«If you sometimes find yourself away from a radio you can still grab some programming on your cell phone with CelleCast.

CelleCast provides on-demand audio for a number of programs and though it is limited, there are some decent choices at the moment including "The Dr. Laura Program", "The Lou Dobbs Show", "This is America with Jon Elliott", and others talk shows and programs in various genres.

You can register for a free account with CelleCast but if you upgrade to a paid subscription, you receive more listening options. »

DEITZ, Corey, «CelleCast Provides On-Demand Radio Programming to Cell Phones», RadioAbout.com, 07/07/08

«After a brief introduction from Les Moonves, CBS Corp.’s (NYSE: CBS) president and CEO, CBS Radio executives took the stage attempting to convince advertisers that radio is not dead. Dan Mason, CBS Radio’s president and CEO, claimed that “$1 billion in ad dollars were spent telling you that the iPod and satellite radio will lead to the death of radio. That’s a myth. Like when you were told the eight-track tapes, cassettes and the CD would sign radio’s death warrant. To say that an iPod or satellite radio, with little or no human connection will ever replace radio is absurd.”» fonte; KAPLAN, David, @ CBS Radio Presentation: New Play.It Media Player Offers Personalization, Contextual Ads, Paidcontent.org 05 May 2008 

«Clear Channel Radio just announced that all of its HD2 stations are iTunes Tagging compatible. This completes a rollout that began with the company's 350 HD radio stations. Combined, that means 700 of the companies stations now allow songs played to be added to an iPod when tagged by a tagging-capable receiver.

fonte: DEITZ, Corey, Clear Channel Makes 350 HD2 Stations iTunes Tagging Compatible RadioAbout Monday June 30, 2008

We employ hundreds of thousands of dedicated and talented individuals, from every city and town in America.  We deliver local news, weather, traffic, and sports updates every hour, every day, 365 days a year.  We raise hundreds of millions of dollars every year for local and national charities and people in need. 

How in the world did we become the bad guys?

Peter Smyth  «Why Doesn't Washington Like Free Radio?», Greater Media inc Julho 08

Radio fills de need to filter the choice (22)

Social networks on the internet are the next radio (26)

mais:

http://www.slideshare.net/gleonhard/music2-the-future-of-radio-media-futurist-gerd-leonhard

Quanto mais activa se tornar, menos secundária será - o que porá em causa o modelo em vigor, com a necessidade de criar um novo modelo; a transição far-se-á de uma forma dificil, tentando conciliar duas situações inconciliáveis: a rádio como elemento de consumo secundário e a necessidade de ser cada vez mais activa

de acordo com diversas definições, podemos considerar aquilo que aqui designámos por «controlo», «personalização», «produção», «partilha» ou «socialização» como interactividade.

Ora se o fizéssemos teríamos, posteriormente, de afirmar que não existe interactividade na rádio (mesmo na de consumo passivo). Como se verá, contudo, tem sido esta interactividade uma das áreas mais exploradas pela rádio quando evolui para a Internet.

Optámos, portanto, por considerar, a partir de . Também as conclusões de Rafaeli se enquadram nesta preocupação: «a interactividade corresponde à sequência entre a relação de resposta e o contexto em que a mesma se processa, de transacções que reflectem estádios anteriores do processo de troca de mensagens» (Cordeiro, 2007: 106).

Ou seja, entendemos a ideia de interactividade (ou de interacção, uma vez que, neste contexto, entendemos não fazer sentido a sua separação) com um «diálogo», como troca de mensagens, como o desejo de manifestar, influenciar, de intervir, a partir da tecnologia digital, com mediação feita por computadores, que são efectivamente potenciadores desta realidade. Embora saibamos que as perspectivas mais tecnológicas sejam muito mais ambiciosas.

A questão, mais uma vez, é que não podemos ignorar, num trabalho como este, que «todo parece indicar, que la interactividad se erige como el gran valedor del éxito que pueda tener la radio en Internet» (Toral e Murelaga, 2007: 57). O mesmo pensa Herrera: «No cabe duda de que los últimos avances en este terreno han hecho de la interactividad un elemento fundamental en el surgimiento de una nueva forma de entender la comunicación, el ocio y las relaciones interpersonales» (Herrera, 2004b: 12). Lind, Medoff e Rarick avançam com dados de um estudo realizado em 2001: «one of the factors for visiting web radio stations is the possibility of interaction with others» (apud van Selm et al, 2006: 275). Isto não significa que a rádio esteja pronta para aproveitar esta interactividade, nomeadamente se ela significar mexer com o estatuto do «gatekeeper». No estudo de van Selm et al junto de responsáveis e públicos de uma rádio online holandesa, verificou-se uma «discrepancy between radio programme hosts and 'chatters' regarding the value assigned to interactions during the web shows» (idem, 274), sendo que «this lack of enthusiasm for the contribution of chat box by programme hosts did not go unnoticed by listeners» (idem, 275). Estes autores citam um estudo de Lind e Medoff (2000) em que se faz uma análise dos conteúdos das páginas online de diversas rádios dos Estados Unidos e em que se percebe que «no more than 15 percent of the sites examined (…) provide chat opportunities for listeners» (van Selm et al, 2006: 267). E se «The BuZz web radio staff, on the other hand, showed a reluctance to provide listeners with too much influence over programme content» (idem, 279-280), percebe-se que será apenas uma questão de tempo e de vencer as resistências iniciais, uma vez que «estas posibilidades - que se prevé se consoliden en un futuro cercano - ofrecen ventajas tanto para los oyentes como para los profesionales» (Herrera, 2006). 

Ou seja, a rádio convencional, evoluindo para a realidade do consumo passivo-activo, está obrigada a aumentar os níveis de interactividade com os seus públicos. Serão cada vez mais interactivas, pode afirmar-se com segurança. Mas enquanto não deixarem que esses mesmo ouvintes influenciem directamente as escolhas, estaremos a falar no tal nível porventura mais baixo de interacção

«According to recent industry figures, the number of radio listeners on the Internet has jumped-up drastically.

A recent report conducted by industry's audience research body, known as Rajar, has revealed that listening to radio through the Internet has become quite popular in the UK with over 14million people who regularly tune-in to the Internet based radio programs.

It is an online survey that sampled approximately 863 people; the report clearly indicates that the number of people listening to internet radio online had increased by 2.5 million in the last six months.

The survey also revealed that around 6 million people in UK have downloaded a podcast and it was also found that music and comedy are the two hot favourite genres among the UK audience.

The report also revealed that the growing number of listeners is due to the "get back" or "listen again" services provided by the radio operators that have compelled the listeners to tune-in to the programs which they have never listened before.  

The survey also provides an insight into the online/offline behaviour of audio community as well as the influence of latest audio delivery formats on the conventional radio listening.»

Internet Radio and Podcasts Draw Massive Audience

«They want to be your program director. In the past year I’ve observed how much this generation wants to "mash-up" or contribute to the entertainment they listen to. Hell, YouTube is the "mash-up" capital of their world. You can shoot it, add music, collaborate, stage it, fake it, steal it -- and you never need a PD (As a former PD this hurts me to write that line). Any radio strategy that doesn’t include listener participation and active input will fail. Back in the 60’s when stations first started playing "Instant Gold requests" on-air, listeners burned up the phone lines to call in a request. Radio hasn’t gone very far beyond that.»
COLLIANO, Jerry del, Gen Y Consults Radio Inside Music Media, 14/04/08

 Falta saber como sairá desta nova realidade digital marcada pelo fim da, como se disse antes, lua de mel com a música. Mas, como desenvolveremos em alínea própria neste capítulo, a rádio pode fazer da crise oportunidade, transformando-se numa espécie de «google» da desregulamentação musical (com a música a chegar de tantas fontes, quem é que estará em melhor posição para controlar o excesso de oferta?).

«Corey Deitz: "It’s tough times for AM and FM radio. Both are under increased pressure by competition that didn’t exist just 10 years ago: Satellite Radio, Webcasting, Podcasting, iPods and mp3 players, audio content on cell phones, and more.
There is no one in high management in the traditional (terrestrial) Radio business - who at least privately - wouldn’t concede that there is worry about the future."
O texto todo aqui.

Algumas sugestões do autor:
"We are what people perceive us to be.
We need to be more than a “1 CD-a-day giveaway with all the winners going into a drawing for a $50 dollars gift certificate.”
We need to be more than radio stations which buy billboards only when ratings drop and we feel threatened.
We need to be radio stations that give away prizes our listeners care about and not just products our sponsors give us.
We need to be radio stations that give away dreams, not just prizes."

"Lo característico del actual momento técnico no es la abundancia de equipamiento disponible sino la furia y la velocidad con la que la innovación técnica se precipita sobre el sector de la Comunicación -y sobre tantos otros-, pulverizando las estructuras tradicionales" ((Faus Belau in Martinéz-Costa, ed, 2001: 19)

«NAB President and CEO David Rehr delivered a keynote address Friday at the Conclave Learning Conference in Minneapolis, where he pointed to four key areas for growth in radio and called on the industry to remind people why they fell in love with the medium in the first place. "Radio is so pervasive, like water, air, and electricity, that many people take it for granted," Rehr said. "I believe we must do a better job reminding people why they fell in love with radio. We must reignite the passion." Rehr then identified "four key areas for growth – opportunities to remind consumers of the value of radio," and listed them as technology; playlist variety and format diversity; building for the future; and reigniting consumers. (...) Rehr concluded, "We have challenges ahead of us. We have battles that may seem overwhelming. But the opportunities ahead of us are incredible. Radio's future is bright. If we are persistent and consistent, we will win our battles, we will realize the enormous opportunities ahead, and ladies and gentlemen, we will make radio new again."

fonte: Rehr Calls On Radio To "Reignite The Passion", FMQB, 30/06/08

Mark Ramsey: «Easy steps to turn your radio station into a web widget. A "widget" is a piece of your content that is portable. Your station's fans "embed" it on their own pages, and every time they do this they expand distribution for your content and your brand. Some companies, like Yes.com, specialize in widgetizing your radio station. But if those don't fit the bill, here are some super-easy instructions for making your own.»

Easy steps to turn your radio station into a web widget», Ramsey, 26/06/08

«Streaming Royalties May Affect Terrestrial Radio. June 24, 2008 - According to an article by Tim Siglin on streamingmedia.com, terrestrial radio may soon be brought into the fight over royalties. Almost a year ago we reported on the Copyright Protection Board's decisions to enforce a set of performance royalty rates suggested by Sound Exchange and lobbyists for the RIAA. These were retroactive and focused on Internet radio broadcasters»

«It looks like many of the traditional media just have to fight off one Internet battle after the other as Web 2.0 alternatives lay siege to longstanding methods of communication. With the blogging boom, the social community explosion and “texting and twittering” detonating together with the wide adoption of readily accessible and portable video, the transmission of ideas, messages and announcements will never be the same»

A resposta da rádio à digitalização e a necessidade que sente de avançar para novos territórios faz-de de várias formas, algumas conscientes e outras inconscientes (ajudas que recebe ao nivel da convergencia...); ainda assim, a preocupação de convergir (com tudo o que mexa, sobretudo telemoveis) é real

Interessam-nas as ferramentas ao dispor do utilizador (que são cada vez mais tecnologicas) e os conteudos gerados pela transição, pelo novo suporte

«Cees Hamelink ha resaltado las dificultades de pasar de un modelo lineal de transmisión a otro interactivo: «Movernos de la transmisión a la interactividad significa dos cosas: primero, tenemos que aprender cómo conducir un diálogo y en segunda instancia, tenemos que aprender a comunicar en forma no violenta, en formas que no nos pongan en pugna» (CHerreros, 2007: 60)

serão necessários novos conteúdos ou novas ferramentas... técnicas?
O podcasting não é um novo conteúdo, mas aparece com a internet;

será que não estaremos perante os mesmos conteúdos-base, disponibilizados de outra forma pela digitalização e por exemplos muito mais cruzados/misturados?

confunde-se conteudos com ferramentas técnicas?

canais de streaming

«lo importante es la entrada de la radio en las aportaciones de lnternet: navegación, hiperenlaces, interactividad» (CHerreros, 2007: 39) 

Um exemplo de novos conteudos proporcionados pela digitalização (interactividade): «Juan José Millás abrió la experiencia a través de la caden SER de iniciar un relato con una frase o dejar el tema libre para que los usuarios lo continuaran. Esta experiencia era recogida luego en el periódico El País mediante una selección efectuada por el propio escritor. Es un intento de establecer unas sinergias entre las aportaciones de Internet, la radio y, en este caso final, con el periódico» (CHerreros, 2007: 98) 

