Make way for the Radio Revolution
The arrival of Howard Stern on Sirius heralds the beginning of a radio revolution that some predict will have music formats leaving FM radio for satellite. That’s the word from one Michael Harrison of Talkers Magazine. In an interview Monday night on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Harrison described satellite radio as the evolution of radio. He said just as FM took music away from AM, Sirius and XM radio would take the music away from FM. He predicted that AM will become the location of specialty focused radio shows such as foreign language broadcasts and that FM will become the home of talk radio. Music formats will move to satellite. But shock jock Howard Stern also predicted that the Rushes and O’Reillys (his words) who can afford to move to satellite would move there as well.
I can remember when people laughed at the 24-hour news channels and movie channels such as HBO first went 24-hours. There’s no way such channels can survive one general manager told me. No one will pay for these channels or for TV for that matter and these start up channels will fold in less than a year’s time. And if man were meant to fly, God would have given him wings! (Okay, the GM didn’t make that last statement but it makes just as much sense.)
So, whether you like Howard Stern or not, consider him a pioneer because he is the first big name to make the move to the future.
I’m starting to think these computers and this Internet thing may be here to stay too.
posted by Joe Larkins at 4:25 AM
2 Comments:
When I drove to Nashville in 2002 (or '03? During the tax protests....) I was very surprised to hear all-talk radio on FM along the way. Seems like a waste of good wavelength to just carry voice.
I don't think AM will die all that swiftly, though, unless it gets further choked with ads and promos. They make AM600 damn near unlistenable for me.
I spent almost 25 years of my 50 in radio -- AM (back when AM was really radio) and FM. It used to be that local radio provided services like information, weather, time, etc. to go along with the music. The biggest thing local radio provided was "Personality" and "Localization". The "Evil Empire" and their contemporaries have simply brought sanitized, consulted and tested music to AM and FM. Even the advent of HD radio is just a gasp by the radio groups to get a bit of the spectrum tied up so they won't lose it.
Unless localization, personality, and "theatre of the mind" returns, satellite delivered programming will push terrestrial radio just a little further down the tubes.
Post a Comment
<< Home