Sunday, June 19, 2016
Radical Radio Revisions
Do you listen to the
radio? Satellite or terrestrial? AM, FM or SW? Do you subscribe to a download
service (e.g., iTunes) or streaming service (e.g., Spotify)? Do you use your
smart phone to carry your music? If you have a car, do you listen to in-car music,
radio (including news, talk radio, sports, etc.) or other entertainment
services? Where else do you consume such entertainment? Home? While working
out? On mass transit?
Here are some numbers: “According
to a report by the US-based Pew Research Center last
year, the number of Americans who listen to online radio (like Pandora,
iHeartRadio, or Google Play Music) has doubled since 2010. Nearly three
quarters of those total listeners tune in via their smartphones. Within that
group, the number of people who listen to online radio in their cars has
spiked substantially: 35% of US adult smartphone owners listen to online radio
in the car, up from 21% in 2013, and way up from 6% in 2010.
“[And we love our FM
in-car entertainment.] In fact, Pew reported in 2014 that 91% of people in the US ages 12
or older had listened to AM/FM radio in the week before they were surveyed.”
BBC.com, June 13th. FM? A technology that dates back to the 1930s? Yup, that
one!
“The romance between cars
and radio is sort of a surprising one, considering that in the ‘30s, some states in the US tried to outlaw car radios—there was
fear of radios distracting drivers or the music lulling them to sleep. Instead,
the installation of radios in cars proved to be a long-lasting, lucrative
synergy of entertainment and transportation.” BBC.com. So things are rosy in
the radio biz, right? Not only jobs in local independent broadcasters, national
over-the-air networks, but also players like sat-caster Sirius, online
providers and the like. Maybe artists are railing at the per-play revenue share
they are getting – pretty small and hotly contested – but radio is alive,
kicking and growing.
What is obvious from
casual experience, anecdotal evidence or hard statistics of actual usage, radio
is heavily dependent on consumption patterns while driving. Our laws won’t let
a driver watch a favorite TV show or play a movie while driving, but talk/music
is peachy keen, whatever the source. Even an audio book is acceptable. You can
learn a language, listen to news, play a podcast or, even… wait for it, wait
for it… listen to a CD.
But if these “sound only”
edutainment consumables are dependent on drivers switching them on, what
exactly happens when cars no longer require a driver? Does the chi chi back
seat video “entertainment center” – to keep the kiddies calm and entertained on
long trips – extend into a front seat comparable for adults as well?
Remember
this “old world navigation system”
Taxi drivers are already
sweating being replaced by… er… nothing/no one (e.g., GPS-enabled driverless
automation), but should disc jockeys, radio broadcast/sat-cast owners and
managers, radio ad salespeople, ad agencies equally fear a future where
ex-drivers now want/need to be distracted? But want more than mere “sound”? Is
it different if they own the vehicle or opt for “pay as you use it”
transportation? Do telecasters and producers of video content rejoice?
“Thanks to cars, humans
have nurtured a relationship with radio that’s lasted more than 80 years. The
reason? Few things in life require more attention than driving. When you’re
listening to radio, with its hands-off format for music and news that's pre-curated
by DJs, you can keep engaged on the task at hand, while still keeping your eyes
on the road. And although satellite and digital radio threaten to kill
terrestrial-based FM—and while self-driving cars threaten the existence of all radio—the
medium has proven to be incredibly resilient, although its survival story
hasn’t been a short or easy one.
“See, the inside of a car
an experimental petri dish fit for the latest entertainment technology trends
of the day. Throughout the years, all the flashiest tech of the time has
appeared on dashboards the world over—8-tracks, cassette tapes, compact
discs—and yet all those have faded away. But radio's stuck around. Even when TV
replaced radio as a family pastime in the home, the inherent need for
entertainment that's fit for multitasking is what's allowed cars to keep radio
alive…
“But FM’s days might be
numbered. Not everyone is on board with keeping our beloved dinosaur technology
alive and well. UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey says the country is reaching the
‘tipping point’ for FM: Within two years, the Government aims to double the
amount of local digital transmitters, including the number of digital
radio-equipped cars, by 2017.
“Even if FM goes extinct,
though, radio will still thrive on the internet. And as the cloud increasingly
connects the internet with everything in our lives, from our phones to our
cars, it’ll still be easy for people to listen to the radio, regardless of what
happens to FM. Radio will keep evolving as it always has.
“Radio’s latest evolution
is satellite radio, like Sirius XM. The company, which uses the familiar DJ
format, says that 75% of new cars in the US come factory-installed with Sirius
XM right now. Its aim is to double its fleet of enabled vehicles by 2025, which
would hit around 185 million cars…
“[The] notion of the
connected car is a potentially disruptive one for radios. More car and tech
companies are partnering to connect cars to the cloud and bring the Internet of
Things into the driver’s seat. You could soon connect your smartphone or tablet
to your car, and with a simple voice command, order your device to start
streaming content from the internet without lifting a finger, from audiobooks
to your tracks from your iTunes library.
“But industry analysts think
that it’s going to take a lot to kill radio once and for all. After all, plenty
of people are still listening to radio, in general—whether it’s in their car or
not.” BBC.com. In the end, we will want more – books, audio visual content,
online education, information and entertainment – from our in-car experience.
The devil is in the transition… those losing jobs finding opportunity in the
next. And there will be a transition.
I’m
Peter Dekom, and the only constant is change; in-car audio-visual content and
technology will lead the way.
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