Dear Mike,
Where do you see radio ten years from now?
Johhny B, FM 95-5
Johnny,
If you’re worried about the future of radio, fear not. Radio will still be here in ten years and it’ll still be cranking out noise at the rate of 30 commercials an hour. And the same elite few will still own it; they’ll just be operating under different names as they each go bankrupt, sell off their properties, form new companies and buy back the properties as new companies. Even the music will be the same. The Rolling Stones will come out of retirement, Garth will go BACK into retirement for the 5th time, they’ll discover more unreleased Michael Jackson tracks and the Beatles still won’t be on iTunes, but they’ll find a way to re-release every remastered Beatles song one more time.
Maybe technically the studio hardware will change a little in radio and there will be no live jocks. Okay, that’s not a lot different than now, but the radio studio will be one computer on a PD’s desk in his office. He will type out whatever he wants the “rented celebrity voice” to say between the songs, and the words will be spoken by Leonardo DiCaprio or Jessica Biel. All personal appearances will be virtual, so the experience will differ for each “listener.” If a guy wants to go down to Bob Smith Chevrolet for free hot dogs and a test drive, he may prefer to see a topless Beyonce’, so that’s what will greet him as he puts on his “Z-107 VR Glasses.”
So, you may be working in the sales department to stay in radio in ten years, Johnny, but radio will still be there and still have listeners as long as people have to drive their own cars. But once we no longer have to hold on to the steering wheel and can ride in “self-driven” cars, all bets are off. If we don’t have to watch the road, we’ll be watching video displays on our way to work. I see that happening in 20 years. By then you’ll be retired or deaf. Either way, it won’t matter to you.
Have a good day.
Mike Michaels, Radio Survivor