What if your radio…
Seriously though, I want you to think about it for a second and drop a comment about the scenarios mentioned above.
These are just a couple of thoughts that seemed came up during a little brainstorm I had last Sunday with Julius of Laid-back Radio, discussing his now-published Radio Manifesto, in which he explores the future of radio.
You all know how the music world is still shook by the online revolution that happened. That is not to say the same thing is about to happen to radio. A lot of challenges are ahead, but so are chances for new concepts. And the times seem so very right for this.
Laid-back Radio recently launched the first version of their standalone desktop radio player, the second version is about to be put online and the i-phone application is in development as well.
Constantly exploring new boundaries of the radio concept as we know it, it seems to me that Julien and his team are way ahead of the game. In ways that even seem to inspire the BBC, or is it just me?
The radio manifesto consists out of 11 recommendations on what could be done to offer a new radio experience to listeners. I will not run you through all of these read more about the Radio Manifesto on the author’s site: right here, that is.
Now let’s focus on the above questions. The main question basically remains: what do we expect radio to do for us, in the year 2009 and beyond?
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May 20th, 2009 at 12:19 am
I have become so disillusioned, so oblivious to the radio and to a degree the media of today that it almost feels pointless to even ask what I want from radio 2009. In 2009 I want radio host that seem competent in the music they play. I want Dj’s to be vessels in which new artists and even old sounds are presented to the consumer. it is so hard trying to sit and listen to the radio when the same song is played every 15 minutes or 10 times in one hour. in 2009 i want equal expression. that’s what I want.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:21 am
I think you guys are dead on. As technology allows increasingly more access to new alternative channels of media, listeners are demanding/expecting more of what THEY want. We want things to be perfectly relevant to our personal taste. We want to have control over things (such as mentioned above).
The radio stations able to appeal most accurately to their niche audience will maintain a loyal following. The rest will get lost in the mix. Mass media will always exist and they will always be the gorillas, but that’s for the masses and no one reading this cares about that.
In short, radio stations and ALL forms of media and communications will have to be perfectly relevant to each individual in the future, cuz none of us want to waste a second on something other than what we want…. I know I don’t.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I believe radio will have to change soon. I believe the usage of my media has changed, but radio has kept a certain emotional tangible place here within. I need to be fair, i’m not always active searching for new music, but always open to new suggestions.
I keep the radio as a place for inspiration about new music. I want to be inspired by people who, for me, obtained a certain level of authority for me.
And the time to create a playlist isn’t always there.
As for example twitter is a place for me to gather new information about certain topics, I would like to connect with likeminded peers, who can inspire me in my choice of music. This could be a radiostation with user generated playlists for instance. where i could also provide my content to interested peers.
hope this is a point of view that’s interesting for the debate
May 20th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I want radio to remember that it’s about Good Music and not about sales or ratings. So basically fuck advertisers who don’t understand the value of Good Music. What’s played on the radio today is horrible and I choose not to listen. But at the same time it’s also the listeners who must demand something new and fresh. We must put pressure on radio stations to play music of substance and if they choose not to; Then we must take matters into our own hands and create a guerrilla type radio station. Where our musical values are understood and appreciated!
May 20th, 2009 at 1:01 am
I definetely agree with Omer. We now live in the decade of personally customized goods..
Some people only want to hear new stuff, others just want to hear the same song over and over. A radioshow can now be perfectly adjusted to the wishes of the listener.
People want to decide..when, where and how they want to listen to their personally adjusted radioshow.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I think news & traffic should not be in the linear channel. When you cancel them, the music plays on.
I would like a decent radio device in my car, wifi enabled that downloads interesting shows for me, so I can listen when I want to, out on the road.
Channel, channels, channels… Give me theme channels with specific music and specific presenters.
Advertising free radio. Like spotify. I would pay for it. And like Last.fm regular radio should offer me live performances of the artist played in my region.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:40 am
The media is going to have to learn to adapt themselves in these times of mass digital customisation. People are tailoring their own entertainment and information channels. One minute someone can be listening to an online radio in Cuba and reading a tweet from a guy in Singapore and the other listening to their own local radio.
