CBS getting out of the radio business, salon.com article claims this is the end of radio as we know it

[Dan Druff]

http://www.salon.com/2016/09/27/sign...f-the-medium/?

This is being posted all over Facebook by various radio-loving friends of mine.

As a lifelong fan of radio and one who studies the industry, I can tell you that this article is premature doom and gloom.

Yes it's unlikely that radio will be a major medium in about 30 years or so. It's very hard to imagine people will be tuning into FM and AM stations in the year 2046.

However, radio won't die. It will simply transition to a different medium -- likely satellite or internet. It is likely that when this occurs, FM and AM will still exist as "backup" transmissions for these stations, at least for awihile.

The article was particularly head-scratching in that it conceded that there has been an 0.5% GROWTH in ad sales, yet compared that negatively to internet ad sales which were higher, therefore predicting the end of radio. Huh? How is an industry still in sales growth going to have an imminent collapse?

Radio is evolving. I admit that I don't love the evolution, as we are seeing voice tracking, increased syndication, and consolidation in ownership. Much the creativity and personality of radio that we grew up with is now gone. But this evolution is unfortunately necessary to remain economically viable.

However, it is not dead, and will not be dead for a long time.

I do hope that, no matter what the listening format, radio remains and is not replaced by video broadcasting. We are already seeing that to some degree on sites such as Twitch. There is something to be said for simply hearing a voice, rather than having to watch the person speaking. (This is why I have refused to do a Twitch video version of PFA Radio.) I have theorized that simply hearing a voice actually allows the audience to connect more than watching AND listening, as it allows the purity of simply hearing the message with no other distractions.

[Sanlmar]

Of course this is an interesting development.

You care to define what you consider "radio" to be for the purpose of this thread? The transmission of analog frequency over the air?

Otherwise, yeah, there is the ever more fragmented world of podcasts, satellite, etc etc Of course all of this is growing.

My first thought is that the radio spectrum has more value doing something else besides Rush Limbaugh. Radio is inefficient. Cell phone obviously and other data uses.

[limitles]

The fact a national corporation leaves the scene is not surprising. Radio has been local community based from it's inception, before larger interests waded in. Broadcasting to such large audiences always seemed a stretch to me. As an example, national sports talk radio has little connection to it's audience, especially for those outside major cities. The opposite is true for smaller communities where people still like to hear what goes on at city council or hear the results of their kid's basketball tourney without waiting for the morning paper, if there still is one.

And it's been the cheapest form of local advertising for many years.

[Dan Druff]

Of course this is an interesting development.

You care to define what you consider "radio" to be for the purpose of this thread? The transmission of analog frequency over the air?

Otherwise, yeah, there is the ever more fragmented world of podcasts, satellite, etc etc Of course all of this is growing.

My first thought is that the radio spectrum has more value doing something else besides Rush Limbaugh. Cell phone obviously and other uses.

The purest definition of radio involves the transmission over the air on FM and AM bands, but I actually consider the broader definition -- any live audio-only show to broadcast via any medium.

Think about it.

If you tune your car to 102.7 FM to hear music today, but tune to kiisfm.com in your car to hear its streaming equivalent in 5-10 years, does that really matter? It's still the same thing, you're just accessing it differently.

Radio will only be dead if the audio-only format of broadcasting dies.

Think of our PFA Radio show, which I do consider to be radio, even though we don't have a terrestrial transmitter.

However, the Chicago Joey podcast, which is all video, is NOT radio.

Radio is all audio. That's the main feature which defines it. It began that way by necessity (there was no such thing as a video transmission at the time), but as technology has evolved, it is mainly defined by audio-only versus audio-and-video -- or at least that's how it will eventually come to be defined once AM/FM become obsolete.

[Sanlmar]

I only asked about the transmission because I was unsure about your specific interest in this story.

The CBS departure is exquisite timing IMO. Few companies have that discipline

Radio will only be dead if the audio-only format of broadcasting dies.

Amazing to me that you are entertaining such a notion.

I am going to assume, Druff, you are discussing talk radio. Curated music is here to stay and doesn't require video.

