by DirkSteele » Mon Jul 07, 2014 7:14 am
*Yawn
Another post about another specific product that will "kill radio".
I love these posts. In one way, they are absolutely correct, in another, they are absolutely wrong.
I've lived through plenty of threats in my career to the solvency of radio. I remember way back that music services like Galaxy would be the death of radio. Why would any business keep local radio on when they can get no commercials and a genre based playlist "perfect for your customers"?
The internet in general. We weren't sure why at that point because it was too new, but those drummed out of the business holding resentment said that's it for radio.
Ipods were next. Why would anyone listen to radio when you can download (steal) 4000 songs and take them with you everywhere?
How about satellite radio? Oh man, was that EVER going to kill us. And look today....best data I can find is still under 3 Million Canadian subscribers and around 25 Million US subscribers. Put that against populations of 35 Million and 300 Million, and it isn't even a 10 share. In the meantime "have you listened to radio this past week" still scores huge.
Now streaming media. Pandora. Internet enabled cars. Most cars right now are internet enabled by streaming your phone. "Affordable" equals what? That extra $5 a month your cell provider will charge to enable your tablet on your plan for those that can't figure out mobile hot spots? Streaming is in cars today. Even some base model cars offer Bluetooth streaming from your phone. So who's going to pay?
There have always been "new threats" to radio. Go back to the invention of television and I'm sure someone was writing about the death of radio. 8-Tracks in cars. People probably really crapped their pants about that because ONLY radio was in cars up to that point. How about Sony Walkman? Portable music. That was going to kill radio too. Then Sony put tuners in the devices (I had the Walkman FM1...it was the size of a softcover book).
Just the same old garbage. The part that is absolutely correct is radio does need to offer something besides music. Personal connection, through information, entertainment, community involvement....whatever. That is the key. Provide something that doesn't come from a 100% music service, and I don't just mean sell lines hooked to traffic and news (you'll lose to the internet). Has to be a connection. A bond has to be created like the bond for a favourite TV show. That bond means engagement. When you have engagement, commercials sell the product that is being advertised...which is the real goal anyway, correct?
We'll wait another 10 years to see what is going to kill radio next.