Journalists, radiohosts, presentors of all kinds should embrace technology and connect more and easily with their listeners. I think this will only benefit the format and make radio simply radio again as a lot of mainstream radiostations are becoming too commercial and often lack quality. People should get more options in order to make radio even more relevant for them and in these times technology is making this possible for people to get.
Out.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:32 am
You all think everybody is as well known with new media as ourselves. Well, 95% of the people are not. The niche will change and has already done so. That’s the area we’re talking about. But most people don’t listen as concentrated to radio as we do. Sure, programs like the specialised late evening shows will need to adopt, sports broadcasting, maybe traffic reports. But the bulk of modern day radio is nothing more than sonic wall paper. It’s there to fight silence and nothing more. And I don’t think that’ll change soon.
The only way that’ll change is to come up with great forward thinking niche radio. If some good ideas from that are easily applicable they will catch on in the mainstream. Otherwise it’ll stay the way it is. People won’t buy dab-radios or mobile internet radio devices unless you can add something very useful to it. Only if someone comes up with a car stereo that filters automatically the traffic reports and guides you with gps to where you need to be in a way you don’t need to be a tech nerd to use it, only then it’ll catch on.
We listen to radio to discover new music. To enjoy something else than what you get rammed through your throat by the sponsored heavy rotation charts. But we’re a rare breed. And I think I don’t want radio to change that much. I listen to Deviation because I love the selection, the chatter and the format. I like that it’s available all week so I can listen when convenient. I like the playlists. Benji could give more information about artists like links and everything. You can already get in contact through mail, twitter and everything. And maybe there is room for video and some other extras. But in essence I like his show for the music the way Benji brings it. All the rest is surplus. Don’t forget that. The essence is good music presented in an appealing way. With character. Technology won’t change that. It’ll only provide new platforms to do it.
I don’t think the questions above are very relevant. The only thing that counts is your own idea about radio. Figure that out and seek it. It’s already out there in some form. As a radio maker you should pose yourself the same question and make exactly that. If you make the radio you like best, the best way possible, there sure will be others that like it. And you should try to embrace the possibilities that technology offer. They make it possible to achieve your goals. You don’t need established radio companies anymore to make your dream happen. It’s still bloody hard (maybe even harder) work but I don’t think pioneers ever had an easy job.
I know we try to do this. That’s why I’m excited to be part of LDBK and fm brussel. I like them both. And I like to make the best of it for both. Explore them both. The cutting edge and the conventional.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
@Pietel: Love the vision of wifi enabled radio. Don’t mind meaningful breaks between the music…wouldn’t mind hearing messages on sustainable living, health & wellness, manifesting your dreams or ads promoting these things. They could be programmed to relate to music that’s played.
@BLA: Agree with pretty much everything you said except–> “I don’t think the questions above are very relevant.” The questions ARE relevant. Some Well-thought questions encourage discernible listeners like we, to delve deeper into what we want so that we can share those ideas with broadcasters who genuinely want to improve their programming.
@Julian: Nice piece. Give thanks for sparking meaningful dialogue.
Big ups^^ to Soul Identity for the tweet! Toot-toot!
May 20th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Gotta explain my thought about the questions not being relevant. I truly think innovation comes from within yourself. Not by considering the greater good and acting solely for that cause. You’ve got to know what you want and start your actions from that. Because what you want is something a lot of others want too. We’re not that unique, you know. Only then you will have the deep motivation to make it something really great. If you take too much of the general questions too serious you’ll end up making something bland. You’ll end up with something useful probably but in the meantime something extremely bland.
