MediaVoice BLOG #2

Hey….. great weather the past few days. I read recently in the paper how the pacific weather pattern El Nino is again all aflutter this year and how the Maritimes may be in for a mild winter. Peter Coade also said so on the NEWS at SIX last week and if Peter says it’s true, who am I to argue….bring it on. I have to admit, I hate winter and last year was the worst. To top it off my 8HP snowblower would run for about 40 seconds before it kept flooding out so it sat in the garage, nice and warm…. all winter long. Why can’t we have Victoria BC weather here in the Maritimes? As Marge Simpson would say it’s "dang depressing" even thinking about it.

I ran into Kim Kierans this week from Kings College’s S of J and for those of you who don’t know Kim... she is wickedly intelligent about all things journalism and probably one of the nicest ladies I know. I think I also admire her as much as I do because she always reminds me of my sister. When we get together which unfortunately seems to only be a few times per year, we always end up talking Radio and invariably the topic of Local Radio News usually reaches a feverish pitch. I think if Kim Kierans or Yvonne Colbert were ever appointed to the CRTC, Canada would see Radio News return to it’s rightful place within our FM media fabric overnight. Ok, well at least they'd try. Anyway our conversation reminded me of a recent American quote on local Radio News showing evidence of a rebound again. “Local News on Radio may be the next Home run just waiting to be grand-slammed out of the Park”. Great quote.

Is it just me ?....how long before people realize that a Radio Show broadcast on TV isn't a Radio Show. I’ve noticed XM Radio is really promoting their new YouTube channel. The second a TV camera is placed inside a Radio studio…newsflash !!!… no longer a Radio Show. It’s a TV Show with people wearing headphones and usually dressed like ..well.. like they didn’t plan on being on TV that day. Funny thing too…can you name a radio show that actually has good TV ratings …my point exactly. Even Howard Stern realized this fact long ago. Radio is Magic and Radio is Mystery and there’s really no need to ruin that mystique for your listeners. People listen to radio for one or more of three main reasons… 1) companionship within a conversation, 2) for music that makes us feel good or 3) to feel secure knowing that if something happens or is happening right now that we'll be in the loop and amongst the first to know. Yes I know... it really isn't Rocket Science.

Finally, back in 2007, we started looking at future trending in the College's Radio program and I remember one discussion about the impending arrival of WIFI in cars. At the time, a few people thought it was a strange topic to discuss in a radio class. Well, keep your eyes and ears open.. there is more data coming down the pipe. Just to be clear, this is my own opinion, but 'Wifi' is the next paradigm shift for Radio and it is approaching fast.... Here was just one indicator and even this story is now a year old. More on this in the weeks ahead.

I welcome your thoughts and comments and thanks for reading MediaVoice Blog #2

Dave ‘0db’ Bannerman