Video is presumptuous. It assumes the audience will devote their entire attention to the broadcast. Radio in the car, right?

Some portion of what even your favorite host has to say doesn't deserve your full attention. You can be doing something else until something of interest to you comes up. You can modulate your attention.

Video is binary. You're in or you're out of the broadcast.

Podcast vs live is another issue. Gotta think about this. Live talk may be a generational thing. I value live. The spontaneity. Just knowing it's recorded is a deal killer as much as recorded sports even if I don't know the outcome.

I love the Fraud Show. So much skill has been developed and the show has been oddly refined to what works. Yet I find it very hard to invest the energy to listen to arChive.

That Chicago Joey has become some kind of benchmark around here for video broadcasts is mind bending. Sonatine's term, hate-watch, immediately comes to mind. I just feel the overwhelming desire to punch that fag in the forehead. Guy is dumb as a rock. His success mystifies me.

I have nothing against homosexuals. Jason Somerville is fantastic but the video format costs him with me.

Last thought. The truly great personalities can hold an audience regardless of topic. I could probably listen to Jason Somerville discuss anything. He's smart, pleasant and insightful. I could give a shit about poker these days but it is entertaining to listen to someone discuss intelligently something they love.

I'll bet most of the audience for NPR's "Car Talk" Click & Clack brothers could care less about transmission repair. It was just damn entertaining.

[4Dragons]

15 years ago I looked a bunch of coworkers in the eye and told them that radio as we know it would be gone and replaced by personalized streaming services that will beam shit you picked out beforehand, right into your car, headphones.. wherever. They thought I was nuts but really liked the crazy ideas I had. A world with no commercials because you paid for the channels ourtright, content you wanted, not what was dictated to you by some corporate machine.

Well, at least I got most of it right. I really thought that the democratization of access and content would kill off the shit stacks that produce the justin beiber's of the world. The reverse has been true, in that now because of social media and small bands that start to get a following, the big corporations insta-sign anyone with a following and fit them into whatever category they need filled, with music written by a handful of dudes from Sweden.

Music used to be very definitive by the decade it came from, but from the past 20 years, that shit is all the same pop garbage on the radio. So now we get to pick and choose what we want, but now the only choices are crowdsourced, focus grouped machine language.

[hongkonger]

[Belly Buster]

[limitles]

[limitles]

FTR the piece quoted was incorrect.
is this finally the end of the medium?

as opposed to this is the end of a medium

[4Dragons]

FTR the piece quoted was incorrect.
is this finally the end of the medium?


as opposed to this is the end of a medium

Mayhaps a compromise between the two, we can find a happy medium?

[hongkonger]

FTR the piece quoted was incorrect.
is this finally the end of the medium?


as opposed to this is the end of a medium

Mayhaps a compromise between the two, we can find a happy medium?

Better medium rare.

[SDouble]

I pray that even when i'm long gone and 6 feet deep in 2046 that you great guys will still have this "radio" show to listen to.

[Baron Von Strucker]

[thesparten]

RADIO IS A VERY PERSONAL MEDIUM.

I for one as a big radio fan don't think much of these doom and gloom articles..

Sure 20 years ago I would find these niche radio stations in the middle of the night that were great..
Coast to coast with art bell being one of them.

My listening habits have changed . I no longer listen to wabc or wor for rush limbough or Micheal savage or Dave Ramsey or the generic money mngt and investment shows that are generally on during the weekends..(never thought I'd be robbing drunk Mexicans for a living)

I still listen to those types of shows but through apps like t.s.l. or sticher or a developed app by the show itself..

as far as talk radio is concerned, it will always be here. It is very personal and u connect with the show on a multi level basis..

I have said this before and I say it again.. DRUFF IS GOOD, very good at this medium..

It's evolving but in my opinion it's actually growing.. Joe Rogan ECT ECT.

There are many more options and many more listeners filling the "seats"..

[herbertstemple]

The Retail Apocalypse has been going on for the last couple of years. Even Toys-R-Us filed for bankruptcy few days ago. Jeez.

The Communications Apocalypse is next. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of fuckers.