If you think hosts are disposable or even annoying then the question of ‘host or not?’ becomes relevant to yourself. I agree. But in the meantime you need to think “what do I need to make radio without a host interesting”. Just music ain’t it. What music, what sequencing, what extra do I need ? If you come up with a continuous mix with lots of samples, online info and edded visuals because you like that better than a classic radio show with a presenter talking BS, that’s fine. But my point is you won’t come up with something innovating from starting with the question ‘do I need a host or not?’. The train of thought should be “what annoys me listening to current day radio” / “what would I like better” / “Do I think it’s worth making something better myself” / “How can I make it work” … somewhere the question will be ‘host or not’ but its only secondary.
That’s what I meant.
May 20th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Wow. Really interesting, all of this.
All i can say is that i’m fed up with (belgian) radio today. Only a few shows are worth listening to, and most of them don’t have even have bandwidth in Kuurne (my hometown) Lol.
I agree on Bart saying that we (the musiclovers) listen to a different way to radio or to music playing everywhere in general, than the majority of people (i think there’s a slight exaguration there in the 95%, but i get your point).
I also agree on the fact that there’s just too much channels playing the same shit. Hell yeah. Most of the channels play the same shit, all over again. This is quite absurd, and one of the reasons i get pissed off by radio in general. The selection of music that’s being offered nowadays just don’t fit the needs.
AND WHY DON’T THEY PLAY FRIGGIN’ MAYER HAWTHORNE!!!
Do i have to raise hell, or what!
I know it’s a struggle everywhere, but even in a small country like Belgium, there are quite a few belgian bands who are really worth getting aired, make quality music, and are doing festivals and gigs, who are just not getting any airplay (ask Peter Lesage!). But for some bizarre reason they are not supported by the radio (or by those pulling the strings), although they’ve got plenty of support by the people. Hmm…makes me think of that q-tip song!
I know one thing tho, a change is gonna come, it has to, i just don’t know what the hell is gonna happen, but… i think the ldbk team has something going on there!
Hahaa!!
Let’s all keep good music alive, promote it as much as we can, and above all… teach the kids !!! Save the children!
Thank you for taking time to read this.
Ya brotha from anotha motha,
=J to the C= aka =vic=
May 20th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I hardly ever listen to radio anymore; every once in a while Mary-Anne Hobbs gets streamed and that’s that. Can’t even think of a thing that would get me to give it a second chance, honestly it boggles me why I left the tuner in the box after I recently moved and set up my living room stereo system. One thing’s for sure: authenticity IS a factor to me, as a turntable is hooked up and used on the daily.
To me innovation is always the key, and LDBK might be on to something. Interesting topic.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
@ Vic, ask Peter Lesage?! one of the things I remember from my daily trips to school, is hearing a Moiano song from time to time on Radio 1… (and now the whole on-point-fam might hate me for saying this, but what I have heard from the new album, I don’t think it’s worth airplay, it’s kind off boring to me really). 5 min ago I heard Peter Fox getting airplay on Radio 1, allthough he’s big in Germany, it’s not that easy to play a German rap song like that on a Flemish Radio Station I think.
I consider myself as a modest music fan, knowing a bit more about music than most of my peers, but not as much as eg Lefto. And I love the radio, but not for all day every day. I like (some) talkshows on Radio 1 (getting frustrated as well), enjoy some niche-shows on Premiere and Pure FM, and I can be filled with joy when I hear StuBru-presentators. I love the enthousiasm they can bring, the passion they’ve got for just…talking. I want people to talk to “me”! And yes, sometimes I get frustraded by the music they play.
About LDBK-Radio, it is inovative and therefore deserves a lot of credit. I wouldn’t be suprised if eg BBC would copy the concept. It is brilliant. But I still prefer a Gilles Peterson show, even if it would be played on a casette I’d still be a fan. I like the way the man is PASSIONATE about the music in his show, the way he talks about it just makes me happy. And that’s what music/radio should be all about, make you feel good (sounds like radio Donna, doesn’t it?!:)).
Conclusion: I want a radio with a host, good music and lots of happiness!
May 20th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I can be short: Bring our guide Marc Moulin back. In the meantime, listen online to Mixtuur on radio Klara. http://radio.klara.be/radio/herbeluisteren.php
May 21st, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Thank you Alex for bringing the debate on your blog. I love all ideas expressed in the comments, great food for thoughts.
