Can Commercial Radio Survive? Take 2

Not too long ago on our Soundstrategies blog, my friend Larry, the COO of this organization made the argument that commercial radio was in its death throes.

On this, Larry and I agree. Commercial Radio is no different from Broadcast TV, Newspapers and Magazines. And all three entities are going through sweeping changes.

And we agree further that radio has been homogenized into a pasty, mealy-mouthed shadow of its former self. It no longer serves the needs of the local community, with most programming either determined in some far away Program Director’s Office, or syndicated from a far off city.

But I have some disagreements with my friend as well.

Two weeks ago, as I wrote about the death of what some people call the Dinosaur Media, suffering losses that will never be made up and run into the nine figure range, a rather hulking phenomenon occurred: A prominent and notorious radio guy signed a contract for an unheard of at least a half of a billion dollars! This contract comes at a time when most media outlets are losing money at an unprecedented rate.

That contract flies in the face of the economy, for one, and the state of media in general. Obviously, the corporation issuing the contract intends to make a profit on it.

The second issue with which I disagree is my friend’s advocacy of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine”. In its latest incarnation, it simply attempts to shut up and shut down the aforementioned radio host, above all others. Those who are most in favor of this “Doctrine” are those who most often disagree with this specific host, and in the name of fairness, choose to censure dissent, the pillar on which our democracy was built.

Radio has declined for a number of reasons, some of which were touched upon by my friend. But there is one basic reason why radio is in the state it is in: economics…the law of supply and demand. People listen to what they like best, and the numbers tell the story.

More on this in blogs to come.