Is broadcast radio dying?

[Chuck(G)]

I'm having a great time with my setup for broadcasting internet radio throughout the house. It took a little tweaking, but now I'm pretty happy. Tune any radio in the house to 106.7 and there it is. Other than an initial investment for a transmitter and the time to make it work, this whole setup's a freebie. Broadband's on all the time, audio hardly takes any bandwidth and the server was already running 24/7.

The quality of what's available off the net makes the local broadcast selection seem downright silly. Right now I've got BBC7 on and have been listiening to drama and comedy. Nothing like that exists on a US broadcast station as far as I know. What's coming on now is a dramatization of Agatha Christie's "Lord Edgeware Dies".

My wife, who's just back from a week in northwest Missouri, is enraptured with being able to listen to something other than country & western and radio evangelists.

Does anyone else think that the time is fast approaching when broadcast radio is just another dinosaur?

[RyanSchultz]

That could very well come to pass Chuck.

I think it is the braodcast companies move, so to speak. When Howard Stern, the NFL etc. go to Sirius Satelite next fall we'll really be able to tell.

[Lew]

Yes

[Doug@GT]

I don't think it's dying--just changing. For better or worse is your own interpretation. I can get light rock/oldies, country, jazz, bluegrass, classical, religious, and hard rock music in Atlanta at any time. Most stations have a similar format: clump the commercials together and then play 45-50 minutes of music. With some creative dial turning it's commercial-free music in my car.

What I like about radio is that it gives me access to songs I like but can't justify buying the CD to get. And the Atlanta stations are trying to expand their playlists as well.

Maybe I'm just lucky down here.

[MikeMason]

xm, the only way to fly...

[Daryl Fletcher]

Maybe I'm just lucky down here.

Well, Doug, I'm glad that somebody is happy with it. I don't really like radio in Atlanta. I've had XM for about a year and a half now, and it's about all I listen to.

It's really nice to have because I have to travel a lot for work. There's also my commute to the office, which is about an hour each way. I also don't have cable TV and don't really spend a lot of time watching broadcast TV. There isn't much on TV worth watching, and who really has the time? Plus, my musical tastes are probably too extreme for any regular radio station to have anything to do with.

My favorite channel on XM? It's probably Beyond Jazz (plugged-in electric fusion and other modern era jazz), but yesterday I was really enjoying listening to Vox (opera and choral).

[Doug@GT]

Maybe I'm just lucky down here.

Well, Doug, I'm glad that somebody is happy with it.

Ah. Personal taste, rather than luck. I should have known...


By the way, Daryl, did you catch AM 1190 "Air Force One" last summer? Ronald Reagan speeches, 24/7. Absolute heaven.

If I could get stuff like that on xm (and Randy&Spiff), you might have a convert.

[Chuck(G)]

xm, the only way to fly...

The problem with xm is that you listen to what's on--if you miss something, too bad. OTOH, the neat thing about netcasting is that you can select what and when you want to hear it. So, if I missed the CBSO playing "Rite of Spring" at this week's Aldeburgh Festival, I can do it for the rest of the day just by going to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio3_a ... ormanceon3

[Chuck(G)]

Does anyone else think that the time is fast approaching when broadcast radio is just another dinosaur?

I don't think so. Last I check, not everyone has access to/can afford/have the equipment for internet access full time. Don't forget, we are the lucky ones...

Also, hard (yet) to drag the internet into cars...

It'll happen--there's just too much money at stake for it not to. Is DSL really much more expensive than POTS for the telcos to provide?

[Steve Marcus]

...And Digital Radio is just over the horizon, offering several "channels" for each broadcast frequency...

[Mark]

Does anyone else think that the time is fast approaching when broadcast radio is just another dinosaur?

Maybe for FM. But, I suspect that AM will be around a long time, mostly with the "news-talk" format.

[Mark]

Is DSL really much more expensive than POTS for the telcos to provide?

I don't exactly live in a poor neighborhood; but I have been told by the telco that we will never get DSL because of the costs. The telco may have changed its name, but it's still U.S. Worst to me.

On the other hand, we have screaming fast cable access to the internet.

[Chuck(G)]

Maybe for FM. But, I suspect that AM will be around a long time, mostly with the "news-talk" format.

Back in the early 70's, I had my first exposure to cable TV (not CATV, but real cable with HBO). It was cheap (less than $9/month), commercial-free and very limited (A and B sides, no set-top box). It was hard to see that it was going to catch on.