I’m gonna take my time to fully digest your propositions… makes me want to start working on the updated version of this manifesto.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:36 pm
a lot of the things i wanted to say about future of radio are already stated above so i won’t repeat that, but here are some thoughts about the Laid Back player in particular wich i posted on the laid-back site already:
I think the Laid-Back player is a good step forward. Unfortunatly it’s not possible to broadcast mixed shows yet (which i always prefer as a dj). I think it would be great – and i already talked to Julius about this – if we could record a one hour mix and then tag the mix where new tracks come in so that the Laid Back player can provide the info for that track.
Or what would be really great: a plugin for serato so that we could broadcast a live set from home and the info from the tracks in serato gets send to the Laid Back player so it can show all info on the artist the way it does now in real time.
Off course a good show needs a good host but if you put a “mute voice” button on the player you can make everybody happy
May 21st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Oh, and in answer to those questions about future radio:
1) button to mute/adjust volume the voice of the host:
-i think radio is kind of “lonely” without a host. The host is however responsable for a part of the quality of the show, and should be guiding listeners thru the music. Whenever i’m driving my car alone, i can appreciate a good host which keeps me company longside my trip.
Muting or turning the volume down on an annoying host can indeed be a useful feature, but how about this:
and getting immediate response with the host as well! Imagine personal messages on your radio from the host which only you can hear! Would be amazing as well.
2)
- that newsfeature is hot! A “news” button whenever you press it, brilliant!
3)Traffic info is handy, but sometimes it’s also spam! Lol. A “skip traffic” button would be nice!
4)Discover new music is what radio should be all about. Discover classics as well, of course, but no more “same 5 songs a day” please.
5) bridge that gap… yeah!
6)My radio.. which i can enthousiasticly share with others of course! I don’t want to be entirely alienated! I want to share this experience with friends!!
Hahaha! Brilliant.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:44 am
What do I expect from radio? It needs to have a specific theme, focus and identity and help filter choice.
One of the things that can give radio its own identity is the host. If he/she is a strong personality, someone who puts his/her heart and knowledge into what he/she’s doing, then why would you want to have the possibility to opt out? They give a show a certain uniqueness and could be one of the main reasons you want to tune in.
I’d rather have a button to skip those long, interruptive and irrelevant ad breaks you hear on most radios!
Very specific news or commentary is clearly becoming more important than typical generalized radio content. People want to be able to choose the kind of news they want to hear, get traffic information based on their location or the trip they are planning,… or just listen to music and nothing else. With the development of new technologies, user-specific content is getting within reach so it would indeed be a great idea to provide a tool to compile your own content.
One of the things radio should focus on is scouting and identifying new talent and sharing it (whilst avoiding overpushing, hearing the same song a zillion times a day gets pretty annoying in the end). Maybe they could also look into getting more ‘exclusive’ music, stuff you can’t just buy on CD/records or find online and thereby offer something extra, to make them relevant again.
I think the radio of the future will also be about user participation, so integrate the audience! Providing a platform and turning listeners into active network members could help to build a stronger connection. If they acknowledge the value of their audience, that bridge will build itself to close the gap and help put the heart back into radio.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
* censored quote*
Here’s how radio lost you:
In the end you settle for less and put up with ads, games and not so important news items you read on the net the evening before (yes Siska Schoeters, I’m looking at you!). And then you almost quit listening to your favorite radio station(s) because you started to do the podcast/streaming thingy (no ads, no stupid games nor quizzes), notice it takes a bit too much of your bandwidth for what it’s worth, and you fall back to your precious mp3 collection and every once in a while you re-discover some great music you forgot.
So you (as a radio station) lost a share of your listeners to a different format (mp3, podcast, streams). How to get them back?
Jun 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hi Alex,
as promised!