«La innovación técnica de poco sirve si no lleva consigo una mutación de las ofertas  a partir de los cambios en los propios procesos de comunicación. Al final, la innovación técnica llega a la audiencia por las repercusiones en los sonidos y contenidos» (CHerreros, 2007: 11) 

«Algunas legislaciones, como la española, obligan a que la radio digital ofrezca una programación diferente de los canales tradicionales de la misma cadena. Se busca la innovación.» (34) 

«a conotação negativa ou angustiante da apresentação da rede por certos media vem também do facto de, como, sublinhei várias vezes, o ciberespaço ser precisamente uma alternativa aos media de massas clássicos. De facto, ele permite aos indivíduos e aos grupos encontrarem informações que lhes interessam e difundir a sua versão dos factos (incluindo as imagens) sem passar pelos jornalistas intermediários. O ciberespaço encoraja uma troca recíproca e comunitária enquanto os media clássicos utilizam uma comunicação unidireccional na qual os receptores estão isolados uns dos outros. Existe assim uma espécie de antinomia, por oposição de princípio, entre os media e a cibercultura, que explica o reflexo deformado que cada um oferece do outro ao público» Levy, 2000:222

«Rehr's second key point was "playlist variety and format diversity." He said, "We know that in this customizable era, consumers are becoming more selective and protective of their choices. People want new, unique content. They want niche channels. And radio must respond." He said HD Radio offers "immense opportunities" to do that, and pointed to automaker deals and new technology that lets stations upgrade to HD at a lower cost.» («Rehr: 'We Must Reignite The Passion' For Radio», Radio Ink, 28/6/08
http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=142705&pt=todaysnews

«Sin embargo, con independencia de todas las ventajas que ofrece la Red, las emisoras de radio deciden su presencia en Internet como una cuestión de prestigio, de marca, de imagen, para de este modo, mantener su credibilidad como empresa» (Peñafiel, 2007: 35)

«La nueva radio si quiere triunfar no podrá ofrecer más de lo mismo, la audiencia no cambiará de dial si no hay productos radiofónicos con ingenio y talento. Frente a las emisoras convencionales que se mueven bajo los parámetros ya señalados, la nueva rado digital para que se desarrolle, entre otras cuestiones, se tiene que popularizar y convertirse en un medio mayoritario, para eso necesita un empuje en los contenidos y habrá de rediseñar una programación especializada y basada en nuevos formatos» (Peñafiel, 2007: 31)

«Aprovechando todas las posibilidades que nos ofrece la Red y teniendo en cuenta la interactividad de los medios multimedia, sería preciso aumentar los espacios de participación ciudadana y consulta, creando áreas en la redacción radiofónica para dar respuesta a los gustos de su potencial audiencia y contactar con los receptores de mensajes. En este sentido, los profesionales de la radio deberán hacer un gran esfuerzo para llegar a conocer los usos y hábitos de su audiencia y las expectativas tanto informativas como de entretenimiento, culturales, etc. con el fin de dar un adecuado servicio» (Peñafiel, 2007: 26)

«Una de las ventajas del podcasting es la de poder escuchar muchas noticias, resúmenes o charlas sobre un tema específico, mientras trabajas. Sea en el trabajo, en el metro o en la cama, el podcasting permite recibir (en lugar de buscar) los programas favoritos, para crear una «radio a la carta» y escucharlos cuando se quiera. Pero, quizás, lo que más marca la diferencia a respecto a las radios tradicionales, limitadas por el espectro disponible y la concesión de licencias, es que pone la emisión al alcance de todos» (Penafiel, 2007: 27-28)

(reforça a ideia de que a rádio foi o meio que mais tarde reagiu à chegada da net, que mais tempo se manteve igual ao passado)

«El medio radiofónico ha sido el que menos impacto ha sufrido tras la aparición de Internet, ya que se puede acceder a multitud de emisoras desde cualquier lugar, con menos problemas técnicos de potencia y frecuencia que los que existen ahora» (Peñafiel, 2007: 23) 

«Sin temor a equivocamos, podemos decir que el futuro de la radio pasa obligatoriamente por la digitalización, aunque no haya una fecha clave que determine el final de la migración tecnológica, como sí sucede en el caso de la televisión (...) pero lo que sí podemos afirmar es que contaremos a corto plazo con una nueva radio, desde el punto de vista tecnológico pero, no tanto con una nueva forma de hacer radio, dado que esta nueva radio aún no ha ofrecido alternativas de programación. (...) De momento, las cadenas de radiodifusión que emiten en digital casi todas vuelcan la programación hertziana en el sistema digital y a penas se explotan todas las posibilidades de la radio digital, que no se limita sólo a textos sonoros sino que se pueden empaquetar otros contenidos: los servicios de valor añadido, datos, imágenes, gráficos y vídeos, que modificarían el tradicional modede comunlcaclon» (Peñafiel, 2007: 23)

«se personaliza el consumo y la audiencia pasa a ser mucho más activa de lo que era hasta ahora. Con este nuevo panorama, la audiencia sale ganando en la medida que escucha aquello que más le interesa dentro de la oferta programática, por tanto, habrá que rediseñar una programación especializada y basada en nuevos formatos» (Peñafiel, 2007: 35) 

«La radio sigue manteniendo una fuerte vitalidad en la sociedad actual y ha demostrado, en estos últimos años, que no quiere perder el tren de las nuevas tecnologías. Un recorrido de ida en el que la radio ha querido apuntarse a la digitalización de los sistemas en un perIodo de grandes innovaciones, en la era de la convergencia y en la era de Internet» (Peñafiel, 2007: 19)

«Durante esta última década el proceso de digitalización ha estado rodeado de problemas, incertidumbres y de muchas expectativas. Principalmente, radiodifusores públicos y privados, operadores de redes, fabricantes de emisores y receptores tratan de impulsar el nuevo modelo de radio digital en un entorno en el que pocos oyentes han oído hablar de él; en el que los radiodifusores se esfuerzan muy poco para crear contenidos específicos; y en el que los fabricantes de equipos no se lanzan porque no ven la madurez del mercado (Peñafiel, 2007: 12).

«La gran mayoría de las empresas radiofónicas españolas, mayoritariamente, utilizan Internet como complemento a sus transmisiones hertzianas, como un servicio de valor añadido hacia sus oyentes o como un medio para contactar con su audiencia y, así, obtener información o facilitar su participación, pero sin valorar las propiedades de la Red como medio de comunicación, válido para difundir contenidos periodísticos» (Peãnfiel, 2007: 25) 

BBC Radio gets iPlayer treatment
The beta version of the new-look BBC iPlayer has been released today, and now fully integrates radio and television in one interface.The extra good news is that the BBC has confirmed audio on demand and streaming will become available - meaning it is only a matter of time before live BBC Radio stations are available to mobile users such as those with Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.

«A long-term plan should be developed to move all radio services over to digital, an interim report recommends - and migration of most content could be completed by 2020. The Digital Radio Working Group (DRWG) believes that traditional radio business models will be unable indefinitely to support increased costs of broadcasting on both analogue and multiple digital platforms. The group recommended switching all national, regional and large local stations to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), with FM continuing to be used by small local and community radio stations. Its initial assessment was that migration could be completed by 2020. (...) Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said radio must have a digital future, insisting: "Millions of people are already enjoying the benefits of digital radio. I believe that radio must have a digital future if it is to remain relevant." » Fonte: Radio services 'must be digital', The Press Association, 24/06/08

Prata concluiu, no seu estudo de 30 webradios brasileiras, aquilo que Campos e Pestano (2004) já concluiram com uma amostra de webradios brasileiras: que nestas rádios há multiplas formas de participação mas que o microfone não se abre à participação do ouvinte.

Se ao nível do consumo activo isso dificilmente acontecerá - e não é apenas por razões tecnicas, que podem ser sempre ultrapassadas - pela necessidade de mediação e arrumação 'plástica' desse caos sonoro, já ao nivel do consumo passivo-activo, como diz Prata, não é uma realidade, mas uma possibilidade (120). A mesma autora admite que «De posse do microfone, o ouvinte talvez pudesse criar novos conteúdos e novas maneiras de se fazer rádio» (207)

Caso contrário, teremos apenas aquilo que GIlda Chaves descreve como «uma comunicação falada pelas pontas dos dedos» (apud Prata, 2008: 17)

«Norfolk-VA Beach has launched a new programming strategy which lets listeners pick the tunes, hoping to perhaps mimic the customization of online radio.Rather than request a single song, listeners head online and choose a list of songs from the station’s database to create an up to 20-track playlist, which then may be played in its entirety by the station on-air. While the stations’ alternative rock database is lacking in some areas — hosting just one track from some artists and only the well-known singles from most others — adding and ordering tracks is easy through a simple column-based interface. Users can manage their previous playlists and create as many as they want, but no feedback comes after submission as to when a playlist will be aired. Are the playlists played in order of submission, or is there still someone at MAX-FM’s end picking and choosing? In any case, our RAIN playlist (including the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Cherub Rock” and Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop”) hadn’t aired by the time of publication. The system is currently in Beta, and 100.5 MAX-FM hopes to implement playlist commenting and voting, as well as music sampling and purchasing soon. — MS; RAIN Analysis: While the idea of “all-request” radio is compelling, the execution would seem doomed. First, “100.5 MAX-FM serves well over 100,000 weekly listeners,” but at, say, 90 min. per 20-song playlist, only has enough time to play 112 playlists per week! This leaves 99,888 listeners with a non-interactive, traditional FM. Although it’s great show-biz! — KH» fonte: «RAIN 6/16: RAIN Site of the Week: WXXM brings web-like customization to FM» Jun 16, 10:43 AM Paul Maloney

«In the midst of this musicFIRST fiasco, radio's role in breaking music and artists continues to be minimized.  Of course to those of us in radio, this nearly "1984" spin about the truth is mind-boggling.

But now, consumers weigh in on the topic.  A new Pew study - "The Internet and Consumer Choices" - reveals what radio people have known since Alan Freed.

Here is a sample from the Pew report:

- The Internet is a great tool for connecting consumers with artists and music info, "But it doesn't strongly influence how they buy."

- 56% of music buyers say they find out about music through online sources (a band's website or streaming samples of songs).  But more than half of music buyers say that online information had no impact at all on their purchasing decision.

- Yet, 83% of music buyers say they find out about music "from hearing a song on the radio."

So, it makes you wonder why the marketing "strategies" on the label side continue to veer away from broadcast radio.  An artist interview on a satellite radio may not reach any more listeners than the cume of a Boise radio station, but that's what excites them.

This is more proof that radio is still the prime source of how consumers discover music.  Too bad the music business isn't doing research, and instead is letting their anger and emotions dictate policy decisions.»

fonte: JACOBS; fred, Music discovery, 16/06/08

«UBC Media Group plc (“UBC” or “the Company”) has today announced the closure of the loss-making mobile phone version of its Cliq music downloading service and will instead concentrate on providing a business-to-business solution to manufacturers of connected devices, including Wi-Fi digital radios like Imagination Technologies, with whom it has an existing relationship. (...) Commenting on the closure of the Cliq mobile service, Chief Executive Simon Cole said: “I remain convinced that transactional revenues will be an important part of the radio industry in the future.   For a variety of reasons, including the delay by manufacturers in bringing DAB connected devices to market, we have tried to lead this process in the interim on the JAVA mobile phone platform and have not succeeded.  However, the technology, intellectual property and pending patents that we have developed during this process remain within the business.   We believe we can exploit these without the need for the high risk, high cost exposure to a consumer service “»

«A “BUY” button on a car or kitchen radio would be a much bigger proposition. Much more listening takes place on these, leading to more purchases… But these devices, to date, haven’t been equiped to communicate with music stores online. This is what UBC will be working on in future, it seems. On PCs the biggest problem is the competition from “free”. On mobile phones you’ve got DRM issues and data transfer costs. UBC could have hung on until they'd sorted out DRM-free deals with the majors, and Virgin Media had threatened illegal downloaders to within an inch of their second-lives... but hanging on costs money.» (Cliq - R.I.P.)

«Sorry to hear UBC have shut-down their mobile phone music download service Cliq. I believe Simon, Pascal and the guys at UBC have the right idea but perhaps they’re pursuing it on the wrong platform. Yes mobile phones are ubiquitous but they are essentially communication devices. You’ll use your phone to take some pictures or listen to some music but it’s dominant use is to communicate with phone calls and text. RAJAR shows the amount of people who have ever listened to radio on a mobile phone is just over 10%. They don’t break out how many people have done so in the past week. They don’t include mobile phone usage in digital listening weekly reach. They probably don’t like having to compute really small numbers! Radio on the other hand is specifically a media consumption device.  Better yet, it’s an audio media consumption device. If we could work a way of people consuming even more audio using their radio, be that buying music or otherwise, the relevancy of the device and the data transmission capabilities of DAB are a perfect marriage. Think about it.»

