Radio’s Age of Desperation

Stern finally moves to satellite radio on Monday and I was reminded in the Neal Justin’s The New Golden Age of Radio.

Problem is….satellite radio is boring (coincidently, Sterns departure makes the FM dial even more boring). Removing the regional limits of the FM dial is something Clear Channel has already been doing for years. I’ve got more than 4 days (down from 6) of unlistened, FCC-free, cost-free, region-free, audio of exactly the things I’m interested in sitting in my iTunes library right now. No need to wait until Monday.

In the age of on-demand video (Netflix & ‘on-demand’), knowledge (Google), news (Google), audio (podcasts). Pushing a format listeners can’t rate, fast-forward, or re-listen seems like a step backwards.

In the end, I predict in the next couple years XM or Sirius will sell their satellites to the other and distribute all their programming over the internet. It has all the benefits of satellite distribution (infinite channels, outside of the FCC’s jurisdiction) with little of the overhead.

“I believe that people will pay for radio, it’s everything iPod can’t be. IPod can’t give you content and we can” – Howard Stern.

Could someone please introduce Howard to a podcast. I have a show to record.