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THE FUTURE OF RADIO
12/9/2005
By Robert Reed
It’s a question that comes up often. What is so powerful about radio?
Like the little bunny rabbit, it just keeps going and going.
The medium of radio taps something deep in all of us. It must go back
thousands of generations. It’s probably ingrained in our genetics.
Think about it. In fact, that’s what radio does. It makes us think and
use our imagination.
Storytelling has been the purveyor of information over all other
mediums. Long before people wrote things on slates or on the walls of
caves, they told stories. The storyteller word crafted the thoughts and
mental imagery into words. The listeners turned the words they heard
back into mental images. Then the stories were passed on to other
listeners.
So we can imagine that stories and storytelling were relied on for many
thousands of years, and as humans we are built to want to listen to
stories and the spoken word. Radio is just another form of the story
teller and the listener.
The technology of radio is in a state of change. I see it in the
trucking industry where I work. Just two years ago it was rare to see a
satellite radio in a truck. Now, I would say that more than 50 percent
of the long-haul trucks traveling cross-country have satellite radio.
Reuters ran an article by Derek Caney on Dec. 6 prompted by the Reuters
Media and Advertising Summit. Various speakers and media advertising
executives expressed concern over new technologies threatening
traditional “terrestrial” radio. In addition to satellite radio, the
new phenomenon of podcasts enters the fray. I’ve known about podcasts
since they came on the scene, but it wasn’t until recently that I
actually started listening to them on a little mp3 player that someone
gave me awhile back. Okay, podcasts and satellite radio are really
cool. It’s a matter of what I am doing, though. Normally I’m not
looking around on the Internet for a podcast to download and then
upload back onto my mp3 player. That takes time. The technology now
will automatically push the podcast right onto an iPod and after you
play the podcast it can, if you want it to, delete the podcast. For me,
other things take front stage most of the time, so back to traditional
radio I go.
It’s not my listening habits that have the media advertising and radio
industry executives nervous. What they are wanting to know is how the
listening public will want or will not want to spend their money.
According to the Reuters article, Clear Channel executives wonder why
people would spend $12 per month to subscribe to a satellite radio
service when traditional radio is free. David Sanderson of consulting
firm Bain & Co.’s media practice said “There is over $100 billion
of local advertising dollars that are spent on newspapers, radio,
television stations and yellow pages. Where will those dollars migrate
to in the future?”
The changing landscape for the radio medium means I will have more
choices in the future. I look forward to that, but I still want the old
traditional radio to be there. It’s just plain easier to access with a
very small pocket device. Satellite radios have a clunky antenna and
podcasts need high speed Internet for large file downloads whether they
are automatic or manually downloaded. Traditional radio is always the
default listening experience for most of the people I know, so maybe
Clear Channel is right. The business model for radio advertising in the
future remains to be seen, but it is certain that the models will be
changing.
(Robert Reed is a columnist for The Eureka Reporter. Views and opinions
expressed in this column do not necessarily represent those of The
Eureka Reporter, its management or staff.)