(Sunday, Jan 12, 2014) I love Sundays – especially during football season, and especially during the playoffs. The early game is on in the background as I sit and reflect on the week and this week’s music. Music does come before football with me LOL.
I had an interesting experience this weekend. A fellow musician began saying that radio is dead, that no one listens to radio anymore… and that more people listen to streaming radio ala Pandora, and satellite radio via Sirius than listen to “corporate radio” broadcast via terrestrial (conventional) technology. Oh boy … anyone who knows me at all knows how I handled this discussion LOL.
A DISCLAIMER: I listen to Internet-radio primarily .. and really only to The Colorado Sound Live365. I listen to it in the car via smartphone technology on an unlimited data plan from Verizon, and while I’m working out at the gym via the in-house broadband access. I do, also, listen to terrestrial radio. I listen to sports/talk during football season and public/community radio at other times.
It is true that ” In 2011, one-third of all Americans (34%), or 89 million people, said they listened to either streaming of AM/FM stations, Internet-only services, such as Pandora, or both in the previous month.” (Source: http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/audio-how-far-will-digital-go/audio-by-the-numbers/)
Digitaltrends.com noted that “…audiences aged between 13 and 35 spent roughly as much time listening to online radio and streaming music services as they did traditional AM and FM radio. The same isn’t true for older listeners, with AM/FM radio still managing to account for 41 percent of weekly music listening…” (Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/study-younger-listeners-stream-as-much-as-listen-to-radio/#ixzz2qDSk8BTp)
So, before we declare radio dead …
a) all radio is corporate. there are no exceptions. Pandora is corporate. Sirius is corporate. All terrestrial radio stations are corporate, including public and community radio stations, which are incorporated under non-profit corporation status.. Some corporations are more centrally managed, while some have more diffuse forms of management with greater local control and/or autonomy. I press this because the impression seems to be that Pandora and Sirius are not “corporate radio.” Sirius does not allow for independent access in programming as it is functionally a monopoly. Pandora‘s music database is pre-screened and filtered before being made available to the public for personal mixing, and then only within the constraints of their music genealogy algorithms.
b) Radio is radio regardless of technology, but not all technologies are equal in reach. There are three primary means of broadcasting today: Terrestrial (conventional) AM & FM. Satellite (a quasi-monopoly held by the Sirius Corporation). Internet. Terrestrial radio has the greatest share of actual listenership to available audience. Satellite and Internet have the deepest reach in terms of geography, and therefore potential available audience. Terrestrial radio is firmly established in car dashboards, the primary place we listen to radio of any kind. Satellite radio is second in terms of in dash access. Internet is just now coming online, but is years away from being ubiquitous in our transportation devices since it requires greater efficiency and availability of broadband Internet access.
c) Terrestrial radio is still #1 in technology and listenership …
We’re still years away from AM/FM technology being “dead.” FM radio is still the dominant way we get exposed to new music, and news and local events. We are quite far away from Internet having the kind of reach that will allow rural users efficient access. If you live in a metro area with good data plans for your car or smartphone you’re ahead of the game…. you and your friends may be using conventional technology less than you were, or not at all anymore. But, I’ll make the bet that even the staunchest deniers turn on the car radio more than once a week 😉
If radio is dead have I finally hit zombie status?? (where’s Maris the Great when you need a ghoul?)
VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK:
What a week for video releases! New videos were added from Katey Laurel, Matthew Moon, Fierce Bad Rabbit, Kronen, and Mama Lenny & the Remedy. Katey Laurel comes in first with the official video for her “hit” Hurricane – which seems to the tell the story of being in the “hurricane” of emotions during an especially difficult time in a relationship between a husband and a wife.
PLAYLIST S8|EP02
(D) – Debut: the first time a NEW album, ep, or single is aired.
(N) – New track from a previously debuted album or ep
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “Rosalita (f. John Popper)” [single] (2012)
Halden Wofford & the Hi*Beams “All Along the Watchtower” from Live @ Hodis (2012)
Drew Emmitt “Tangled Up In Blue” from Freedom Ride (2002)
(D) Vinnie Maniscalco “TaKillYa” [single] (2013) Places “Honesty” from No More Wasted Days (2012)
Katey Laurel “Hurricane” from Periscope (2014)
Jeff Brinkman “Ordinary Day” from Strange (2012)
(D) Rachel and the Ruckus “Could Be Tonight” [single] (2013)
SHEL “On My Way” from SHEL (2012)
Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra “Zen and The Art of Samba” from Sharks And Manatees (2012)
Acoustic Junction “Every Heart” from Strange Days (2000)
Reed Foehl “Wolves” from Once An Ocean (2009)
(N) Mosey West “Hurricane Eyes” from Bermuda (2014)
Leftover Salmon “Sing Up To The Moon” from Aquatic Hitchhiker (2012)
Soul School “Out of Your League” from Chapter One (2014)
Flobots “White Flag Warrior” from Survival Story (2010)
Rachel & the Kings “Not Giving Up” from Tonic (2013)
Soul Merchants “Crowns of Glory” from Soul Merchants (2007)
Fierce Bad Rabbit “Do You Want Me Now?” [single] (2014)
(N) Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore “Train Home” from Love Runner (2014)
Dan Treanor & African Wind “Mercy” from Mercy (2005)
The Motet “Afro Disco Beat” from Instrumental Dissent (2007)
Chris K's Colorado Playlist 