«The fact that the music was encrypted with DRM, meaning that I had a limited number of devices to playback the music was the main reason, but the £1.25 price point is unattractive when iTunes is selling the same songs for 79p. That's a 58% premium! I believe that un-encrypted downloads are the only longterm solution that's going to be accepted by the public. We're already seeing that with iTunes beginning to unlock some of its inventory. Play.com is already up and running selling mp3s in the UK, with EMI the first of the big four record companies working with them. Amazon has announced it'll be selling downloads later this year, and it'll undoubtedly have done deals with all the majors, and Napster in the US has gone down the mp3 route for its sold tracks (subscriptions obviously work differently).»

«Cliq was originally a service using DAB data to let you buy any song you heard on any participating radio station. It was rather clever, though for the life of me I couldn’t work out how to earn any money out of it. Then, it became a service using a Java client for mobile phones, again, allowing you to download any song you heard on a participating radio station. This was rather clever too: less technically clever than the DAB version, but slightly easier to earn revenue from. UBC have called it a day, pulled the plug, and Cliq will henceforth be a business-to-business service for broadcasters and manufacturers alike. (...) There is clearly a market for something that, when you hit a button, buys the song you’re listening to. Radio remains the main way that people discover new music; it’s only natural that it retails it.»

«Now the new AOL-CBS tag team is joining forces with Apple and the popular iPhone. AOL Radio for the iPhone will give users immediate, free access to over 200 stations, including CBS Radio stations around the country. WFAN/New York, 1010 WINS/New York, KROQ/Los Angeles and WXRT/Chicago are among the many CBS stations available now via AOL Radio.

«Even on the Web, radio is local»

Parece utopia, nesta altura, mas não vai demorar muito até que, a partir de uma base de ouvintes registados (ou de uma comunidade social...), e perante artistas, géneros ou mesmo músicas em concreto, cada um de nós possa ser avisado da música que vai tocar daqui a 10 minutos; aquela que me interessa... para eu ir ouvir. (por email, por SMS, etc)

Menos utopico: essa musica ficar disponivel para streaming durante «x» tempo, (podcast?) ou (com 24 horas de antecendencia?) ser anunciada a lista das musicas que vão passar; Um google alert para as musicas que me interessam? Se aparece nessa lista de anuncio, posso receber um google alert a dizer que determinada rádio no Japão a vai passar; isto tanto é válido para as musicas muito conhecidas como - E SE CALHAR SOBRETUDO - para as da cauda longa, aquelas que se ouvem raramente. O google alert é/será a forma (uma das formas) de controlar a escolha (demasiadas opções). Escolha e controlo são coisas diferentes. ter os conteudos (a música, as vozes, a criatividade etc) é importante, mas mais importante será pegar nesses conteudos, organiza-los, e disponibiliza-los aos ouvintes de uma forma acessível.

Bardoel e d'Haenens (2008: 342) explicam que as estratégias dos operadores têm passado por ir acrescentando conteúdos que permitam aumentar os hábitos não-lineares, à custa dos - ainda maioritários - hábitos lineares. «IN order to maintain a reasonable level of audience reach, broadcasters will decide to extend their portfolio of platforms and channels». dos canais temáticos às estratégias cross-media, que visam «try to keep the viewer's and listener's attention as long as possible» 

O Reino Unido, onde o DAB conseguiu algum sucesso, continua a apostar neste suporte para o lançamento de novos projectos, alguns deles ambiciosos. isto tem consequências negativas ao nivel da aposta, que deveria ser mais forte e consistente, na Internet. Isto é, quanto mais se aposta no DAB menos se olha para a net (até porque não se pense que os mesmos conteudos servem para diferentes suportes; a transição FM-DAB neste país provou-o). E estou a referir-me a tecnologia, dinheiro, meios humanos e criatividade. Claro que exitindo outros suportes seria absurdo não os aproveitar (o FM ainda é popular, o DAB na GB tem publico, mas assentar a estrategia no DAB ou, mesmo ,colocar as varias opções no mesmo plano é um erro tremendo; os conteudos a partir da net é que deveriam liderar).

O DAB, o seu irmão HD e todos os suportes, mesmo que digitais, não assentes na net, são transitórios e, nalguns casos (o FM), presos ao passado. «aquilo que há 15 anos parecia uma óptima ideia - o DAB -, é hoje parte do problema e não da solução. Visto a esta distância, o DAB é apenas um FM melhor, mas na Grã-Bretanha têm sido gastos milhões nessa tecnologia». Enquanto, por estas razões, a industria dá passos timidos relativamente à Net, «outros operadores, sem ligação à rádio, e que estão a fazer diversos negócios - como mostrou um dos fundadores da Last.fm (um dos maiores jornais da Europa, o Bild, tem um canal de rádio na net. Com quem? Com a Last.fm, claro).» São estes operadores que estão mais perto de encontrar os «públicos onde eles estão. E eles estão cada vez mais à volta do mundo digital.»

Por curiosidade, eis a pequena carta-aberta que dirigi ao director do novo projecto do Channel Four na rádio digital DAB, Bob Shennan, na sequência dessa conferencia em Londres Radio 3.0

«Don't do it, Bob
 
Dear Bob
I assisted yesterday to your presentation (as to all others, in Radio 3.0 conference) and allow me to say this: don't do 4Radio on D.A.B.!
Where I live, work and study there's no D.A.B. and his associated problems, so I think I can listen to you with some distance. I listened to you and to other people spoken about D.A.B. with very discomfort. I think nobody in radio broadcasting likes D.A.B., but it seems like the story of a friend we - long time ago - invited to our home and now have not the courage to send away (anyway, everyday family talks about it with no solution)...
What I have listened yesterday was something like this: D.A.B. was a mistake (a understandable mistake, 15 years ago), you have invested a lot on this, but now you have realized that is not the future. What to do? In portuguese we usually joke, saying someone is already dead, but nobody has courage to say this to him. That's what I'm trying to say to you: who, 10 years ago, invested has now problems to solve, but you, with a new project, must go direct to internet! Listen to UBC Simon Cole or Martin Stiksel, of Last.fm. They're already there. You, Bob, are, as McLuhan said, looking the future by the rear view mirror.
Put our friend out of home! The problem with D.A.B is double: when you invest money, time and ideas on this technology, you are not investing on content on Internet. That's why, with BBC exception, web content on british radio is so poor.
Believe me, Bob: D.A.B. is only a better FM. FM is gonna be switched off - you doubt it? (The same in US, with local D.A.B., HD).
 
Wishing all the best, without D.A.B, I'm
Joao Paulo Meneses»

(o que a rádio convencional faz - OU NÃO FAZ - para se aproximar dos ouvintes, na actualidade)

MARK RAMSEY: «I’m always surprised, Richard, that in Radio, for example, folks will go out of their way to go to a radio convention, but will rarely attend any gathering focused on new media, when that is the industry Radio is now a part of.

Well, people don’t think about what their customers do. They think about their own industry, but they don’t think like their customers.

Radio stations are doing less research today, not more. Why is that? That drives me crazy. Why aren’t they looking at what their customers want out of their own lives, you know?

Just because your station has listeners doesn’t mean you’re connecting to them. In the book I talk about auditing and how you can find your listeners, users, or whatever, and get to know them. I mean it’s so easy to do that now. And I mean real audits – ask the hard questions, like “Why do you hate us?”» RAMSEY, Mark, Radio Trendspotting - an interview with marketing guru Richard Laermer», Hear2.0, 6/06/08

«Visto desta forma fatalista, a rádio, sobretudo musical, estará condenada. Mas há caminhos que a rádio pode tomar para tentar sobreviver – conciliando a sua característica gratuita com a forte implantação histórica e cultural [até que ponto isto é relevante para quem não a conhece?]:

Deixar, de uma vez por todas, de entender a Internet como rival e potenciar-se através dela, criando múltiplos canais de difusão musical, chegando a nichos esquecidos e possibilitando uma lógica de diversidade e de repetição, palavras inconciliáveis na rádio convencional (mas não para os canais áudio que transmitem em streaming); Para Elsa Moreno Moreno a especialização musicalpode não ser a única resposta à pergunta sobre os novos conteúdos da rádio “pero sí la más extendida y probablemente lo siga siendo durante los próximos años a través de los diferentes soportes de producción y distribución ante los que converge el médio”10. O mesmo caminho é apontado por um estudo da TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence: “O futuro da rádio musical reside provavelmente em entretenimento altamente especializado e em apresentar novos artistas e produtos musicais a mercados altamente especializados”11. A Internet também permite as tais expressões de interactividade, um dos segredos da web social, e que não há razão para a rádio não incorporar;

•

O sucesso desses canais de áudio é explicável pela desatenção da rádio convencional – que tem o know how, mas se limita a repetir fórmulas. Poderia ter sido ela a promovê-los. Ou seja, ganha quem tiver conteúdos que façam a diferença e se, quem os tiver, os adaptar aos novos tempos Se isso não acontecer, não faz sentido concorrer quando a perda é evidente;

•

Mais do que apostar em inovações tecnológicas que parecem condenadas a médio-prazo (como o HD, que permite o multicasting, mas obriga a novos aparelhos e a novas lógicas de convergência), o esforço da indústria deveria ser para convencer as marcas que operam os novos suportes a integrar a rádio como funcionalidade standard (uma entre várias); ou seja, estar onde estão, e onde estarão cada vez mais, os potenciais ouvintes (o receptor de rádio, tal como o conhecemos hoje, está condenado a convergir ou a desaparecer);

•

E, finalmente, não se limitar à conectividade em telemóveis, consolas ou leitores de áudio, mas encontrar programas, serviços e conteúdos que estas plataformas – por serem apenas distribuidoras – não contemplem; a espontaneidade da voz humana parece um valor determinante.

(...) há algo que parece abrigado de qualquer futurologia: só com novos conteúdos a rádio musical pode sobreviver. É que o ambiente não é mais o mesmo: do offline passamos, todos, para uma realidade online. Com outras características, exigências e possibilidades» (MENESES, 2007: 11-12)

10

Elsa Moreno Moreno, s/ título, http://www.unav.es/fcom/jornadas2000/Ponencias/Ponencia%20Elsa%20Moreno%20Final%20.htm (cons. a 06/01/07)

“Music Radio Stations Hard Hit By Personal Digital Music Revolution”, Music Industry News Network, 08/06/05 (cons. a 06/01/07)

«(...) it takes more than terrestrial radio to compete in today’s crowded media world. To reach every potential listener, your product mix must include, among other things, terrestrial radio, Internet radio, podcasting, websites, text messaging and much more. After all, your listeners are using radio in a completetly different way than ever before. And not all are using a "radio". McVay, You’re not in the radio business... You’re in the MEDIA business! Inside radio, The Blue Page, Junho? 2008

«Depressed by the rise of new technologies and their own fading place in the media landscape, neither those who own and run AM and FM radio stations nor even the new (but not new enough) satellite pay radio services are nurturing the kind of eccentric, iconoclastic voices that made radio so alluring from the 1950s into the '80s. Through those decades, when TV dominated American popular culture, radio was at once a mass medium and a clubhouse, a place where listeners could believe themselves to be part of an unseen community of like-minded people. (...) Yet the more I listened to the likes of Pandora.com, Last.fm, Slacker.com and all manner of music blogs and Web radio, the more I heard the sound of automation -- sleek, efficient recommendation engines scientifically selecting the music I am most likely to like, yet missing out almost on what radio once offered: a glimpse into the hearts and passions of personalities who knew what music was new and cool, voices that offered a guided tour of unknown worlds, and sometimes even a frontal assault of the unexpected. (...) The challenge for all media now is to find a path back to mass, while retaining as much as possible of the freedom and access that the infinite range of the Internet promises. Yet most Americans still listen to something for much of the day. Radio could be the way into those ears, but only if it invests in creating compelling reasons to be there, only if it grabs hold of us the way the voices of past decades connected to the loves, pains and dreams of young listeners. As always, the future lies in the past.» fonte: FISHER, Mark, Weakening Signals Washington Post, 1/06/08

«…the clock is ticking. Radio’s distribution advantage is weakening. We will no longer simply own the car and the office. Radio brands are going to have to win a war of relevance in a sea of new competition. We will have to close the accountability gap between traditional and new media and provide proof that our campaigns move product and services. We’ve got to eliminate our legacy bias, systems and practices that impede our evolution. We’ve got to get past the intramural mindset that has locked us up for far too long. We will have to rationalize and optimize our inventories. We will have to entertain and engage in new ways that retain and enhance the affinity of our audiences. If not our brands will be worth far less than they are today.» AGOVINO, Mike, Thoughts On Radio’s Reinvention—Part I, RBR.com 28/05/08

RAMSEY: «Edison’s finding that “convenience” is the number one reason to listen to the radio illustrates the magnitude of our vulnerability: As long as we are most convenient, we win. But when we are either less convenient or when other technologies are equally so (as in, when they enter the cars), the number one reason to listen to radio will be dramatically diminished.

