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I read in the paper yesterday that some radio stations believe they are losing listeners to iPods, because while they only have playlists of a few hundred songs of a specific genre, the iPod owner has thousands of songs of all sorts of genres. In other words, the radio is a lot more boring.
The radio people have concluded that to increase and retain their audience, they need to play a much bigger variety of songs. This new format is called "jack." They don't care whether it's country or hip-hop, as long as it's a song that will sound familiar.
As St. Louis's 106.5 programmer Jewels Riley says, "I think there is enough variety that if they don't like Madonna, they can switch back in three minutes and hear Aerosmith."
I disagree.
If radios are losing audiences to iPods, trying to copy the iPod is not going to solve the problem. If someone doesn't like Madonna, they're not going to come back. They're going to go back to their iPod, where they can just skip Madonna, and not have to listen to commercial breaks. And people who used to like the station for a certain style will be unsatisfied when half of the songs are not of a style they enjoy.
In trying to please all of the people all of the time, I am afraid they will end up pleasing no one. What do you think?
Edmond the Hun
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5 comments:
I wouldn't say "no one", Edmund. there are plenty enough of people that enjoy a random mix of their favorites. it makes things unpredictable. anyone who doesn't can just go to another radio station that isn't so broad. that's why the radio isn't going to die anytime soon. it offers new things. your mp3 player isn't going to have songs on it that:
you don't own, haven't heard, or are simply new.
I say that the main problem with your argument is that you are lumping all radio stations into one, when they are in actuality very diverse in their thinking.
-The Swedish Eskimo
i love my cds. the radio is only tolerable for short trips. i agree that trying to copy the ipod is a bad idea. they aren't copying the ipod anyway. ipods are customized to whatever the owner wants to listen to. they merely have a wide bank to draw from. the radio would be better off specifying their stations even more, so people know exactly where to go to hear what. and getting rid of the loops that are repeated every three hours would be a plus too. and while they're at it, they can cut commercials altogether, because everybody hates them and they serve no purpose. pretty soon companies are going to have force our minds to download them cuz we avoid them on the tv, radio, and web.
creepy.
-Sanguine
ok, first, that download idea is WAY too freaky for me. now, Sanguine, please tell me you were only frustrated and not serious. of course commercials serve a purpose. they fund the radio station. just like any website that has ads on it. as annoying as commercials and ads may be, they keep all of our free conveniences free. I find it interesting to discover how deeply intertwined our society is. everything's dependent on something else. stupid dependence...
-The Swedish Eskimo
What ever happened to starting a sentance with a Capital Letter? Oh well. There are especially some stations that have no fear of being overcome, such as Classic 99. It is very difficult to find, for instance, a good rendition of Debussy's Clair de Lune for an ipod, and thus the station is useful. Country, however, should be scared stupid. All you need is a jug and a washboard and they're obsolete.
yeah i'm frustrated but i think i heard that idea on tv or something...and it freaked me out. or maybe that was the identification chips they wanna implant in babies so you can pinpoint a person anywhere...*twilight zone music*
there are stations where you pay a small fee and don't have commercials. those sound nice. why do the breaks have to be darn long?? they're like 10 straight minutes!!! if you tune in at the wrong time you get no music wherever you're going ~ it bugs me!
-sanguine
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