite radio.

Do you have XM or Sirius radio yourself, or have you talked to people
that
have it? To a person, every one of them that I've spoken with is
totally
hooked on it, and would not give it up for anything. And -- that's
almost
ALL they listen to in their vehicles anymore.

I don't have sattelite radio, and I don't know anyone who does. I've
heard it on store displays. I dislike subscription services, so I
haven't looked into many details.


This means the "free" broadcast radio listener pool is shrinking, and
that
trend will continue (very probably exponentially) with time.

There are limits. I'm sure I'm not the only person who isn't
considering a subscription radio service. But it's never been easier to
get a wide variety of recorded music, and it's never been easier and
cheaper to make a large volume of personal recordings. This is real
compitition for all the broadcast media.


The paradigm where AM radio was for talk and FM radio was for (mostly)
music
had begun to shift a few years ago, as more talk moved to FM.

I think the advent of satellite radio will force local broadcaters to:
(1) have to jealously defend their turf on "local" content to survive.
An
argument has already begun over a "local traffic reports" channel on
XM.
(2) lead to more "narrowcasting" to target specific audiences (for
both
mediums)
(3) lead to fewer commercials (but at more money per "spot") as
commercial
broadcasters become sensitive to competing with commercial-free radio.

It's going to be interesting, for sure.

-- Stinger


We'll see. I think local radio still has alot of advantages in big
cities.

Frank Dresser