Updated The Look And A ???

Thought it was time to give the blog a fresh coat of paint. Changed out the colors and hopefully made it even easier to read. What do you think?

While I have you...with so much happening (much of it bad) in our industry I thought this would be a good time to throw out a question:

What worries you most about the future of over the air broadcast radio?

As always, if you would like to remain anonymous that is perfectly fine.

The three top things that concern me. [in no particular order]

• What is the future for music radio?
• Where will tomorrow's new talent come from?
• Will radio's financial health improve?
  

I hope to hear from you.

Thanks for checking out the blog!!

HD Radio = Bad Engineering

And that's where this story begins. Add that to the fact that HD Radio does not fulfill a [consumer] need or solve a real problem [for consumers] and now we are witnessing a technology struggling to find a reason to exist.

Can it be saved? Maybe, but I think the odds are long.

Two things that might have made a difference:

1. A different interface. Instead of frequency extension i.e. 102.1-2 the IBOC system should have been marketed as a NEW band with new channel numbers. AM, FM, and the new DM (digital modulation). Even those under 25 might have been intrigued to sample this new DM radio broadcasting. This still doesn't address the signal issues related to low power and topography.
   
2. New, original, and unique programming that is not solely dependent on music programming. Music channels are cheap and easy. Entertainment programming is expensive and certainly not easy.
   

Can these issues be addressed now? Seems to me that it might be too late on the engineering side of things and it's never to late to produce great programming.

Let me share with you a great column I read written by Brad Burnham on the Union Square Ventures website (a venture capital firm in NYC). It is talking about computer technology and its applications, but I think the article applies nicely to HD-R. Read the entire piece here.

In the old days, electrical engineers focused on getting computers to work not on getting people to engage with the systems built on top of those computers. The folks that built enterprise software were vaguely aware that their systems had to be accessible to the humans that used them but they had a huge advantage. The people who used them did so as part of their job, they were trained to use them and fired if they could not figure them out.

Today, no one tells you to use Facebook. There are no employer sponsored training sessions on the use of del.icio.us. The burden is on the designer of the system to meet a need, entertain, or inform their users. They also have to seduce those users, hiding complexity, revealing one layer at time, always enticing, never intimidating, until the user one day finds they are intimately familiar with power and the pleasures of the service.

Designing a system that does that is not an electrical engineering problem. It is a social engineering problem. The best social engineers are working today on consumer facing web services. They understand that there is enormous potential leverage in those services. The creators of these services recognize that services like theirs will ultimately disrupt the economics of many, if not most, parts of the global economy in much the same way that Craigslist collapsed the multi-billion dollar classified industry into a fabulously profitable multi-million dollar web service.

Not Your Average Radio Guy

Howard Stern has done what few radio talents have achieved during their careers--gotten super rich. So rich in fact that CNBC's High Net Worth show did a feature on Howard and soon-to-be wife Beth Ostrosky. (See the video below)

No sour grapes here. Just admiration for a guy who started out with a dream of being on the radio, worked really hard, had talent, had a vision, found his UNIQUE space, and had a good agent. A little good luck didn't hurt either.

You may be thinking, given the state of the radio industry today that achieving Stern level success is a fool's game. I think not. Despite the cuts, the all-music formats, and the gloomy outlook I believe the days of superstar radio talent are ahead of us. In the years to come as music becomes even more commoditized radio will be FORCED to look to talent to keep the medium alive and thriving. The specific delivery system won't matter.

Sure, some of this superstar radio talent may come from Hollywood--stars taking to the microphone and trying to make the difficult transition to radio. It's way different talking live for 3 or 4 hours than scripted TV talk shows, sitcoms, or movies. Casting will be key. Look at "failed" Whoopi Goldberg--she tried to make the move to radio and it didn't go so well. From the beginning I thought she was miscast. Whoopi's strengths did not mesh well with breakfast table happy talk; instead she should have been dishing strong opinions and politics mixed with her unique comedic skills. Now, we have a show!

Don't think for a minute that there are enough celebs to fill all of the hours with great entertaining radio. Tomorrow's star will be coming from many different places--including local talents who have a knack for comedy, conversation, information, and engagement. What's special about your personality? Can you write? Can you connect? How are you different from everyone else? Those with the answers might just get the big break.

Here's a hint: even if you are currently in a tightly regulated format take some initiative and start producing entertaining podcasts on your own. Start a personal blog. Share your podcasts on iTunes and other podcast distribution sites. Take your future into your own hands. See the forest through the trees as they say. (***before enbarking on a blog and podcasting endeavor make sure you are not violating your current employers rules***)