In the 2005 world of radio broadcasting, FM is out and XM and dot-com are in. Ever since satellite radio’s first marketing push in 2001, the voice of radio has become more and more a technologically forward one. With Howard Stern’s move to Sirius satellite radio set for next month, the traditional system of radio programming is changing.
Gone are the days when people relied on their radios to hear new bands. Nowadays, radio DJs talk about reality television and play increasingly smaller playlists of only nationally-marketed, major-label groups. As this trend continues, listeners are being forced to turn to other outlets for their new music fixes.
Through satellite radio, listeners can pay a monthly fee to have more than 100 FCC restriction-free stations beamed to their car, home or portable receiver. With internet radio, listeners can stream (a kind of data transfer) hundreds of thousands of stations for free, though there are no commercially available technologies to make those stations portable. Customers can now even download pre-recorded radio shows to their mp3 players through podcasting.
Someone
Controlled You
Following the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which eliminated the restrictions on the number of radio stations corporations could own nationwide, radio has become more of a corporate commodity than an artistic outlet.
On Feb. 25, 2005, Y100, Philadelphia’s lone alternative rock station, broadcast its popular morning show, hosted by Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison. What seemed like a normal Friday morning turned monumental for Y100’s listeners: Elliot and Morrison announced the station would discontinue broadcasting after their show ended that morning.
Y100’s quick demise became a result of the Telecommunications Act, which Jim McGuinn, former program director of the station, said has changed the philosophies of radio programming nationwide.
“Instead of single owners engaging in the marketplace with their stations in an all-out battle against each other, you now had corporate entities controlling multiple stations and basically playing chess with the other corporate owners on the radio playing field,” he said.
Radio One, the company that owned Y100, pulled the station off the air and replaced it with an urban format station, although McGuinn said Y100 was Radio One’s most successful station in the Philadelphia market.
“Y100 was sacrificed along with millions in profits so that Radio One could use three stations, all engaged in various aspects of urban programming to combat with ClearChannel’s two urban stations,” he said.
They Bought and Sold You
Zac Hanson, whose band scored a hit in 1997 with the infectious “MMMbop,” said today’s radio stations do not give listeners enough variety. Hanson said he thinks that executives, not local listeners, determine programming, because the same companies own most stations and therefore, the same songs are played in rotation nationwide.
“[The stations] are all playing the same 25 songs,” he said. “All that they get to choose is which order they play them in. Stations are being dictated what [to] play.
“There’s no local content represented at all,” Hanson lamented. “So radio stations have been really emphasizing fewer and fewer songs, more and more talk and losing any ability to communicate with their local fans.”
WTBU New Media Director Jeff Greco said he listens to traditional radio only as an alternative to a show he doesn’t like on Boston University’s student-run station.
“I can’t stand listening to WBCN,” said the College of Communication sophomore. “It seems like they play the same 10 songs over and over.”
School of Management senior Perry Greenspan said she believes satellite and internet radio stations are beneficial since they provide content uninhibited by FCC regulations or corporate greed. She added that internet stations and podcasts offer unique programming that is designed to appeal to individual tastes.
The World, It’s Turning
McGuinn said he believes this transition to new forms of technology is a natural progression, much like television’s transformation in the 1980s. When cable became widely accessible, channels that catered to specific interests such as music, sports or news began to take off. Now, a similar revolution has sparked in the radio industry, and for better or worse, satellite radio and internet broadcasting are providing listeners with a wider range of programming.
“Network television still exists,” McGuinn said. “It’s still dominant, but by its definition, it tends to be not as edgy, not as niched, not as specialized. But [the increased distribution afforded by cable TV] allows for a much more specialized, nuanced, niched formats and stations and audio products to emerge.”
T. Barton Carter, chairman of COM’s Mass Communications, Advertising and Public Relations department, said the expanded programming afforded by new radio formats does not mean traditional radio is on its last legs.
“It doesn’t mean broadcast is dead,” he said. “It means the business model has to change.”
According to Carter, new technology still poses risks. Faced with so many choices, consumers might choose to ignore it all rather than explore the options.
“The plethora of choices is going to confuse consumers,” he said. “The reaction might be not to do anything. It’s all happening so fast they might not know which way to go.”
We Must
Surely Be Learning
Greenspan said she believes the new technology will succeed because audiences today are always looking for alternatives to what’s already out there. And with the convenience of download-and-listen podcasts, broadcasts can be reached at the touch of a click-wheel.
“I think commercial radio sucks,” Greenspan said. “It’s controlled by corporations and money, and they never play really good music. I think satellite and internet radio are going to be big, but podcasts are the future. Everyone is addicted to their iTunes and iPods, so anything that can be listened on those will be huge.”
Once internet radio becomes as widely available as FM, McGuinn said the “corporate control” of the airwaves that many people complain about will be eliminated. Someone who creates an internet station from his basement for a couple thousand dollars could potentially compete with a major radio corporation with millions of dollars at its disposal.
“It’s going to explode the radio industry,” he said. “It’s going to be very interesting in the next few years. It’s an exciting moment that’s in the future. But it’s within sight. It may be in three years, it may be five years, it may be ten years before that kind of thing happens, but when that happens, all bets are off and it’s a whole new ballgame.” m