Radio Waves

Anyone who has followed my blogs over these last few months knows I have written all original material. This morning I will make an exception by drawing your attention of a couple very significant developments in the whacky world of radio as reported by http://radio.about.com/

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" 
- Said by David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s
The Telecommunication Act of 1996 (approved by the 104th Congress on January 3, 1996).

This law allowed companies to buy more AM and FM radio stations than ever before. Critics argue it was a green light for large companies to dilute programming with similar cookie-cutter formats, replace local DJs and radio personalities with remote voice-tracking technology, and cut staffs by automating many formerly-manned air-shifts.

Large companies like Clear Channel Radio - who at one point owned more than 1200 radio stations - defended these practices.

Significance: In retrospect, deregulation and consolidation probably made the AM and FM radio industry less competitive, less creative, and more vulnerable to upcoming technologies which were poised to take advantage of a changing paradigm for audio distribution.

Deregulation of the Radio industry and consolidation of operations and staff served to homogenize programming and weaken the value of AM and FM radio stations, allowing for other technologies to come along like Internet Radio and Satellite Radio able to chip away at that portion of the available audience that was becoming disenchanted or disenfranchised.

Commercial AM and FM radio began to make itself less compelling at a time when new technologies were about to redefine the concept of "Radio" - and compete head on against it.

In my opinion, the period commencing with the introduction of Real Audio in 1995 through the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 should be viewed as the delineation between what I refer to as the end of the "Era of Commercial AM and FM" and the beginning of what is now the "Modern Radio Era".

Now, the next blurb is what I consider the wave of the future, it will forever impact the radio industry and bring radio back to the future…good bye AM & FM

WiMax - WiMax came in 2008. WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It can provide broadband wireless access up to a 30 mile radius.

Significance: As the WiMax infrastructure begins to build out, Internet Radio stations will be able to stream programming up to 60 miles in diameter through this technology. That pretty much covers almost every metropolitan area like a blanket - and will put Internet Radio on the same footing as AM and FM radio stations for attracting listeners.

Stay tuned