While radio remains ubiquitous, the fraction of media time occupied by radio is diminishing. In fact, as long as radio remains everywhere I would expect usage to remain virtually universal – but as long as options grow and proliferate I would expect the intensity of that usage to diminish. Meaning that we’ll be used less and less more and more.»

«There are opportunities for radio to begin to close this gap. Technology offers us the opportunity to evolve our relationship from one to many to one to one. There are several companies out there that offer radio-centric applications that allow you to engage your audience one listener at a time. The best ones allow you to track that engagement across different platforms like text and streaming. Every radio station needs to have a direct relationship with as much of its audience as it possibly can. Permission is the asset of the future and radio’s unique relationship with the audience, if respected, can be utilized to build a tighter, more relevant, one to one bond. Eventually, this bond and the engagement created by it will yield more advertising revenue than running spots», AGOVINO, mike, Thoughts On Radio’s Reinvention—Part II, rbr.com 29/05/08

«My view is that terrestrial radio is now a destination entertainment medium for available listeners – older members of Gen X and the baby boomers (...) Beyond that – radio has little future as of this moment. That is, if radio is defined only as a 24/7 terrestrial signal. On the other hand if radio content providers, marketers and sales people can embrace alternative ways to entertain Gen Y – not as easy as it sounds – terrestrial radio operators could be the fortunate drivers of mobile, Internet and WiFi entertainment for a youth generation that rivals baby boomers in population. (...) The future of broadcasting without the next generation -- options, strategies, challenges. There is no better content provider on planet earth than radio talent for producing content. But there is no need to produce 24/7 programming online. I am not saying that there won’t be streaming stations on the Internet to replace radio for Gen Y – there will. But the radio station of the future may only provide three hours of programming a day – that’s right, a day – and deliver it on a cell phone or mobile device. And, yes, there will be ancillary ways to monetize this concept.»

COLLIANO, Jerry del, «The Next Generation of Radio – On-air, Online, on Mobile Devices  29/05/08

«But today, "media r us." Media are people. People aggregating and collaborating and interacting and discovering and discussing - wherever they want, wherever they can. Media are no longer radio and TV and print. When the audience, not the broadcast-industrial complex, is the media, then where does radio fit in? What is our role in this new math?It is not simply to add the Internet to our solutions and call it a day. It is to fundamentally reconsider the world from the perspective of the consumer, the listener - not from the perspective of the broadcaster. In other words, it’s not about what you want, it’s about what they want. And it’s about what you have that uniquely fits into what they want. I have yet to see any major radio organization consider the world from this perspective. But that’s going to have to change.»

fonte: RAMSEY, Mark «Media r Us» Hear2.0, 28/5/08

«What are you doing with Clear Channel and why?
It's a trial that we'll be running on some of their Web sites this summer, where they'll be offering personalized Pandora playlists. Companies like us are always wise to look at new distribution partners. If we can get Pandora in front of more people, that's nothing but good. I would be surprised if Pandora's future doesn't have a fair number of distribution partners like this.
CBS Radio is offering a similar personalized DJ service. Any concern about terrestrial radio companies offering more interactive features on their Web sites?
All the terrestrial broadcasters are very actively beginning to implement or planning online extensions. That's all competition for listeners. We pay attention to that and need to react to it. The Clear Channel implementation is run by them-they pay the licensing, they handle the economics of it. The only reason it works is because it's not their main business-they don't pay royalties on over 90% of what they broadcast. So all this leads to a discussion of royalty payments.»

Six Questions With Pandora Founder Tim Westergren Billboard May 27, 2008 - Digital and Mobile By Antony Bruno, Denver

Ideias a partir do artigo MORAIS, Maria João, «As novas faces da rádio», Meios & Publicidade, 23/05/08, pags 30-31:

-  «diversificar a oferta, segmentar os ouvintes, e alargar o alcance do meio são alguns dos motivos que os players ouvidos pelo M&P destacam»;

- transferência dos ouvintes provenientes dos suportes tradicionais para a Internet (Jorge Alexandre Lopes, RDP/RTP)

- a internet permite que as rádios não estejam reféns do formato que possuem na antena; ir ao encontro de nichos de interesse musical; a internet alarga a oferta e tambem o espectro de ouvintes»; canais temáticos são encarados sobretudo como um 'complemento da estação' (Pedro Ribeiro, Comercial) [PORQUÊ, porque é que não podem ser independentes, marcas novas?]; canais da Comercial sem spots; consumidor estará receptivo a mensagens de teor publicitário? [alguma forma de publicidade terá de haver]

- grupo Renascença aposta em 'canais temáticos musicais, montados a partir de marcas muito conhecidas e emblemáticas do grupo renascença' (JLRPinheiro)

- Cotonete: desde 2001 380 canais temáticos, 60 mil rádios pessoais, um milhão de utilizadores unicos por mês, inclusão de conteúdos próprios, particularidade 'inovadora a nível mundial'; é um sucesso em termos comerciais; o portal tem apresentado diversas soluções ao mercado que não se cingem ao tradicional banner, mas englobam o video, audio e imagem (Carlos Marques, director geral)

- mais do que o lucro, nesta altura é o retorno da infuência; duvidas quanto à viabilidade tem atrasado lançamento;

10% dos ouvintes escuta a  rádio atraves da Internet (JAL); internet permite conhecver o perfil dos ouvintes, bom para os anunciantes (que podem focar-se nos alvos pretendidos)

- a fragmentação tenderá para o limite, que é o individual(...) os programas mais populares  serão aqueles que forem escolhidos individualmente por mais pessoas' pelo que o enfoque vai passar a estar em cada um dos conteudos' (JAL)

- apesar da existencia de canais feitos à medida de cada um, muitas pessoas vão continuar a precisar de um programador que faça a selecção do que ouvir' (CM)

«Discover new tracks and build your music library with Radiotracker Platinum 4 from Avanquest Software
Avanquest Software, a leading developer and global publisher of best-selling personal and professional software, has launched the latest version of its award-winning* music finding software. Radiotracker Platinum 4 legally^ retrieves your favourite music from internet radio stations, downloading files directly to a PC in MP3 format for free.
Find your favourite music
Searching over 15,000 web radio stations, Radiotracker will identify, target and deliver music to create a collection tailored to the user’s preferences. The ‘MusicFinder’ wish list allows users to select their desired tracks from a self-updating catalogue of over 100,000 artists from 15,000 Internet radio stations. Radiotracker Platinum 4 will then target the stations that play the desired tracks and deliver them automatically to a PC.

«Skip Pizzi, in a Radio World Online article titled “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way,” eloquently explains why the digital future needn’t mean certain demise for radio’s old guard, but rather is an opportunity for experts with “considerable experience and existing infrastructure to develop well-crafted new services that cannot be easily matched by less skilled operators or automated processes.” As technology allows consumers to “program” their own music via playlists, “scrobbling” (Last.fm), and user-feedback shaped programming like Pandora’s, some see human radio programmers becoming redundant. But Pizzi suggests that by combining the effectiveness of new tools with their expertise, broadcast professionals can do an even better job (he makes the parallel with electronic drum machines, which didn’t replace human drummers; it helped drummers do more).»

MALONEY, Paul, Clear Channel music portal review; Hanson reprises intern gig for "Big 89 Rewind "RAIN, 23/05/08

«SIMPLE AND STRAIGHTFORWARD: CC LAUNCHES MUSIC PORTAL ‘IHEARTMUSIC’: Clear Channel beta-launched its new music portal last week, (interestingly) named IHeartMusic.com. It’s in the traditional of large media music portals (think AOL Music or Yahoo!Music), with photos, music news, lyrics, ringtones, and interviews (plus there’s a surprising amount of free “on-demand” music). The site also serves as a gateway to the streams of Clear Channel’s massive roster of broadcast stations, easily searchable by format or market (and there’s lots of links to CC’s eRockster too). Edison Media’s Sean Ross, in “The Infinite Dial,” correctly points out (here), that the simple navigation doesn’t convey significant differences among stations with similar formats (“Right now there’s no additional guidance on which Kiss is which, or whether somebody casually scrolling through the Classic Hits pages might want the older skewing WOKY Milwaukee or its newer leaning and very different sister WRIT.”). But IHeartRadio.com does make it easy to “get to the listening” quickly.» MALONEY, Paul, Clear Channel music portal review; Hanson reprises intern gig for "Big 89 Rewind "RAIN, 23/05/08

«Channel 4 is reportedly in talks with electronic manufacturers to create a small branded DAB digital radio plug-in for iPods and mobiles phones, and hopes to makes them available for no more than £20.
A similar device is already available for the iPod and iPhone from Roberts Radio for around £50, but a Channel 4 branded device, launched with the marketing power of national television stations, could help DAB secure a long term future».

Jerry del colliano acha que sim:

«But what if -- while technology is feeding the growth of the next super-iPods -- radio broadcasters increase their playlists on their terrestrial stations and streams.
What if -- instead of receiving only the iTunes Tuesday new music email, WXXX or KXXX sends me all the new music in their genre. I can click and listen. I can buy (it might be so convenient I'd actually pay). I can get lots of info about the band, the singer, the inside story.
What if -- instead of trying to get young people to listen to streaming radio on their cell phones (isn't going to happen), they get in the business of -- dare I say it -- Helping young consumers to load their content on Apple's 500,000 song iPod when it arrives.
There's no time to waste.
Instead of cursing the dark. Light a fire.
The best thing that can happen for the radio industry -- the greatest entertainment content providers in the world -- is to have a new MP3 player on the market that stores a half million songs or 3,500 movies.
See what I mean?
This is an opportunity to form another stream of income. A good one.» The 500,000 Song iPod 15/04/08

(este não é nem pode ser um espaço de recomendações ou mesmo de análise do que pode fazer a industria; há muitas coisas que escapam ao âmbito deste estudo; um exemplo:)

«What Should You Be Doing Now?
1. Create a new level of client intimacy. Be generous with your time and your ideas. Show clients step-by-step plans to grow market share.
2. Increase internal sales training. Teach critical principals to your sales team until they can do them in their sleep.
3. Focus on the creative message of the client. Increased frequency won't make as much difference as a strong message.
4. Practice what you preach. Increase your station visibility in the marketplace to your audience AND your advertisers. Give clients good reason to have you on their short list of places to advertise.
5. Create more product offerings. Seek new and fresh products to create interest from clients previously not engaged.
6. Set up client training retreats. Bring in outside experts to teach them how to grow their business now.
7. Be different. What can you do to be undeniable?
8. Do the math. More sales calls equal more sales. Increase activity.
9. Increase the size of your sales organization. More sellers make more sales.
10. Increase management involvement. Get out from behind the desk and out on sales calls. Your expertise is valuable to clients.
11. Increase learning. Read more, study more, train more.»
Eric Rhoads, Expecting The Unexpected: Recession Strategies For Radio Radio Ink, April 15, 2008

«Terrestrial stations are (rather amazingly) still asking whether or not they should stream. When in fact the real question is how do you propose to make your stream easy and convenient to find and dramatically different from millions of alternatives?» More Internet Radio coming to a portable device near you 23/05/08

«The BBC has commissioned a new internet radio set that would allow listeners to see when their friends are online and what they are listening to. Olinda, a prototype design, could also be customised allowing listeners to make VoIP (Voice-over Internet Protocol) calls and send audio clips to their profiles on sites such as MySpace or Facebook.
The interactive radio is part of a drive to integrate social-networking tools with digital radio sets Olinda features a panel of six lights which notify listeners when a friend is tuned in, using Radio Pop, a BBC website set up for sharing listening information. Listeners simply press a button to tune in and listen to their friend's station. Other features proposed for the new radio include a 'Push to talk' button for Skyping friends and a 'Klippit' button for recording audio files.» BBC commisions 'interactive' radio Web User May 23, 2008 JJ O'Donoghue

Um dos maiores equivocos - tipicos de uma mentalidade em transição do analógico para o digital - é comparar rádio, jornais ou televisão com internet, como se esta fosse mais uma, ou mesmo um concorrente. A internet tem caracteristicas proprias ao nivel tecnologico e tambem permite idiossincrasias nos conteudos, mas a principal caracteristica é poder reunir os meios convencionais num só espaço. Ou seja, internet será o resultado de uma equação onde os factores são: televisão/imagem/video + texto/imprensa + rádio/audio/musica + caracteristicas proprias. A internet sem os conteudos mediaticos classicos seria bem mais interessante; a internet não é rádio, mas rádio pode ser internet.  

