The new media

These days you can't walk outside without seeing someone listening to an ipod or sitting in their backyard trolling for open wifi connections. We're living in a time where access to information is ubiquitous and often free of charge.

Radio for example. By nature one would assume radio would be a breeding ground for grassroots movements and radical artforms; and in its heyday, it was. Something changed however, gradually at first, and then much faster. Large corporations were making it their business to control every method of delivery of media in a given region. Sometime in the 90s the FCC went so far as to relax the rules regarding how many stations a corporate body could own in a given market. Large corporations don't often have to make concessions to the average consumer, they are large enough that they can operate in such a way as this: They tell you what you want to buy, and that you can buy it from them. A large portion of Americans are a-ok with this paradigm and will live and die by it.

It wasn't always so. By nature the content of the radio stations across america have been dictated by regional tastes. Where you lived had a huge impact on the media you were exposed to. People from one side of the country were often to surprised to hear the new sounds coming out of a radio somewhere far from home. So too this was so of the news, and the slant it often took. Each market had its own super stars, different bands, different personalities, different events. Many early rockstars got their first big breaks playing in regional bands with very limited airplay. Large media corporations largely the progeny of the newspaper empires of the first half of the century never had the resources or the will to satisfy the tastes of these vastly differing markets. Sometime later however, with a television in every home, the continuing homogenization of the suburban American experience it was obvious that the time was ripe for consolidation. The innovators however, especially in the 21st century have a different idea.

With the dawn of the internet, and its rapid proliferation Joe Everyman has access to things he couldn't have dreamt of a decade earlier. From his cell phone, his video-game console, even his television he has access to all the information in the world. Not only information, but media; music, movies, poems, even entire novels, all at his fingertips.

Where does this leave the media conglomerates who's very existence hinges on the ability to convince every member of the public that they want the same thing, saving the bigwigs the trouble of having to develop diversified marketing strategies. Finally people have the ability to stream into their households everything that fits their taste, for free.

Now this isn't an article about file sharing. Remember that ancient device, radio, that i spoke of earlier? Well, it's still around, and an interesting media to look at. With the launch of satellite radio a few years earlier promoters lauded it as a reinvention of the media, with a wide array of channels often commercial free. The problem? you had to buy a receiver and subscribe to a service. Pay to listen is something most listeners are apprehensive about, they like their radio free, no matter how mundane and commercial laden it may be.

Lately format changes on radio stations are commonplace. In my opinion showing a desperate attempt on the part of the parent companies to find something to appeal to the average listener in order to attract ad revenue that its seen lost to internet counterparts. Ad revenue is as important in this industry as any other, but with the set programing rules and schedules many advertisers have sought other means to pedal their products. Eventually there will be no revenue to be made in radio, and corporations will desert it. This is not a bad thing.

I can see a future where anyone with something to say can go one step beyond the blog universe, a leap beyond podcasting, even internet radio and license FM and AM frequencies from the government to broadcast whatever they want. In a world where media is shifting toward a focus on the user generated, a move in radio cant be far behind. I know ill be first in line.