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I think the days of generic local and national radio services, which play a mix of popular music carefully chosen to be as inoffensive as possible, and provide a diet of celeb gossip, political squabbles and local roadworks, are numbered. The era when half of, say, London listened to Capital Radio every day is long gone (and Capital itself now resembles an iPod on shuffle with the hits of Rihanna, Adele and Katy Perry all day and night with almost no speech). If being bland enough that no one switched me off was my business model, I'd be filling out my application for unemployment right now. Where radio still has a significant role to play is in the discovery of new content, new information, things you might not already know you're interested in, and that might be so far outside your sphere of influence that the computer hasn't been able to guess you'd like them yet. I work in the community radio sector these days; small, non-profit local stations staffed by volunteer presenters passionate about what they play. In my own opinion, all the algorithms in the world can't replace someone who knows their specific style of music and has the enthusiasm to present it to the world. This, I believe, still has a bright future. I guess we're looking at two different approaches to the same problem of discovering new information and content. There are those who advocate an automated approach--you like X, lots of people who like X also like Y, try Y, here's an automated feed of Y--and there are those, like me, who prefer the more curated experience of broadcast radio, from a studio, with a presenter. I don't sit still, sticking my head in the sand and pretending everything will be the same forever, with people gathering around the wireless to listen to the latest Bob's Country Music Hour on 1170AM. It's my job to reconcile this stuff, and make sure we move with the times, give people what they want, and leverage this new technology to benefit communities for years to come. |