Still Very Much Relevant: Listen To The Radio
One of my favorite activities is stating the obvious, because there is no such thing as Obviousness. It is a maddening thought, having to rethink everything we believe for a fact, over and over again. But where’s the fun otherwise? Also, there is no intellectual evolution — nor revolution — without a little thinking over.
In that spirit, today’s ‘obviousness’ is going to be: Internet changed the media scenery forever. Let us deconstruct this statement.
Whether we like it or not, the Digital Era is responsible for the obsolescence of many, formerly dear, things. Cable television — if not television altogether — newspapers, DVD rental stores, music stores, magazines, traditional mail and almost everything printed in paper. Books are pretty much alive, though. And they will still be, unless someone comes up with a proposal that looks much less like a tablet computer. But we are not going to have the paper-versus-Kindle discussion right now, maybe some other time. What I would like to point out is something entirely different.
The very first public radio broadcast took place in 1910, a live performance by the Metropolitan Opera House. And, if you stop and think about it, radio has not changed a great deal since then. Of course trends and lifestyles come and go, but the essentials remained pretty much the same. People talking, music playing, companies buying advertising space. The broadcasting technology has improved dramatically, yes, but other than that, the basics remain untouched.
Isn’t it marvelous?
The moment I heard that no less than the Los Angeles Times had to give its front page up for advertising, I knew it was bad. I suspected that people were not buying as many papers as they used to, but never to that extent. May 10, 2010, will be remembered as the day the cover of the LA Times belonged to Disney’s Alice In Wonderland. If you wanted to proper read the first page, you had to turn to page two.
So, Internet is the newspaper menace. And Internet certainly killed television. Why should you tune in the 8 o’ clock news? To watch the news you read online four hours ago? Nah, that’s no good. Do you know many 30-year-olds? How many of them do own a TV set? Exactly what I thought.
Paper is losing the battle because it is slow and expensive. Television is just slow. But radio…radio is Internet-friendly.
Radio can be described as a certain format, a certain technology and a certain genre. Its format is ideal for multitaskers, such as Internet users. Its technology is simple, widely available and cheaper than ever. Its genre is endearing and friendly — I am sure you have heard the expression ‘there is a friend inside every radio set’.
Radio, as a genre, and Internet, as a technology, share the same dynamics. They are quick, compelling and intense. They compliment each other in many ways.
In 2007, Madonna gave an interview to Kiss FM’s most popular show. During the course of the 15-minute phone chat, she was asked what her current favorite song was. She answered: ‘you know, the one that goes something like I wanna take you away, Let’s escape into the music, DJ, let it play…’. 24 hours later, you could not turn on any radio station without hearing Rihanna’s Please Don’t Stop The Music.
Radio was the original producer of viral content. Back in the day, you heard that one song and recorded it on a cassette tape, maybe even mailed it to a friend. It was slower and more expensive, but it was there.
Internet allows us to replicate content even faster and cheaper. But radio did it first.
The song Video Killed The Radio Star has never sounded more inaccurate. It came out in 1980, when music videos were the new sensation. Today, paradoxically, radio shows tell you what music videos you should watch. Maybe because you heard it a zillion times over, maybe because you truly liked it, but it works like this: you hear the song on the radio and then go play the video. You go play it on YouTube, of course. There used to be a little something called MTV, but someone told me they are not in the music video business any more.
Do radio shows still have any value? Heck yeah. The most popular shows, which are usually the ones that have been on the air for decades, are key for the music industry. Whether we love them or hate them, their hosts are opinion leaders. Their personal views, the songs they play and the companies that advertise in their shows shape our opinions and likings. This is something we should acknowledge, and sooner rather than later.
Although we may not care for certain kinds of content, such as Rihanna’s Please Don’t Stop The Music, we should know where their popularity comes from. ‘I swear, if I have to listen to Uptown Funk one more time I am going to kill somebody’. Well my friend, you could benefit greatly from listening to some independent stations. These are great sources of fresh ideas and music, but there are so many that sometimes it is hard to find the one that suits you.
Lastly, here are my two cents about today’s controversies around radio.
- Terrestrial radio stations versus Internet-only radio stations: does it really matter anymore?
- Independent versus Mainstream: both! I love discovering weird Korean jazz bands, but I also have to keep up with the world.
- Live versus recorded: podcasts are great, but live shows are the ones that provide the ‘hotter’ content.
- Talk radio versus music radio: radio, as a genre, is spoken. Listening to talk shows will confront you with opinions other than yourselves.
After World War III, when men are long extinct, only three things will remain: cockroaches, Cher…and radio sets.