Primeiro assistiu-se a um desinteresse por parte da industria aos novos fenomenos de audio na internet; nos últimos tempos tem-se assistido a uma aproximação, a uma conjugação entre convencional e disruptivo (CBS com Last.fm, Clear Channel com Pandora?, HD permite comprar faixas no iTunes; orange lança portal para comprar músicas ouvidas em streaming) mas a verdade é que estes negocios não põem a rádio a controlar todo o processo. São os novos operadores quem tem as bases de dados (com endereços, com os gostos dos utilizadores, e este activo é fundamental, uma valiosa mercadoria); O projecto Cliq, ontem apresentado, procura dar à rádio o controlo total dos utilizadores, dando-lhes musica, o que faz aumentar o tempo que cada um passa ligado ao site e a ouvir.

(ideias a partir da conferencia 'radio 3.0' realizada ontem em Londres, 22/5):

- vive o presente, a pensar a partir do passado; olha o futuro com muito receio; o passado repetir-se-á no futuro? A resilência do passado

- «o futuro é ameaçador»; tambem pelo desconhecimento; a rádio está por exemplo a tentar descobrir o que é uma plataforma multimedia, para além das palavras; pensam que a Internet é mais uma (há excepções, a BBC); na net isso não é possivel, não há uma transferencia pura porque não há apenas uma emissão streaming, a net exige/impõe uma adaptação, o aparecimento de novos serviços;

- a televisão digital resultou; a rádio digital (DAB) não; porquê? passaram as programações de FM para o DAB, sem qualquer adaptação; na televisão há conteudos novos

- a existencia de varias plataformas (net e dab, fm e telemoveis, por exemplo) não ajuda a clarificação, tal como não obrigatoriedade de fazer o switch off analogico («o mercado é que decidirá»)

- a maior parte dos conteudos na net é irrelevante (falam de dentro para fora, não de fora para dentro), não há podcasts 

- é aconselhada a redifinir-se, introduzindo e prestando novos serviçois

No caso da Grã-Bretanha o problema é ainda mais grave, porque aquilo que há 15 anos parecia uma óptima ideia – o DAB -, é hoje parte do problema e não da solução. Visto a esta distância, o DAB é apenas um FM melhor, mas na Grã-Bretanha têm sido gastos milhões nessa tecnologia – e há ainda um novo e ambicioso projecto, do Channel 4, para nascer. É verdade que se vende(ra)m muitos rádios DAB por lá, mas as audiências são ainda minoritárias e a publicidade atribuída a esses canais não compensa. O DAB continua a ser um mau negócio. Além do mais, enquanto pensam – e gastam, tempo e ideias – nessa tecnologia, não estão a investir em conteúdos para a Internet. Não é por acaso que, à excepção da BBC, o panorama do web-conteúdo é fraco na GB. Mas também não é por acaso que a BBC tem 60 por cento das audiências, contra 40 por cento da rádio comercial.

A verdade – por muito que custe admiti-lo – é que a industria não sabe o que fazer. Dá alguns passos tímidos, proporcionais ao desconforto, e vai vendo como evolui. A questão é que esse ritmo é muito mais lento do que aquele que é imposto por outros operadores, sem ligação à rádio, e que estão a fazer diversos negócios – como mostrou um dos fundadores da Last.fm (um dos maiores jornais da Europa, o Bild, tem um canal de rádio na net. Com quem? Com a Last.fm, claro).

De uma forma muito básica, diria que a rádio britânica está num buraco chamado DAB. O problema é que, em vez de encontrar a saída no local onde entrou, continua a escavar, à procura da luz ao fundo túnel. O túnel está cada vez mais escuro, e a rádio cada vez mais desorientada. Na conferência, um responsável por uma empresa de pesquisa ligada à bolsa, a Dresdner Kleinwort, aconselhou a investimentos de longo prazo, porque a rádio é resilenta (ou seja, a velha ladainha de comparar a Internet com a televisão e a fé de que a história se repetirá).

Por isso, a conferência que se chamava ‘radio 3.0’, foi sobretudo sobre o que fazer com um problema chamado DAB. (notas sobre a conferência 3.0 realizada ontem em Londres)

«(...) Pandora is certainly a viable brand that some terrestrial broadcaster should take advantage of. (You could also see some less interactive version being one of the things that might actually drive listeners to an HD-2 channel.) (...) With the two major groups [CC e CBS] locking down two of the major Webcasters [Pandora e LastFM], what are other broadcasters doing along similar lines? What implications do these or other Webcaster tie-ups have for broadcasters' HD-2 multicast channels, particularly in light of recent years' proof that it's not as easy to create this type of content as broadcasters thought? Is there a way to use Pandora or Last.fm to reinforce radio's strong, but eroding authority in the music discovery area? "Here's a new song that you helped us discover through Pandora.com" has potential cachet on the air. "Here's a song that tested well in a similar market" does not.» fonte: Surprise! The Majors Discover Discovery, May. 13, 2008  Sean Ross, The Inifinite Dial

mais um avanço da Clear Channel: «Clear Channel Radio has struck a deal with Reciva, the largest provider of Internet radio modules for use with broadband applications, to stream all of its stations on Reciva-powered receivers. Clear Channel officials said the new deal represents further expansion of the company's ever-growing distribution platform. (...) Reciva-enabled Internet radio devices can play back online radio in almost every format, including MP3, Microsoft Windows Media Player, RealAudio Player and AAC (iTunes). Reciva's Gateway technology delivers regularly updated and verified Internet radio station lists to its Internet radio products, allowing listeners access to many thousands of online radio broadcasts without the need for a personal computer. Meanwhile, the Reciva Radio Portal, www.reciva.com, enables listeners to access the same stations via their personal computer. (...) Jeff Littlejohn, executive vice president of distribution and development for Clear Channel Radio, said: "We're working with a best-in-breed partner with Reciva, the largest Internet radio module manufacturer, allowing listeners to receive all of our streamed content via a single mobile device." » Monday, May 19, 2008 - 1:20 PM EDT, Clear Channel Radio broadens streaming reach with Reciva deal Washington Business Journal - by W. Scott Bailey

Em face disto, Mark Ramsey diz: «As the big groups make digital deals to keep their content alive across multiple platforms, where does that leave the smaller or less sophisticated groups? If you're out there working for one of these groups are you reading these announcements with bemused puzzlement? Or are you seeing a trend taking shape and working to place you and your stations are on it?What I see happening here is the separation of groups which are positioning themselves for the future - and groups which aren't.Trust me, you do not want to be on the wrong side of these trends. To let these opportunities slip by is to sell buggy-whips when your customers want horseless carriages.What are you and your group doing to step up to the plate today?»

«"Even with the advent of MP3 players, consumers are still largely turning to radio for their music needs as it is easily accessible and free," said Marcell Faller, founder and CEO of sonoro audio. "However, consumers' expanding, elaborate music libraries have created a demand for all-in-one audio systems that let them integrate the functionality of MP3 players, CDs and radio in a single compact device." Spreading audio libraries across several formats reassures users that their carefully-compiled collections are not lost, if a laptop full of digital content is stolen or CDs are damaged.»

fonte: MarketWire.com, «Radio Still Number One Music Source Over MP3 Players, CDs» 19/05/08

«In a world where more and more people seem to be turning off their radios and turning up their iPods, radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. found a way to profit from that trend. Clear Channel offers a service in which listeners with specially designed radios can, with the push of a button, "tag" a song they hear on their favorite station and then download that song later onto their Apple iPod. "It’s a simple technology," said Jeff Littlejohn, executive vice president of distribution and development for Clear Channel. "What it does is just merge these two [radios and iPods] together." As technology advances, people who traditionally have spent time listening to the radio have a lot of new choices competing for their attention. Besides iPods, they can also download music and other entertainment on their cell phones, or listen to music streaming through their computers. And some listeners have turned away from traditional over-the-air radio stations in favor of satellite radio. (...) The HD technology also allows stations to offer new data services, such as Clear Channel’s iPod tagging feature. The HD signal includes an identification code that is embedded into each song. Using an HD radio that includes an iPod docking station, a listener who wants to buy a song can push a button to tag the song, which sends the ID code into the iPod. The listener can then connect the iPod to a personal computer and download the song from the iTunes music store.»

fonte: BASCH, Mark «Radio is working with, not against, iPods», Jacksonville.com,  18/05/08

Depois de ter comprado a Last.FM, a CBS comprou agora a CNet, que - entre outros activos - tem a mp3.com, um site com «Artist-provided content from both independent and major-label acts including customized artists pages with songs, videos, similar-artists lists, photos, bios, news, blogs, and forums. Fan-generated content such as ratings, reviews, videos, blogs, forums, and favorites lists. Exclusive coverage, editorial features, and original programming including web shows, artist interviews, concert webcasts, event reports, video album reviews, and more. Thousands of free MP3s, plus streams of popular music videos and selected new albums.».

a CBS, um dos operadores mais importantes de rádio convencional, parece ser a que melhor se posiciona para liderar na nova tendência de consumo activo.

Sobre a «guerra» CBS - Clear Channel pelo dominio da rádio online: «It only took them about three years to catch up with their traditional media counterparts, but the big radio groups are finally embracing digital in a major way. Now two of the industry's biggest players, CBS Radio and Clear Channel, are in an arms race to see who can build the most scale the fastest. Clear Channel wants to lure more, younger listeners to its weekly listener base of 1.4 million by creating its own indie-rock online music app, eRockster, to bring a catalog of 5,000 indie, alternative and electronica songs to its music library by the end of May. And, later this summer, Clear Channel will launch its own personalized radio station, with a best-of-breed partner».

«Following up on its erockster Internet radio initiative during Coachella, Clear Channel is expanding its online presence with a number of new services -- including a personalized radio player, lyrics page, and widget strategy, among others.
Clear Channel is not yet providing many details about the new personalized radio feature, only that one is coming by the end of the summer. But Billboard has learned it is negotiating with Pandora to offer the company’s customized radio service across all its Web properties nationwide, but no deal is finalized at this time. Pandora allows users to build a custom playlist of sorts based off the characteristics of one song. The system recommends songs that sound similar to the one first chosen, based on a catalog of about 500,000 titles.
The partnership should prove a major boon to Pandora, which is struggling with how to remain operational under the weight of the new Webcaster royalty rates. The exact details of the deal between the two parties have not yet been disclosed, and Clear Channel declined to comment on the specifics.
But adding such a feature is considered essential for Clear Channel to stay competitive in the online space. Competitor CBS Radio earlier this month unveiled plans for a similar custom DJ feature called Play.It, working in conjunction with sister company Last.fm. Both efforts show how terrestrial radio stations are responding to listeners' increasing demand for more control of their listening experience.
"Online, there is a lot of variety and choice," says Evan Harrison, Clear Channel executive VP and head of the company's online music and radio unit. "If we don't expand our offerings under our umbrella, people will just go elsewhere for it."

In other news, Clear Channel has added a lyrics service provided by Gracenote. Available immediately, the service adds a lyrics link to each song profile streamed online which takes the listener directly to a page providing the lyrics. Lyrics links also now appear on the home page of individual stations, artist pages and more, and will be promoted via on-air house ads from its many terrestrial stations. Gracenote has compiled the myriad of publishing rights required to post the lyrics, and provides it as an outsourced service to other customers such as Yahoo Music. Finally, Clear Channel is creating widgets of it member station Web sites allowing fans to stream the station from social networking profiles. Widget syndication firm Clearspring is providing the backend technology. The effort starts with widgets of the "Stripped" live performance series, and will eventually expand to incorporate streaming stations, erockster and other Clear Channel applications.

fonte: «Clear Channel Expands Online Plan, Eyes Pandora Link Bilboard Biz May 12, 2008  By Antony Bruno

Não, a LASTFM!

«Ahead of the official re-launch of its European online radio platform, Internet service provider America Online (AOL) has announced that the returning service will be powered by none other than popular Internet radio and music community Last.fm. Set for an initial rollout in the United Kingdom, France and Germany -- with more European regions to follow in the coming months -- AOL Radio users are bound to benefit from the association with CBS-owned Last.fm, which currently boasts a worldwide visiting audience of around 21 million. Specifically, the new AOL Radio will include various new features and engaging multimedia options for users to familiarise themselves with, including the ability to search for favourite artists through the service before then listening to a continuous stream of their music.»

