Monday, August 28, 2006
Radio: Best of Times/Worst of Times
byI recently bought a car with XM Satellite Radio and factory-installed, sound system plug-in jacks for my iPod. It’s great. All of a sudden 70 percent of my audio consumption is from satellite or my iPod, and 30 percent from land radio. It makes me wonder if Joseph Jaffe is right when he prognosticates about terrestial radio’s not-to-bright future. Perhaps my listening habits have changed temporarily simply because it’s a “new” thing, but I’m guessing this will not be the case.
I can’t agree totally with Jaffe. Terrestial radio is still the only game in town for local flavor and content. There is no substitute on XM for HotTalk with Scott Hennen slicing and dicing a recent local school board decision. Satellite radio and my iPod have no options like Tom and Dan or Jack and Sandy on The Mighty 790 trading banter about local issues, weather and news. Sometimes, I don’t want to be a program director with my iPod. It is still enjoyable, on occasion, to listen to a local station like River 95.1 and let someone else worry about what song is next. God knows I can’t get the Beet Report in my car from a “bird” in the sky. Bottom line we all live in different communities and local radio is ideal for staying in touch with what is going on in our own backyard.
There is still a way to go before the numbers become compelling. Satellite radio penetration is now relatively small, but according to Jupiter Research, it is expected to grow from a base of 12 million in 2005 to 55 million in 2010. Eventually, local radio might be another choice via satellite—similar to the option for local television stations as part of your satellite TV package. If that becomes the case, it is just a matter of what channel you’re tuning in, not whether or not the content comes from a radio signal or from orbit.
In the meanwhile, terrestial radio will need to find a way to stay alive and healthy. It will be a struggle, but it is a resilient industry. There were those who said radio would disappear when TV came along. They were wrong. Local radio won’t disappear now either. It will have to sit at a bigger table with a lot more options for the listeners, but as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Let the evolution continue.
