Shape of Things To Come

The Shape of Things
The Shape of Things to Come was an okay movie. It was adapted as Things to Come (1936) Actually, it put me to sleep. There way too much preaching. The song by the Yardbirds (Shape of Things) was much better. Jimmy Page plays the solo. But that's not the point of this posting.

In a recent blog I pointed to a frequency swap in Rhode Island that allows Latino Public Radio to offer programming 24/7 and gives Rhode Island Public Radio an FM signal on Providence. The other winner was Wheeler School. The Head of School, Dan Wheeler is quoted as saying, "streaming the student shows is actually the way our students listen to the radio these days."  The programming that was previously aired on 88.1 FM the Wheeler’s student station, will shift almost entirely to Internet streaming through a new website.  www.wheelerschoolradio.org.


The Future of Radio
I recently had a discussion with Paul Kamp and Richard Cerny of Backbone Networks Corporation. They see what Wheeler has done as the future of College and High School Radio...and perhaps the future of radio. They have 40 clients for their service. College Radio does not need to be tied to expensive terrestrial based stations. Backbone and their major competitor Live 365 make "Having your own Internet radio station is a lot easier than you ever imagined. Backbone Radio is truly a radio station on your Macintosh." Now, think about what Dan Miller said. "Streaming the student shows is actually the way our students listen to the radio these days." Cerny and Kamp also pointed out that Internet Radio is coming to automobiles. Some luxury models will be offering it soon. The same things was supposed to happen for HD Radio but, I don't think the same fate lies ahead for internet radio because of the proliferation of mobile media. The only thing holding back mobile media is spectrum. Demand for mobile media is likely to spur more spectrum. There does not seem to be a lot of demand for HD Radio.


Being There
The way the audience get their information and entertainment is changing rapidly. Public radio needs to be on the platforms being used by its audience and future audience. WUMB (A station I spent a cup of coffee with) is doing some of this by offering multiple streams of programming using Live365. The offer Celtic, Contemporary Folk, Traditional Folk, Blues and and a couple more streams on their 24/7 Music Streams. It's an attempt to super-serve their audience. Clear Channel is now offering I Heart Radio. Clear Channel is putting their 750+ radio stations on platforms that are preferred by many younger listeners. It also links their stations offering a service that promises to be similar to Pandora allowing users to create their own radio station. WUMB is not necessarily going after the same demographic, but on-line listening and mobile media is being adapted by a broad spectrum of public radio's older demographic.  WUMB has an iPhone App for their terrestrial signal. I'm not sure they have it for the Music Streams.


Backbone is optimistic about the future of internet radio. Their service can be used by low power stations, community radio stations, college stations and high school stations to extend their reach. It can also be used by stations willing to cut the chord entirely.

IS HD Radio Fading Out?

Deep within the post from Inside Tuscon Business.com is a paragraph about the diminishing choices on HD Radio.  David Hatfield writes, "The smooth jazz music on the Mountain's KWMT 92.9-2 HD channel still wasn't functioning this week. It has now been nearly a month that it has been off the air.

Among Tucson radio broadcasters, only Clear Channel and Arizona Public Media are continuing to offer multiple broadcasts using the digital technology that's been branded as HD radio.

In the case of Clear Channel, it's down to just the additional broadcast of Spanish language pop music station Mia on KRQ 93.7-2 in addition to its main channel KTZR 97.1-FM.

I guess I might as well face facts: HD radio is in its last throws. Too bad. It seemed like a good idea."

Perhaps the reason why is the paragraph below about the new apps being offered by Clear Channel. Has mobile media led to the demise of HD Radio? Another big reason is the poor penetration in the marketplace of HD sets at home and in the car.

Do you have insights into why HD just isn't catching on?

WMFE Switches Formats

I heard a few days ago about the impending change to news and information at WMFE-FM. It's exciting news for those who have not had NPR style news consistently in Central Florida. The change will be felt deeply by classical music fans who will be forced to subscribe to a satellite service or get classical music from the web. The music is being offered on WMFE's HD2 signal. There are not many sets and the low power of the HD signal will not satisfy too many listeners. I'm not sure how the HD2 broadcast is going to sustain itself.

News coverage of the change has been scant. The word may not have gotten to the station's classical core audience yet. The station sent a mailing to its members yesterday. There will be more heat around this change after the classical audience becomes aware of the change. When we made the change at Connecticut Public Radio. most of our listeners could still get classical music from other radio stations in our coverage area. We still got over 2000 protests from our membership about the change. A quick search of the Orlando market did not reveal any other stations carrying classical music.

More at Floridatoday.com