As the years have gone by, radio seems to have been kicked
farther and farther into its grave. First, the Walkman and portable mix tapes.
Then CDS. And the most fatal blow of all—MP3s and iPods. Each development has
made radio seem more and more irrelevant. Why listen to a random stream of
music when you can listen to a personally curated playlist? And when’s the last
time you heard of a family sitting down together to listen to their favorite
radio program? It was when your grandparents were talking about their
childhood. Nowadays, we have our widescreen hi-def 3D plasma SmartTVs to keep
us entertained.
So radio is dead, right? Broadcast executives sure treat it
like it is. And that is the source of
their many problems.
Television is extraordinarily expensive to produce. Cast,
crew, post-production...salaries alone are a drain, never mind the equipment
costs and constant hardware and software updates necessary to keep up to date
with the latest film quality and special effects standards. Broadcast companies
are struggling to make money in an era of online streaming and ad-skipping.
Producing good quality radio is so much more cost effective.
The production team is smaller. Shows can be tailored to reach very specific
audiences at a fraction of the cost. In an era of personalization, what could
be better? And in radio, “special effects” cost next to nothing—the imagination
is free! Which also means that radio is not limited in the stories it can tell.
If it can be imagined, it can be done. The popularity of podcasts on the rise, just
look at how well Serial did! It’s time for broadcast companies to embrace
radio, and reevaluate funding allocation. It’s time that radio makes a
comeback.
I don't know a lot about the entertainment industry but the way I understand, TV brings in A LOT more than radio. So even if it is cheaper to make a radio show by far, simply due to the size of the gap in profits, TV might actually be the more cost effective. I'm not sure that this is a dogma unless you mean to say that spending more money to make more money is a dogma.
ReplyDeleteYour last point about imagination, however, might be a good dogma. People rely on TV, Radio, Internet, and Devices for entertainment. When I was a kid, crayons, toy soldiers (the green and tan plastic ones), and dirt were my source of entertainment. Maybe a dogma about entertainment is what you mean to address?
I think you make some really great points. Something that many people don't realize is that there is still a huge market with radio and that advertisers spends big money because so many people tune in. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteKekoa, the dogma was that radio is dead. That there is no future there.
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ReplyDeleteI feel that there is still quite a future with Radio. If it was utilized properly, it would have the potential to be a big money maker. Unfortunately, many broadcast executives fail to give it a chance or even consider it as an option.
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