* would have a button to lower – or even mute – the voice of the host of the show…
I’d rather turn the concept around. What if you could add the voice of a host whenever you think it’s appropriate or wanted? When would people ask for such a host and what would they want her to say or not say? These are questions which ay lead us to conclude that the average radiohost is doing a great job already. Or not.
Whenever I want a radio without talk I’m basically listening to playlists or digitalised djs. The reason I want to have a host speaking to me is because I want more story, I want explanation, context which basically adds meaning to whatever music I am hearing and vice versa.
There are various forms of interaction between voice and music in radio-talkshows and I’m not yet familiar with any categorisation of these. What I do know is that radio is a constant excersise in finding an equilibrium between the speech spectrum and the music spectrum. Finding that balance used to lie in the hands of front-line technicians, producers, hosts and djs. End-users could balance volume, tweak the equalizer, fool around with stereophonic effects but they almost never had the opportunity to interfere live with the speech-music-spectrum balance.
I just wonder why they would ever be happy to do that? I don’t actually care, but if someone cares enough to make that happen, it’s definitely worth looking into.
* would give you the local news in the morning and bbc world news in the evening, because you asked it to do so…
This is all like RSS but in audio. Cool, yet don’t I already do that with my old-school radio as well? In the morning I listen to the news on Radio 1, then in the afternoon I switch to Studio Brussels or Q and catch up with different bulletins. The advantage of internet radio is that there are far more channels within my reach.
* would no longer give you traffic information that you don’t need…
That’s real convergence. And it’s already happening within tools like GPSs, handheld multimediatools, smartphones and so on. You don’t need a radio giving you that, you need a tool with a radio application and an application giving you the right traffic information at the right time. Don’t make the mistake of hardwiring traffic information into your radiostation unless you have a clear reason to do so (explicitly aiming at local coverage or nationwide coverage).
* would make you discover new things again, like back in the days…
Doesn’t it make us discover new things, I wonder? As herdlike creatures, we like to flock and copy stuff. Even when discovering new things we like to copy that attitude so it would become mainstream after all. It’s not up to the radio to have you discover stuff. It’s up to you, and in a sense, it always has been. Sometimes discovering new stuff simply means turning your radio off. It’s a matter of chance, a matter of personality: what am I familiar with, what are my preferences, and so on… So no, not what if radio makes me discover new things. Rather: what do I need to do to discover new stuff? And do I really want to discover new stuff?
* would bridge the gap between you and the radio makers…
Again it’s already happening not through radio as such but because radio hosts are using all kinds of social network technologies (twitter and so on) to expand their personal networks and tap into their audiences’ networks and vice versa. Radio hosts have power. They reach a certain audience with one voice, they have their attention, being in their network, being one of their social nodes is like sharing that power.
I fear that once hosts become aware of that power and the value of becoming a part of their network, nodes will become a commodity that people will have to pay for creating artificial outer and inner circles around radio hosts and djs. But then again, isn’t that already happening? Aren’t these circles already there? Isn’t there always a gap until you really know a person personally?
Makes me wonder: what does it mean, bridging the gap? Feel connected at a higher level? Being able to co-create shows?
* would be Your Radio.
My radio? Is that the 21st century metaphor for my presence into reality? Is that really who I am? Is that a new way of expressing myself I need to adopt in order to be noticed, to explore who I am and have meaningful interactions with people? Maybe.
I don’t believe this. The medium may be some part of the message, sure. Yet all new and old media pretend to talk to ‘you’ in a straight forward way and yet the ultimate challenge is always to explore the boundaries of your range: how far can I go? how many people can I reach? how niche is my audience? how deep can I dig into the matter? how connected do I get? It’s like getting in a 4X4-jeep and set out for an offroad trip just to find out when it will break down. You don’t care where you’re going, you don’t even care if you like the 4X4 as such. You don’t care about where you are. You don’t care about who’s with you or who isn’t. And I believe you don’t care about you as well. Before you define what your radio, your network, your blog or whatever else you want to be you mediumwise, you need to understand what being ‘you’ means. A medium can help you explore that. But it’s never more than that. Never.