I want to write on a regular basis. Personally, I've been through so much in the past few years that I've neglected writing however, I am determined to write and help shed light on the industry that I love "radio" and whatever else I feel compelled to write about. I've studied radio for more than 20 years and in that time I've seen how the industry has changed and why it has changed. I want to document my feelings on radio and leave a footprint for my family, friends colleagues and researchers. Thank goodness for technology and the ability to leave digital footprints. When it comes to radio I've heard the medium through different era's the 60's, 70's, 80's, and in the 90's until now, my listening has drifted away for several reasons. The reasons for my change in listening is another blog entry that I won't deal with at this time.
Through this blog, I intend to write about the different eras of radio. I believe that earlier eras of radio served in the public interest better than radio today. Well what is the public interest in radio? That's a really good question and the answer is one that has challenged law and policy makers for years. I guess it comes down to whose money is "behind" the law and policy makers. When things are seen through lense of "finance and cash" the people mostly come out on the short end of the stick. I don't have prove that statement we are living in it. The Telecommunication Act of 1996 has literally ruined the broadcasting industry. Corporations got richer, and the people were left information poorer, fed with the same product lines from all stations regardless of the genre. Radio became a product and lost its standing as a public resource. And that too is another story.
My favorite era of radio are the years between 1963 and 1982, that's probably when radio had it most "personality". And the years when broadcast owners had to include programming in the public interest and keep records of doing so. During this time all radio personalities had to be licensed to work in a radio control room and there was no syndicated programming. I remember the first day I hung my license as a college student at WKKC in 1975. I began listening to radio in 1963 when WVON arrived on the airwaves at 1450 AM owned by the Leonard Chess and family. I fell in love with radio then. And that station was the foundation for "GOOD RADIO" in my mind. There is an interesting dissertation on WVON that talks about the history of the station and how the owners really wanted the personalities to "talk to the people", however, that too is another story and this entry is to say thanks and pay tribute to the many many people and entrepreneurs who have invested time and money to "MAKE RADIO GREAT AGAIN" through the Internet. I won't single out any stations or owners because there are just too many to list and I don't want to slight anyone or hurt anyone's feelings by not mentioning their name.
20 years ago back in 1997 I looked at the future of radio after the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and wrote about the future for my graduate thesis. My research paper was entitled Introduction to Webcasting. My graduate instructor the late Professor Eli Segal, said to me "Wow Reggie this is a great topic because nobody with the credentials knows how to do this yet. I selected a topic that placed me on the edge of learning and bringing forward information about webcasting and I did. I was so excited when I finished my thesis that I asked the Chairman of the GAG of the GMWA if I could give a speech to talk about my work.
I remember giving the speech in the summer of 1999 and put 700 gospel announcer to sleep. Nobody wanted to hear about Internet Radio. Now as we see it today. Internet Radio is booming. Everyone seems to be involved with it. You have independent artist enjoying the exposure of the music from the many outlets that are available. There are thousand of former radio personnel detached from the industry that they once loved now programming and owning stations. It all seems to be a great opportunity. However as one great lyricists wrote in the classic "Don't Believe the Hype" -- Don't Believe It. There are disadvantages to Internet Radio also. That too is another blog entry that I will get into. Later..
Running an Internet station takes a lot of work and I just want to say GOOD JOB to all those that are trying to make content options available for people who have no other choices to "hyper commercial"
broadcast radio. Radio content on commercial stations is "FORCED" on us. Well how can you say that Miles. Anyone will tell you that Radio is all about the business of making profit from the "artists" and the "advertisers". There is limited public interest programing like news, and news probably happens only on the morning shift and the newscast is limited to 1 minute 30 seconds if that. Hell sometimes they won't tell you the time or anything about the local community around you. Urban radio, Gospel or Secular is so homogenized that you can miss listening and entire day and not miss a thing because all they talk about are the same things. My God... Tiger Woods got arrested for an alleged DUI -- I don't give a ______ about Mr. Woods DUI -- what about the mayhem going on in the streets EVERYWHERE.
On the bright side though, I discovered a Internet Station on the mantle of providing MORE THAN JUST MUSIC. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a Facebook page for "NEWS HEADLINES" for the station. I uttered a sigh of relief and shouted a Hallelujah because radio is more than a music jukebox. Internet Radio too needs some news content and public affairs info as well. Especially, in the black community we like to be talked to and discuss things.
Finally, It's
important to remember that despite the advantages of internet streaming, it
also has some real disadvantages. One major disadvantage is that while
streaming radio is generally cheaper to transmit than "on-air" radio,
it's a lot more expensive to receive. The elites want to train consumers to pay for everything (remember bottled water). Buying a computer, or cell phone and
paying for internet service costs a lot more than buying an AM/FM radio. Also,
one of the beautiful things about radio (especially low power radio) is
that it is inherently local and is a great tool for building local communities.
It's easy to lose your focus on local people and local issues when your stream
is available to the entire world. For these reasons, I see internet streaming
as a supplement to old-fashioned on-air radio, but not as a replacement for it." Fight for LPFM stations too.
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