Notícias como esta («Universal to allow free music downloads») podem querer significar duas coisas - que se trata de uma experiencia (e, por exemplo, uma moda) ou que a música tendencialmente será grátis. E legal. A rádio musical é a mais atingida por esta situação: que lugará estará reservado para a rádio musical quando todos estivermos em rede (ligados) e encontrarmos toda a música de que gostamos (incluindo a nova, que não conhecemos...) na rede (com uma infinidade de recursos, como listas personalizadas, e «transportáveis/embedded»)?

Quanto maior for a oferta, quanto maior for a escolha, mais necessidade de que alguém (ou algo - pode ser um computador ou o chip do iPod...) faça a selecção. Podemos ser nós próprios, podemos entregar à maqúina (de acordo com coordenadas dadas por nós ou em 'roda livre') ou podemos confiar em alguém. Que, com talento e criatividade, o faça por nós.

Mas não bastará apresentar um fluxo de emissão (musical), ainda que com muito talento e criatividade. A rádio ter-se-á de fazer acompanhar de ferramentas (que já existem fora da rádio) para competir com vantagem; por exemplo permitir o download das musicas que passaram (ainda que com publiciddade ou a um preço 'competitivo'), além de muitas outras opções de consumo activo.

(e isso tem consequências ao nivel do consumo activo «The latest Internet & Multimedia study, conducted among people who are employed fulltime or parttime and who listen at work, shows a clear up-and-down trend. Arbitron says “the portion of people who listen most often to radio stations through a computer over the Internet has grown from 12% to 20% in one year’s time.” Want to bet what’s happening to that old GE/Motorola portable with the antenna taped to the wall near the plants? “The portion who listen most often via a regular radio has declined from 88% to 80%.” That’s a real swing in just 12 months. And Arbitron says when you control for education, “among college graduates, 30% say they listen most often to radio stations over the Internet.” That’s contrasted to a figure of 12% for non-college grads. Edison’s Larry Rosin says “the findings suggest that broadcasters need to think about the quality of their streams, and promote the ability to listen to radio online.” And here’s the Hammer of Doom, if you didn’t see it coming: “After all, on the Internet, the competition is not just the other stations in town. The possibilities are essentially infinite.”» fonte: “The boss says, Turn down that computer”, taylor on radio-info, 6/05/08; o original está aqui

«Another radio giant -- CBS Radio -- also is establishing an online foothold on several fronts. This summer, CBS will launch play.it, a music streaming service where users can indicate who their favorite artists are and get a customized playlist of similar music they may like. Play.it users will be able to choose from a selection of icons representing different artists. By dragging the icons to their playlist, they’ll hear a lot of songs by that artist, as well as other music influenced by or similar to it. It’s similar to online music site Pandora, which has been successful at matching its users’ tastes in music with new content. In March, CBS Radio and AOL announced a partnership in which CBS will power AOL’s online radio network, replacing XM Satellite Radio. And CBS is planning to stream its HD channels, making that programming accessible to online users.» (Clear Channel mixes it up on new music site)

« CBS Radio plans to launch a custom internet radio site, similar to Pandora.com and Last.fm, where users can stream music that sounds like a given musician. The company is currently talking to advertisers about the site, called Play.it, and says it will open it to the public in the next few months. Screen grabs from an early version of the site are after the jump. Aspects of Play.it sound cool. Users will drag and drop favorite artists into a grid, weighting them by preference, to create the style of music they want to hear. And they’ll be able to add news reports, traffic updates, and celebrity interviews from local CBS affiliates. The site will then assemble and stream a radio station like one on the FM dial. Big surprise, that will include commercial breaks. But CBS Radio’s David Goodman says the frequency of breaks will be “a lot lower,” than on terrestrial radio, and that the ads will be “in context” — love songs will generate jewelry or flower advertisements, for instance. I’m eager to check it out, but I’m also skeptical CBS can keep up with the competition. Right now, Pandora and Last.fm have deep libraries of musicians and sophisticated recommendation technology (Play.it will use its own system, called “The Brain”). New services, meanwhile, keep popping up. Just last week we heard about another one, Chilirec, which records songs as they stream online, like a TiVo (via TechCrunch, or Go2Web20). Who knows where we’ll be when Play.it opens months from now» (CBS Radio Plans its Own Pandora (And It’s Not Last.Fm))

«CC TARGETS YOUNGER DEMOS WITH ONLINE MUSIC PORTAL/SOCIAL NETWORK: Clear Channel has launched an online music service and social network called eRockster, targeted to 13-34-year-olds. The service was actually introduced over the weekend at the California rock festival Coachella by the actor Eric Szmanda (from the CBS show “CSI”), who is credited as “producer and inspiration” for the service. Beginning May 2, eRockster will reportedly be made available from Clear Channel station sites including KYSR-FM/Los Angeles, WWDC-FM/Washington, D.C. and WRFF-FM/Philadelphia. ERockster content may also be ported to HD2 side channels and as an on-the-air syndicated show. “We want to be be playing everything from indie rock to hip-hop to classic rock to soul to dance rock,” Szmanda explained in a press statement.« fonte: «CLEAR CHANNEL LAUNCHES eROCKSTER FOR YOUNG ONLINE LISTENERS·Apr 29, 11:46 AM by: Paul Maloney»

Observação: é um serviço limitado à América do Norte; permite escolher entre varias opções, tem musica, tem videos, tem blogues, tem comunidade. É um compromisso face à emissão clasica, mas é tambem um avanço (permite selecionar, a partir da oferta existente, e construir a sua lista personalizada

«Clear Channel’s new radio station, or The Arrow, or Virgin Xtreme, or any number of other “music jukebox” channels, just play a mix of music which is suboptimal, for me, to that available from a computer program or a website - or, even, from a tightly tuned iTunes. Surely the future of radio isn’t just non-stop music jukebox channels? Can’t one-to-one technology do that job better? Or is the job of a programme director really just the job of a music scheduler these days?» (is all about music, James Cridland, 4/05/08)

«In addition to the streaming player, listeners also can use an on-demand feature and choose individual songs or entire CDs. The erockster playlist currently weighs in at more than 800 tracks, and will eventually feature a library of more than 5,000 songs»

«Not everyone wants to spend time messing with configuration settings and preferences. We do enough of that stupid computer stuff already, right? Even geeks like me just want to be blown away by something fresh and new. Asking us to invent, quantify or define that for a Radio service provider is plain stupid. We like stuff, or we don’t. Maybe we can be persuaded something is good. That’s the battleground»

«(...) by implementing social networking media, like personality websites, blogs, MySpace pages, and Facebook profiles, radio stations are reaching audience members with an unprecedented level of interactivity.  A recent survey conducted by News Generation among the top-20 radio markets collected more information about which type of social media stations are using and the function they serve. (...) Among 36 stations surveyed, virtually every station reported that they use a webpage to provide extra publicity for the station and to stay connected to listeners.  Websites appeal to the active listeners/users who visit the radio station site almost as often as they tune to its frequency.  In order to satiate an ever-growing interactive appetite though, station websites must give their listeners more than what they can get on the air.  Dana Hall from Radio-info.com states, “Social networking through your favorite station is one arena where broadcasters should be taking their websites.”  Hall urges stations to go beyond their on-air format by offering web-only contests, expanded interviews with core artists, DJ blogs, systems for listeners to chat amongst themselves, and featured podcasts.  By utilizing more interactive tools, a station website can help define and sustain a station’s brand. (...) almost half of the survey respondents utilize DJ blogs, and several offer links to a DJ’s MySpace page or Facebook profiles.  Why throw listeners to external sources outside the station realm?  Again, that’s where the audience is.  MySpace currently services 110 million users and Facebook houses 59 million.  These users post their favorite photos, contacts, videos and songs and so naturally, their favorite radio station and DJ fall right in line. »

fonte: Station Listener Turned Station User, by Megan Heffernan, News generation newsletter, Volume 11, Issue 1 Primavera 2008

«Stations will need to create their own communities of listeners, which will be defined by program, lifestyle, and consumer interests. The Cyber radio revolution may promote further audience fragmentation (Ganchiff, 2000), an understandable prediction, considering that Web distribution could potentially bring about the birth of thousands of new stations competing for listeners. Radio’s natural ability to program to narrowly defined audiences will fit nicely with the Internet’s established ability to develop and cater to online "communities" of users. Therefore, the successful Cyber stations will be the ones who  can further identify and develop relationships with targeted groups» (evans/Smethers, 2001:13) RAZôES COMERCIAIS

(a rádio que resiste em tirar partido das potencialidades oferecidas pela net, nomeadamente a interactividade)

«Although large numbers of radio stations are now making use of the Internet, the nature of that use varies substantially. By far the primary use ofthe sites is for station-related promotional purposes. Based on a content analysis of the sites of commercial radio sites in the United States, Lind and Medoff (2000) report that nearly three-quarters of the sites they investigated contain promotional materials such as programming guides, profiles of staff and other forms of station information. Considerably fewer stations - between 10 and 25 percent - provide information related to news stories, sports and the weather. Contact with stations was for the most part arranged through e-mail links. Other forms of contact or feedback - listener surveys and registration forms, discussion groups and bulletin boards sessions - were organised by small fractions of the stations studied. No more than 15 percent of the sites examined by Lind and Medoff (2000) provide chat opportunities for listeners.» (van Selm et al, 2006: 267)

RESISTIR, a partir da rádio, em aderir: «The BuZz web radio staff, on the other hand, showed a reluctance to provide listeners with too much influence over programme content» (279-280) 

«Although we would not want to exaggerate the suggested relation between web radio and communIty media features, we do feel the use of interactive Internet tools has implications for both programmers and listeners. Consultation of audio archives demands a more active stance than many conventional radio listeners may be willing to accept. And web radio programmers that incorporate chat services into their repertoire of listener-oriented activities will have to take input from listeners more into account than they normally may consider appropriate. These developments create, in fact, a dilemma for both prorammers and listeners. The more radio stations make use of the interactive and multimedia potentials of the Internet, the less the programming resembles conventional radio fare. (...) In our study of the radio programme BuZz suggests that this transformation is problematic and tends to be resisted by all involved.» (280) 

«Lind and Medoff first concluded that at the time of their study, most broadcast executives were guilty of not realizing the potential of their streaming efforts. Specifically, the researchers found that although stations understood the value of using the Web's interactive capability to establish better interaction with listeners, Webcasters largely failed to utilize information and design features capable of attracting the psychographically unique Internet user. Moreover, stations were especially lax in offering visual information with their streamed signals (information that was offered was primarily local in nature), sites were not well maintained, and stations seemed surprisingly slow to develop additional revenue-producing opportunities from this new medium.» (Evans, Smethers, 2001: 7) [The Lind and Medoff research provides an important snapshot in the development of Cyber radio in the late 199Os, although the data, while highly relevant at the time of the study, have been rendered somewhat dated with the passage of time, an inescapable risk associated with studying rapidly evolving media technology -pag 8].

