IS CURATED COMMERCIAL RADIO DEAD?
ÒFighting to
stay freeÓ
#176... August
2013
And now, ladies and gentlemenÉ
Éthe current state of terrestrial commercial radio can be summed up in
two formats: music and not music. For each, thatÕs nearly all they do, almost
to the exclusion of the other. You donÕt hear a lot of talk on music radio, nor
a lot of music on news, talk or sports radio (unless itÕs being talked over).
It wasnÕt always this way.
RadioÕs earliest stations did both: some network shows featured music, others
didnÕt. Even after television took radioÕs place as the major source of
entertainment in homes, most radio stations, even top 40 music stations,
featured news and public service programming throughout the day.
Eventually, radio evolved
to where listeners came to expect wall-to-wall music with minimal interruption
on FM and anything that didnÕt involve music on AM (with the exception of
talk-heavy morning shows). ItÕs not clear when that shift began, but one clear
sign of change came during the 1980s when FM rock hosts such as Howard Stern and
Steve Dahl stopped playing music to focus on talk and comedy. While this turned
out to be a good thing for talk listeners, it wasnÕt so good for anyone who
enjoyed hearing radio DJs talk ABOUT music.
That, as most pains know,
has become the biggest casualty of modern commercial radio. Blame Telecom, the
Internet and perhaps most important, the aging of a population with little to
no recollection of DJs who could talk Ð not only talk about music, but know
enough to talk about it Ð into the Òmoney demo.Ó
Most of curated music radio has been pushed off of the
terrestrial commercial landscape and onto satellite/SiriusXM or the Internet.
As such, the good news is that its future is likely secure, at least outside of
radio heard on a traditional radio. The potentially bad news is that when the
point is reached where car radios become an environment equally friendly to
every source of audio entertainment out there, to paraphrase Jimmy Durante,
everybody is going want to get into the act. Meaning radioÕs largest owners
will surely create their own curated content to compete with everyone whoÕs
being doing it so well all along on the Ônet and satellite.
Even if this comes to
pass, it doesnÕt paint a rosy picture for DJ-assisted music radio when it comes
to new music, because younger listeners are probably already conditioned to
finding out what they want to know elsewhere online. Which suggests that the
next generation of informative and knowledgeable DJs, well, they ainÕt gonna
be.
It would certainly be nice
if they, like all radio hosts with something to say, survive. Hopefully, with
all the inevitable coming changes in how people listen to radio, listeners
aside from just us will want them to.
NOW THIS
* ÒThe CHRoniclerÓ and more in every ThursdayÕs Billboard Top 40 Update (subscribe free
at http://www.billboard.biz/newsletters)
á
Friend
on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/richappel7).
Click.
. . . . .
Past editions of Hz So Good can be seen
at http://www.60s70s.org/HzSoGood