The End of Radio

412 words written by dylan
Posted June 03, 2003 @ 12:00 PM
2 comments

With the FCC's decision to open the floodgates wider on media megapoly, I've wondered if the end of radio is nigh. The concept of local radio seems to have vanished. Music radio is now driven by a payola scheme that makes what Alan Freed did look like a peccadillo. And talk radio, well, it's pretty much Rush, just as it has been for the last 10+ years. Commercial radio is now so incredibly boring that, where I once had all ten buttons programmed on my car stereo, I'm down to three now.

This leads us to non-commerical radio and NPR. Their audience seems to be growing. NPR has effectively become the closest thing we have to the Beeb. But the network has its problems. For one thing, it's not diverse when it comes to music -- it generally still stilts towards the classical/jazz audience (that is, old and rich), and while stations like WXPN and KEXP have had some success with a younger music format, you don't see many other stations going that route. Also, as NPR builds as a network, you can sense the tension between locally-produced programming, the national feed, and PRI-MPR's other feed. Stations are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to get Morning Edition and Prairie Home Companion; they want to get their money's worth, so why spend the money on a local news program when you can play the same "please hold for the next available This American Life" music? On the other side, there are the stations (like KUOW) who have the money and resources for local programming -- and then hose the good shows on the national feed (Science Friday, Fresh Air) to save money. There's also the PRI vs. NPR battle as well -- two competing public radio syndicators that are fighting for time on public stations. (The more I hear about MPR the more I think Jesse Ventura's slam of the network's "wealth" was right.)

Still, the public stations are producing more innovative, more creative, and more interesting programming than the commercial stations around them. The Internet is lending to this diversity through streaming audio. People will start to move away from the mainstream as it becomes more homogenized, because Americans what something different every once in a while. The media companies are feeding Americans a steady diet of macaroni. Eventually, they'll start clamoring for pizza -- or at least a different shape of pasta.

Comments

  1. If you didn't see this article on NPR, it was really good. http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/from_search/0,10987,1101030324-433259,00.html

    Unfortunately, I think that you have to pay to read Time's archives. I should have saved a copy.

    Posted by: katmonster | June 3, 2003 03:43 PM

  2. I've listened to KPLU, KUOW and KCMU/EXP pretty much exclusively for the last 5 years until I got my XM radio. I know that Clear Channel has its claws on the satellite radio system too but at least I can get some variety. I initially stopped listening to Seattle commercial radio because of *the commercials* and the sheer number of them.

    Remember KYYX or KZAM? That was pretty much the high point of Seattle radio in the modern FM age.

    Posted by: John Poetzel | June 3, 2003 06:59 PM