Technology: Friend Or Foe?

If you think technology is the enemy, you are a fool.

Period.

Why, oh why, are there so many ignoramus broadcasters whom view radio as a music machine? Their job is not to play music. Their job is to entertain.

Period.

The onslaught of digital media players is a giant strobing neon arrow shaped sign pointing to change for those who view music as their bread and butter. The question is: do they see it?

This Saturday morning, I was eating breakfast at a restaurant I've been going to for years. They play Muzak in the background. Mostly Jazz. I was contemplating the reason why I enjoy female covers of Frank Sinatra songs more than the originals as a sultry voiced woman sang "I Did It My Way." And then I heard it:

"You're listening to Siruis 75"

!!!!??!!!!

It's a sign. Change looms.

Another shop I know of that used to subscribe to Muzak has since set up a Mac Mini and iTunes system. The owners of this small local chain wanted to have more control over what their customers hear, so they fill a DVD with music and drop it off at their locations. Pop it in and - instant muzak. They even customize the playlists by adding notes into the songs ID3 tags so certain songs don't play at certain locations.

Is Muzak in trouble? Probably not, thanks to huge chain stores and restaurants - but they're absolutely seeing the dawn of a new era as technological advances bring nearly identical competition from multiple sources. After all, Muzak is in the business of delivering music.

Radio, however, is not in the music business.

I don't know how much more clearly I can say it than that.

Radio is not in the music business. Radio is in the entertainment business. There is a difference.

When I was a child, I used to keep a transistor radio under my pillow and listen for hours to hear whatever song I was waiting for. The Everclear song 'AM Radio' really sums it up:

"I'd be in bed with the radio on / I would listen to it all night long / Just to hear my favorite song / You'd have to wait but you could hear it on the AM radio"

Kids don't do that today... not like *we* did. Why would they?

Why would they?

More importantly: why do broadcasters still expect them to?

Entertainment comes in many forms. It's about time radio realizes that music is just one piece of the puzzle. As evidence that this hasn't happened yet, I give you The Radio FORMAT.

Radio stations format themselves based on the kind of music they play rather than by the tastes of the people they should be trying to entertain. Think about how ridiculous that is. Alternative stations are signing off... This month, Philadelphia lost Y100, Miami lost Zeta, D.C. lost HFS. Have aliens somehow tele-ported all men under age thirty out of those cities? Where's The Enquirer when we need them most!

I'm not saying those radio stations failed. I'm saying their owners failed. They failed to realize the true potential of their broadcast properties, abandoning heritage for a new music machine. Sure, Spanish could be very successful. Certainly, hip hop could do very well. But is that really it? Replace this bunch of songs and sweepers with that batch? These jocks are let go and new ones brought in? And the beat goes on, pardon the pun.

I hope not.

The answer is what it always was: It's the listeners, stupid.

Choose a demographic and entertain the people that make up that demographic. Don't play them songs... give them a show. Think real content, not recurrents. Think phones. Think conversations. Think games and contests. If you get to the point where you're only playing eight songs an hour and filling the rest with actual CONTENT, I say you're on the right track. And those eight songs each hour should be a reflection of the demo's tastes, not record industry goals.

Dammit.

Video didn't kill the radio star. 'Less Talk More Rock' formats did. Radio forgot how to entertain.

It's time to remember.