«Listeners of web radio who participated in the focus group interviews also emphasised that on-demand music services provide a degree of individual control and may become an important characteristic of future Internet-based radio prograrnming. In contrast, the focus group members did not make use of this feature themselves. (...) One of the focus group interviewees expressed this position as follows: ’You just do not always feel like chocsing between alternatives or formulating your own preferences. That’s too much of an effort.’(...) there was limited interest in becoming an active user of the interactive tools made available.   (van Selm et al: 2006: 272-273) [Interviews were held in 1999 with five website radio staff: four programme hosts and one web master. The online survey was held amongst visitors to the website and was completed by forty-one respondents. Focus group interviews were held survey respondents who indicated they were regular participants of the BuZz chat box. Two  focus group interviews were held, each with four persons» (271)],

[EST ESTUDO, ENTREVISTANDO GENTE QUE TRABALHA NA RÁDIO E UTILIZADORES/OUVINTES, MOSTRA UMA GRANDE DIFERENÇA ENTRE AMBOS 273-274: «The above statements suggest a discrepancy between radio programme hosts and ’chatters’ regarding the value assigned to interactions during the web shows. The focus group members expressed a degree of disappointment with the way in which the hosts incorporated the chat box into the web-based radio programme.» 274«This lack of enthusiasm for the contribution of chat box by programme hosts did not go unnoticed by listeners» 275) «In summary, interactive media can facilitate two-way communication. It remains uncertain, however, whether radio programme hosts are adequately aware of the implications of programme hosts are adequately aware of the implications of this for their work. Their status as radio ’stars’ is, in a sense, duced to that of facilitator or moderator of a website where lies are discussed and music played. » (van Selm, 275)

«Traditional gratifications associated with listening to radio programming, such as being entertained and informed (see, for example Lind, Medoff and Rarick, 2001), suggest that listeners of web radio programming would be reluctant to seek to exercise control over the content of web radio shows. In this case study it appears that listeners appreciate being entertained by a mixture of web radio items and music selected by the programme hosts» (van Selm et al 279) 

«Radio, on the other hand, has an advantage even over the printed text in being entirely non-visual and can thus let as a secondary intellectual medium - one through which we can absorb many if not all forms of information and ideas while being free to do something else. (...) the blindness of radio should be seen as a precious asset» (Crisell a, 2006: 10) 

«(...) if we wish to broadcast informative and analytical material, then having regard to the innate character of radio and television and starting, as it were, with a tabula rasa, we will find it more effective to do so through the blind medium of radio than through the pictorial medium of television.» (Crisell a 2006: 12) 

(com que implicações ao nivel do proprio futuro da rádio? isto significa que ela se deve continuar a centrar no seu elemento sonoro, em detrimento das caracteristicas multimedia? colocar a questão no consumo passivo)

segundo Jerry Del Colliano (COLLIANO, Jerry del, Gen Y Consults Radio Inside Music Media, 14/04/08):

«(...) When I arrived at USC four years ago for my radio sabbatical, I was shocked to find young people so distanced from radio. It didn’t take me long to find out why. Other alternatives. More time on the computer, cell phones, social networks like Facebook, but the worst cut of all was the one that could have been prevented. (...) So, here’s what I observed as their advice to radio:
1. Too much repetition, not enough new music.

2. Feature knowledgeable djs.

3. Fewer commercials.

4. Make better commercials.

5. Forget HD.

6. Personalities are the appeal.

7. Make content for their portable devices.

8. They want to be your program director.

«They want to be your program director. In the past year I’ve observed how much this generation wants to "mash-up" or contribute to the entertainment they listen to. Hell, YouTube is the "mash-up" capital of their world. You can shoot it, add music, collaborate, stage it, fake it, steal it -- and you never need a PD (As a former PD this hurts me to write that line). Any radio strategy that doesn’t include listener participation and active input will fail. Back in the 60’s when stations first started playing "Instant Gold requests" on-air, listeners burned up the phone lines to call in a request. Radio hasn’t gone very far beyond that.»
COLLIANO, Jerry del, Gen Y Consults Radio Inside Music Media, 14/04/08

«Make content for their portable devices. Many students faithfully listen to podcasts. Podcasting is the next radio -- have I said that lately? The reason I keep saying it is because it is. The next generation wants to time delay its entertainment. They want to control it -- stop, start, go back, advance. They are less likely to tune in to 24/7 programming and more likely to "subscribe" (for free -- I'm just using the term "subscribe" to mean sign up) to what they want. This is mandatory -- get into podcasting. And if you're going to do it with the current air staff, you'll lose. You need an entire new approach from content, production, marketing and sales. (...) Two, learn about podcasting. You're going to see me talking about the new radio a lot in the future. I am jumping in with two feet -- not just with one toe. I advise the same to you. Podcasting is not as easy as you think. Of course, it's easy to do technologically -- that's not what I'm saying. It's the content, the presentation, new ways to market (no commercials) and make a profit. If it sounds like radio on a memory stick, it won't pass the test with Gen Y.»
COLLIANO, Jerry del, Gen Y Consults Radio Inside Music Media, 14/04/08

«Universal WiMax would make it seamless for consumers to have Internet-based music, information, communication with them everywhere. The advantage that radio transmission now has -- it's everywhere and it's free -- would be reduced to one thing. It's still free. But consumers would likely pay a premium to get Internet on-the-go.
That's why Internet streamers could be the next broadcasting revolution when their delivery system is put into place.
(...) I'm thinking -- and you may be, too -- that terrestrial radio companies might be ready to get into the content business. That's pictures, video, text and audio and become a new age broadcaster. How exciting is this? The salvation of Internet streamers is the arrival of a WiMax network. But some broadcasters seem to have a hard time seeing that the salvation of a dying radio industry is also this new form of wireless accessibility. Not transmitting a terrestrial stream over the Internet. That's so 20th century! But creating new content for the delivery system of a new age.»
fonte: Jerry Del Colliano, Watch WiMax Inside Music Media, 17/04/08

«Many radio stations have focused recently on ‘more music’, and less local presenter involvement - particularly the commercial radio operators. It seems a little peculiar to me that radio has taken away the main differentiator between it and my iPod: after all, my iPod plays a better choice of music that I can find anywhere on the radio. (.,..)There are millions of young people enjoying speech radio every day, though some might not think they’re listening to the radio; after all, a good bit of speech radio, prepackaged and made available as a download, is what most people call a ‘podcast’. I believe that radio’s future depends on great content. If programmers focus their attention at the bits between the records, and less slavishly on following their music testing, then we can ensure radio’s future. If radio is just to become a non-stop ‘music aggregator’, then last.fm and services like it will always do that job better (even if last.fm’s algorithms need rather a lot of work).»

«If your definition of “2.0″ is a much more collaborative experience, where many people provide the content you’re looking for, then Radio 2.0 was born with the advent of the request show or the phone-in. Of the ‘old media’, I’d claim that radio has always been the most democratised, most involving media there is. If your definition also includes “giving control to th audience”, then (quite apart from the superficial control that request shows give the audience), again radio has a good story to tell. Listen-again services, like the BBC provides with their BBC iPlayer for Radio, have succeeded in takng radio away from being an uncontrollable linear stream of content to one that is more malleable. It’s particularly good for niche programming - if you look at programmes like Radio 1’s Essential Mix, you see that it has nearly as many listeners online as onair. The iPlayer provides the long-tail and discoverability of content that is the issue with an old-fashioned linear stream.»

«It must be NAB's role as a lobbying arm that predisposes it to see PR as a hammer and every challenge as a nail. You don't reinvigorate by saying you will. You reinvigorate by doing what's reinvigorating. When that happens, you don't need to "remind" listeners of anything. Nobody wants to be "reminded" of stuff they already take for granted. They want to hear about what's new. And that, my friends, is radio's true challenge. Radio can make much more headway with its audiences in a new media world by grabbing opportunities which satisfy listener needs in new and exciting ways. This is what CBS did with last.fm. This is what Radio One did in its dive into social networking.» Mark Ramsey

«CBS Radio re-launched their legendary NY rock radio station WNEW recently. It's a group blog about music, it's a last.fm group (built by the combined scrobbling history of all of the group members), it's an internet radio station, and it's available over the air on HD2 at 102.7 (you need an HD radio to get it).(...) Maybe the golden years of the 70s and 80s are long over, due to the iPod and other forms of portable music and the changing dynamics of the music industry. But I think radio does understand what it has to do in order to hang onto its audience and bring new listeners (younger more technologically inclined) into the fold.» It's A Blog, No It's A Radio Station, Wait It's Something Altogther New Fred04.15.2008

«(...)Rehr continued, "We know that the world has changed. Consumers have more options than ever before. The media landscape is rapidly changing. We’re being buffeted by forces larger than our industry. Some in the business are a bit disoriented. Some are overwhelmed by the changes taking place. Frankly, some are not optimistic about broadcasting’s future."
After noting that "broadcasters can be a bit of a cynical bunch," Rehr said, "I’m afraid that some people in this business have been staring so long at the door that’s closing, they haven’t seen the new door that’s opening. The digital door." (...) Listeners still want what they’ve always wanted. Technology hasn’t changed that -- it has just changed the devices of delivery. This is not to diminish the challenges or uncertainty of the radio business. In fact, I think one thing that’s changed is that many in the industry have been so worn down by the battles and buffeting, that they themselves have forgotten the magic of radio. But we have not forgotten." (...) being local, in and of itself, is not what defines radio’s value. It’s the accessibility and the connection with radio personalities. And it’s being everywhere and available to everyone. A radio is not a jukebox.(...) "If you’re listening to radio, you want to hear a human voice sharing that same moment in time that you are. There is power in that personal bond. A CD doesn’t have that connection. An iPod doesn’t have it. No, our model is not broken."» Rehr: ’Radio Remains Relevant’, Radio Ink, 15/04/08

«Radio needs to become a service provider for portable media players so listeners can customize the traffic they want to hear on their device, for example. In a session during Sunday’s Broadcast Engineering Conference, Wilson said radio’s current, inefficient frequency allocation would need to be re-worked to permit such customization. He would co-locate channels and use single-frequency networks to make more efficient use of spectrum.
He expects pushback from the FCC and broadcasters on such a frequency re-allocation, but he said radio needs to adapt to changing times to survive.» RWONline, Wilson: Radio Needs to Adapt or Face Obsolescence, 14/4/08

«(...) Radio One Inc., which is pinning future growth on Internet outlets, has acquired social networking company Community Connect Inc. for $38 million. (...) It said Community Connect's sites have more than 20 million members. (...) Radio One (NASDAQ: ROIA) owns and operates 53 radio stations in 16 markets, including four Baltimore stations: WERQ-FM 92Q Jams, WOLB-AM 1010, WWIN-AM 1440 and WWIN-FM Magic 95.9. Its stations primarily target African-American and urban listeners» fonte: «Radio One buys social networking company for $38M», Baltimore Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh, 11/04/08 

«Assume for a minute that radio's revenue growth via the traditional commercial platform is going to continue to be challenging.  And if your station specializes in lower demand demographics like 18-34s and Teens, you know that radio has fallen out of favor with many key advertisers, with no apparent turnaround on the horizon.

Yet, many major advertisers haven't changed their target demographic strategy.  They've changed tactics.  And radio, especially formats like Alternative and CHR, has to respond to this shift in order to survive. (...)

Looking at it a different way, youth-targeted radio formats might be able to lead the way to revenue growth for the radio industry.  There are billions of dollars available chasing youth (maybe even more than for aging baby boomers).  Maybe these stations need to consider some serious experimentation by re-structuring their promotional, digital, and sales models.  Maybe they need to, in the words of Jason Calacanis at Summit 12 - "surrender" to the reality that the current business model is not the road to revenue growth.

Let's invent a new one, and in the process, begin to reinvent the way that radio interfaces with advertisers - and the audience.»

fonte: Follow The Money - Part II, Jacobsmedia, 9/04/08

«(...) fresher radio technologies could solve the problem.  Terrestrial streams frequently transmit identifying information using RDF, though emerging satellite and HD (or digital) radio streams package metadata far more effectively.  That means that fans can easily identify track information without the assistance of a deejay.

But HD radio technology actually enables a more interesting step.  Just recently, Clear Channel Radio started streaming digital stations that allow instant iTunes tagging, thanks to technology supplied by iBiquity Digital Corp.  More specifically, songs are tagged within an iPod for subsequent purchase on the iTunes Store.  

A total of 440 HD radio stations, and 340 HD2 stations now carry the capability, though just one tag-ready receiver is currently on the market.  "Radio continues to be the number one way that people discover new music, and the HD radio iTunes tagging capability lets listeners add songs to their iPod playlists with just a push of the button," explained Clear Channel Radio president and chief executive John Hogan.»

fonte: «Impulse iTunes Downloads: The Radio Rollout Begins». Digital Music News, 7/04/08  

A proposito da questão aqui colocada sobre o que será a web 3.0, imagine-se, perante a oferta de milhares (cinco mil, dez mil?) rádios on line, um software que funcione como alertas/tags para nomes de artistas, palavras-chave em (nome de) musicas, etc.

A partir de uma lista de termos pré-definida (e constantemente editável), posso saber não só que músicas (que me interessam) estão a tocar em qualquer site do mundo como - quando essa informação estiver de tal maneira organizada/generalizada - as que vão tocar e as que me interessam.

Dificil? «Mediaguide currently tracks the real-time airplay of more than 2,700 terrestrial radio stations in every state in the U.S. This allows Radio Companion users to see what is playing right now on any of their favorite radio stations with just a few quick clicks on their BlackBerry smartphone. They can then select the music track to have its details sent instantly to their email account, with a direct link to click-through and purchase the song online.»

[este cenário faz equacionar diversas questões:

- excesso de escolha exige uma forte capacidade de selecção (a busca avançada do Google já não chega...), sob pena de se tornar ingovernável; o utilizador também vai ter de se adaptar para esse consumo activo

- acentua-se a capacidade de controlo do utilizador (ele só ouve o que e se quer)

- é uma forma de valorizar os conteúdos classicos da rádio, ainda que já alterados; isto mostra que o consumo activo pode basear-se, pode partir da rádio clássica, desde que ela esteja na net, tenha o seu streaming organizado e anunciado e entre nas diversas redes de procura); isto mostra também que a escuta FM/AM é um anacronismo e que não tem condições para continuar a vigorar; que há espaço para uma emissão programada de rádio desde que se adapte às exigencias.

