The Radio

When was the last time you actually listened to the radio outside of your car? I'm going to guess it wasn't within the last few months, quite possibly years. Why is that? Because radio is dying. I would say the cliché, "video killed the radio star", but that's not really true. Internet killed the radio, and standing over the frayed wires of those transistors are Pandora and iTunes. Much like the scene in Office Space where Peter, Michael, and Samir beat the hell out of a printer, the internet, Pandora, and iTunes have done the same to the radio. How? Simple: one part listen to what you want, one part no commercials (for the most part).


I hold Pandora up as the premiere internet radio website, but there are definitely others like Last.fm that provide the same experience, and that experience is radio that is tailored to your likes and dislikes. You pick a song or artist or genre and algorithms do their best to send appropriate music into your ears. By approving or denying their selections you theoretically help the algorithms become more specific to you personally. Tell me of a radio station that does that? I'll take your silence as a lack of evidence. Of course, you can call into your radio station and request songs, but there are still odds that a good amount of what you will be listening to won't be exactly what you want. Pandora isn't perfect, nothing technologically ever truly is, but I've noticed that plenty of people even use Pandora over downloading their own music or using iTunes.

Apple's invention of the podcast is probably one of the greatest that came with the iPod. The ability for people to record themselves basically just talking for an hour or so and to be able to download it so you can listen to it anywhere is great. This week I just stumbled upon a great podcast by the guys over at [IGN] called Game Scoop!, but more specifically their most recent Knockin' Boots episode. While insightful it was also incredibly funny, which is something that can be difficult to find on the radio these days. Plus, they're free to swear up a storm and not give a damn. Freedom, that's what the internet offers. No worries about FCC violations, you can say whatever you want on a podcast and anyone can listen to it. Another victory for the internet over the radio. There are podcasts available for pretty much everything and anything you wish to hear about. Sex, drugs, politics, video games, movies, knitting, geography, you get the picture. Podcasts are a great alternative to talk radio since you can listen to them at anytime, and anywhere if you have an mp3 player. Given that radio stations and talk radio are even moving to offering their broadcasts to podcasts as well, it seems pretty evident that the internet is a way to get their word out beyond the limited time frame.

This is all fine and well, and if the world ever gets around to giving out free internet to everyone then the radio would truly be on it's last breath, but things aren't that simple. If you haven't heard, last week Egypt disconnected over 95% of the country from the internet. That kind of power is a little scary, and the US may be headed in that direction. Seriously, what's up with me and tangents. This one does kind of serves a point besides scaring you about the safety of your internet in the future. While the air waves are free, they are also pretty constant. If you lose your internet, you lose your internet radio. I guess if you have a smart phone and 3 or 4G you're probably fine for awhile, but still, the new radio does have it's drawbacks. Personally, I'll take my chances if only not to have to listen to one more radio station tell me that they're commercial free for forty minutes, when in actuality it's about twenty, and the other twenty are commercials.

I personally used to be on a radio show, and I can honestly say that we hated doing commercials, but the show was a mix of both music and talk. We did our best to provide our listeners with what they wanted but nothing is perfect, and some days were hit or miss. Podcasts generally allow for better preparation and editing that can remove problems that might arise. To sum up, radio is terminal. It has had a long and fulfilling life and it was definitely essential to music dispersal that we know today. Sorry radio, but maybe you should bow out gracefully and let the "Young Folks" play now.




Tune in.

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