I think that net radio will follow the same path--commercial content, wide deployment primarily because traditional broadcasting has left such a desert in terms of content, and the "listen to what you want when you want it". It's that last item that will be hard to beat--it goes counter to the whole premise of broadcasting, that people will be where you want them to be to hear your message. We're already seeing this happening in television with things like Tivo.

In short, net radio offers a way to "personalize" listening--and that's a pretty powerful force.

[Leland]

I think that net radio will follow the same path--commercial content, wide deployment primarily because traditional broadcasting has left such a desert in terms of content, and the "listen to what you want when you want it". It's that last item that will be hard to beat--it goes counter to the whole premise of broadcasting, that people will be where you want them to be to hear your message. We're already seeing this happening in television with things like Tivo.

Funny timing -- iTunes just got updated today, gaining native Podcast support. Podcasts aren't exactly new, but using them needed a few steps & additional software, and required getting out there to find them on your own.

(if y'all haven't heard about it yet, Podcasts are basically audio magazines, condensed into low-bitrate mp3's and often available for subscriptions from all over the internet)

It's not streaming radio, but it's the closest thing to having regularly updated broadcasts (hence "pod"casts) carried in portable music players.

I don't think that regular broadcast radio would die. It'll surely change, just as AM has changed into almost exclusively talk radio while FM's greater fidelity proved better for music.

I really don't want XM or Sirius -- I prefer to find local content when I'm on the road.

[ThomasDodd]

It'll happen--there's just too much money at stake for it not to. Is DSL really much more expensive than POTS for the telcos to provide?

Yes, DSL is much more expensive. The limits on distance are a big one. POTS can be easily amplified, or digitized and multiplexed for the long trip back. I cannot even get high modem speeds. Current max is in the 30k range, but normaly just over 28k. 56k (not even) hasn't got a snowball's chance, The problem switch is 200 yards before my place. My current options are ISDN (way to pricy still, and for only 64/128K) or Satelite (can you say lag?).

Cable might be an option, but I don't want those idiots near my house. Back when I lived in town (pre digital), constant outages made it nearly unusable. And to get internet access requires TV programming. I already hav a great Sat. system with better pricing.

[Joe Baker]

• "Television will be the end of radio."
  "Television will be the end of movies."
  "FM will be the end of AM radio."
  "Cable television will be the end of broadcast television."

These were all the common wisdom of the day. In light of that history,

• "Satellite Radio will be the end of broadcast radio."

seems not just unlikely, but implausible.

Count the number of radios your household owns today. Without really trying, I come up with 13. Most of them are used at least once a month; several are used daily (especially in the four cars we own, with another car coming in a month or so). I'm not ABOUT to spend what it would cost to replace all those with satellite radio (actually, I won't replace ANY of them with satellite**). I'll use internet radio when it's convenient, and CDs when internet's not available before I'd EVER pay for satellite radio. And I suspect that I'm not that unusual.
__________________________________
Joe Baker, who thinks that local-origination radio contributes to the sense of community, while national programming detracts from it.

** until/unless there is "free satellite radio" -- which I think there will be, as I suspect satellite bandwidth is probably cheaper than broadcast tower/transmitter maintenance in the long run).

[Rick Denney]

I've been listening to satellite radio, for the simple reason that in this hilly area I can't find many terrestrial radio stations that will cover the whole trip from home to the office. And I travel up to Pennsylvania for project work nearly every week, and hunting for a local station that provides something interesting to listen to is quite a challenge.

But I don't think netcasting will lead the way until there's a cheap way to get broadband access into the car. That's where I do 99.9% of my radio listening.

Rick "who thinks the death of broadcast radio has been predicted before" Denney

[MartyNeilan]

• "Television will be the end of radio."
  "Television will be the end of movies."
  "FM will be the end of AM radio."
  "Cable television will be the end of broadcast television."

You forgot a classic one, Joe: "Video Killed The Radio Star"

[Chuck(G)]

• "Television will be the end of radio."
  "Television will be the end of movies."
  "FM will be the end of AM radio."
  "Cable television will be the end of broadcast television."

These were all the common wisdom of the day. In light of that history,

• "Satellite Radio will be the end of broadcast radio."

seems not just unlikely, but implausible.

Yes, Joe. But what killed Vaudeville?

[Doug@GT]

I've been listening to satellite radio, for the simple reason that in this hilly area I can't find many terrestrial radio stations that will cover the whole trip from home to the office.

If I were in that situation, I would probably invest in an iPod, or use my pda hooked up with a cassette adapter. It's got to be cheaper in the long run.

Doug "who is honestly not savvy to how much satellite radio costs"