OUTRO EXEMPLO de como a rádio convencional pode tentar resistir, desde que se adapte - DESDE QUE EVOLUA (sem ser necessário transformar-se noutra coisa que não rádio): a rádio pode avisar os interessados das musicas que vão passar, de acordo com escolhas/opções/tags definidas por esses interessados previamente. 24 horas antes? 12  horas antes? cinco minutos? quando o utilizador quiser... Além de conquistar utilizadores que não estarão a consumir essa emissão (caso contrário não teriam subscrito os alertas - por email? por SMS?), conquista uma poderosa base de dados com os gostos desses utilizadores; gostos que não deve negligenciar se quer fazer uma emissão que se adapte aos gostos desses ouvintes. Além do mais, está a dar importancia, poder ao utilizador, seguindo aquilo que parece ser uma tendencia evidente.

«Part of that “engage the consumer” business is to make sure that radio’s available on “every mobile phone, PDA and mp3 player within five years.” The Emmis boss says “we have to be there, we have to be 360 degrees, everywhere our customers are.” Many Nokia and Sony phones around the world already come equipped with radio, and Jeff says in this country, “We believe it’s a perfect solution to the WARN Act” about emergency notification. There are “discussions with the American cellular industry” about making radio standard in phones. As for iPods: Jeff says a radio unit is already a best-selling accessory for the iPod. (Nobody asked about AM radio, by the way: it’s got a less-certain path to inclusion in future devices.) Smulyan insists that radio “isn’t hiding from new technology, we’re driving it.»

fonte: Taylor on Radio-Info, Wanted: Some backbone, 3/04/08

«Regarding yesterday’s piece on “The Future of Radio” from the Washington Post (here), Ralph Guild writes, “There isn’t ‘a’ future, just a future and like AM and FM some people will like one format and others will like another. Broadcasters have to stop talking about the future and start investing in the ones they believe in before anything will happen. Ultimately, it will be what the listeners prefer and they have no idea what they will prefer until they can try it.”»

RAIN READER FEEDBACK 25/03/08, RAIN

ou como se demonstra mais uma vez que a industria tem dificuldades em compreender a net (o exemplo da pub)

«(...) why is there no radio industry-backed web site that explains the process of radio advertising to local advertisers? Why is there very little found on the web that instructs local advertisers on how to use broadcast radio? (...) What you won't find in that search, or any search of related keywords, is anything from the radio industry that offers help to a business owner looking for guidance on radio advertising. Excuse me. This is outrageous in today's media climate. As everyone in the radio industry continues their claims of turning towards the internet for non-traditional revenue, here's a clue as to how this is going to end up: same old, same old (as in commitment, effort, and payoff).» Radio Industry Has Little Time to React Audiographics Ken Dardis, 3/03/08

«Today we’re living in a changed world. The speed of change has made some industries obsolete in a moment’s time. The promises of the Internet have come true, but not exactly as predicted. Its impact is bigger and faster than anyone anticipated. Radio faces new opportunity as well as new competition. Every cell phone in the world is a portable media device that places media content in the hands of every person worldwide» (From Radio Inc 08 conference, rec.radio.shortwave, 13/03/08) 

«Thirteen percent of Americans age 12 or older (an estimated 33 million people) listened to online radio in the past week; an increase of two percentage points from January 2007»

«About 33 million Americans 12+ listen to an Internet station in an average week. That’s four million more than a year ago according to the annual “Infinite Dial” study by Arbitron and Edison Media Research. About two-thirds of online radio listeners have a profile on a social networking website. The most popular sites are MySpace and Linked-In.»

Online listeners tap into social networks, Inside Radio, 18/03/08

«* While nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of all Americans age 12 or older have a profile on a social networking Web site such as MySpace, Facebook or Linked-In, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of online radio listeners have a profile on sites such as these
* One-third of online radio listeners with a social network profile visit their social networking site nearly every day or several times per day
* The top social networking Web sites among online radio listeners are MySpace and the business professional networking service Linked-In. Twenty-eight percent of online radio listeners have a MySpace page, while nearly one-quarter (24 percent) have a profile on Linked-In.

"Social networking is clearly not about creating exclusive, self-enclosed communities," said Diane Williams, senior analyst, custom research for Arbitron. "We found that online radio listeners are more than one and half times more likely to have a profile on a social networking site as compared to average Americans and that they tend to be power-users with one-third of online radio listeners logging on to their social networking site nearly every day or even multiple times per day."

In addition to studying the correlation between social networkers and their online radio usage, the Infinite Dial 2008 report will detail the latest data on the general online radio listening universe and will explore how consumers interact and explore radio and all of its digital platforms» Online Radio Reaches 33 Million Americans Per Week

«Come along and sing a song and join the jamboree, indeed.
Radio Disney has completed a licensing agreement with Gracenote that allows Radio Disney to publish copyrighted lyrics. Kids can now see lyrics and sing along to Radio Disney songs while listening via the Internet Radio Player on RadioDisney.com.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Michael Peterson, executive director, digital distribution, Radio Disney, said, “The integration of lyrics into our Internet Radio Player is another way for us to leverage digital technologies to provide new and exciting user experiences for our young listeners who love to know the words to their favorite songs.” »

«But of all major consumer media, radio is the least suited to an online transition. (...) Industry executives fiercely deny this point, but consider the landscape. Newspapers' ills are well-documented, and I've had much sport with them in this space. But the local paper's Web site is almost always the dominant local online entity. Newspapers churn out tons of original content daily. Radio is built to a large degree on music it doesn't own and syndicated talk shows. Both are available in countless venues online, which means radio Web sites have less unique stuff to attract audiences. And stations aren't structured like newspapers. While their profit margins are much higher—try 40% and up—they also have much smaller news organizations and fewer bodies to create new content that can be slapped up online. Ryvicker says radio companies that are doing well in the Web are getting 1% to 2% of revenues from it. Hogan says Clear Channel Radio will get 5% of revenues from its 1,005 Web sites "very soon" but isn't there yet. (Radio executives also extol the revenue potential of radio stars turning up on cable, à la Imus, or on local TV, but few can make that leap.)» fonte Requiem for Old-Time Radio by Jon Fine 28/02/08

Mark Ramsey: «Where Business Week goes wrong, I think, is in underestimating the relationship that millions of radio listeners have with their favorite stations. And underestimating the value of "permission" that those listeners grant those stations to communicate with them, whether that communication is about station content or the benefits of various advertiser partners.

This is a huge advantage for the radio industry, one that has barely been realized to date when it comes to digital content. And woe unto those (outside the radio industry or inside it) who underestimate its value.

In the long run, your radio station is the loudspeaker for your content online. The "non-traditional revenue" will be today's spot revenue, and the NEW-traditional revenue will be sourced online. Get this through your heads and we can start creating our future.»

«(...) Clear Channel's John Hogan said "performance and capability is not our problem. Our problem is one of perception".
No.
Consolidators like Clear Channel but not limited to Clear Channel either just don't get it or they don't want us to get it.
1. They try to grow a business by cutting back.
2. They embrace the wrong technology (HD instead of mobile/Internet).
3. They have driven off the next generation -- have no clue what they want -- and think the problem is about perception. No one cares about perception -- they care about content and -- I might add -- how it is delivered. (...) I am convinced that as much as radio groups say they understand the Internet, they don't. It is a delivery system -- plain and simple. It needs content. One would think they would want to be in that business.»

fonte: Jerry del Colliano, Redefine Radio -- Don't Reinvent It 4/02/08 Inside Music Media

«More than 8 million people in the UK listen to web-based radio services every week and nearly 2 million download podcasts on a weekly basis, according to a survey that suggests internet radio has hit the mainstream.

Commissioned by the industry's audience research body Rajar, the Ipsos Mori survey last autumn found that more than 12 million people have listened to the radio online and 8.1 million listen every week either through live streaming or "listen again" services.

Ipsos Mori found that 75% of users do not listen to less live radio as a result of listening again online, with 50% tuning into new shows as a result» Jemima Kiss guardian.co.uk, January 28 2008

«Radio jumps on the social networking craze.
Forget Facebook and MySpace - more stations are launching a social networking component and some predict it could eventually become a solid revenue source. Clear Channel's social networking beta test has more than 150,000 registered users since its launch last April with two million page views each week» Inside Radio, 22/01/08.

«In the absence of radio play, garage bands all across America are establishing a presence on MySpace, a social-networking site popular with young adults. According to MySpace, more than 240,000 artists of every kind -- from unsigned amateurs to international rock stars -- are using MySpace as a way to market themselves and build a fan base. Artists are using the site to build massive social networks and spread the word about upcoming shows and CD releases. Startup bands like My Chemical Romance have launched careers exclusively through MySpace, collecting more than 100,000 fans through the service. As the seventh most popular domain on the internet in terms of pageviews, according to February numbers from comScore Media Metrix, MySpace gives bands the chance to be seen and heard in a way never before possible. Traditionally, bands toured cities and played dive bars to create buzz about their music. But with MySpace, bands can host demos of their songs, announce shows and connect with fans without spending weeks on the road. (...) "It's a medium where people can go and hear new music and develop an attachment to the band," said Miller. MySpace is aimed at teenagers. It claims more than 15 million members, and even established acts like Weezer, Beck and Billy Corgan are starting to realize the potential of social networking.»

fonte: «Bands Embrace Social Networking» Wired, 18/05/05, david Cohn

«“Why didn’t anyone think of that before?” – It’s a Tivo-like device for radio that can record and playback multiple streams of radio bands. The radio will have multiple antennas which record AM, FM, Satellite and HD radio signals. It will also be able to record audio on any upcoming Wi-Max and 700 Mhz radio stations. Like Tivo, the unit digitizes content and stores it for later playback. Songs, talk shows and other content can be paused and replayed. You can even skip those annoying ads. 3DRadio doesn’t actually have a booth at the Consumer Electronics show and company rep Alan Kaplan actually pitched us the product as we were walking to a press conference. The company is looking for a hardware manufacturer to churn out the multi-channel radio, but Kaplan says the software portion is basically done. He has offered to show us a demo later in the show and we’ll update this article if that happens. 3DRadio will start selling units for in-vehicle use and then branch out to portable and home markets. He expects consumer units to be available by Christmas of this year.»

fonte: «CES 2008: 3DRadio, Tivo for radio», 7/1/08, Tom's Hardware 

«A rádio é também o espaço que mais facilmente, num contexto nacional, pode competir com redes sociais como o myspace.com na descoberta de novos talentos musicais e também é o espaço, por excelência, para a partilha de receitas com os artistas que seguem o modelo “livre de editora”. È claro que nem todas as rádios estarão preparadas para este novo modelo ou, se quisermos, vida. As rádios que nas suas emissões mais apostam na intimidade com os seus ouvintes são, porventura, as que melhor podem passar à criação de comunidades online. O sucesso está em conseguir criar redes alargadas, ou seja, chamar os seus ouvintes até esses espaços, num processo lento e de respeito para com essa relação e ao mesmo tempo diversificar para outros espaços falantes de português ou onde portugueses se encontrem, pois os espaços virtuais tais como os outros espaços precisam de diversidade para atraírem novos elementos e consolidarem as redes.»

fonte: CARDOSO, Gustavo, «A terceira vida da rádio», Editorial Obercom, s/d (2007?)

«This year saw the emergence of a new buzzword in the digital music space -- widgets. Next year, we'll see if they do any good.

An offshoot of the global social networking trend, widgets are small applications that users can place into their blogs, profiles and Web sites, and thereby extend the functionality of an otherwise separate Web site or service. What's more, users can simply copy widgets found on friends' profiles and insert them onto their own, thus enabling a tremendously viral distribution opportunity.

The concept gained prominence in 2007, picking up momentum once Facebook opened its platform so that any developer could write an application using its user data and connections. Then Google upped the ante with its OpenSocial initiative, a standardized widget-development tool that would allow developers to write one application that can work with any social networking site adopting the technology -- which include MySpace and Bebo. ComScore, a leading Web traffic monitoring firm, even began a metrics service tracking the most popular widgets and their usage.

These widgets have opened the door to a whole new style of selling content and services online, called "distributed commerce." Simply put, rather than making customers navigate to a specific site to buy a concert ticket or a music download, widgets allow bands and their fans to sell the same from their own Web sites. If iTunes is the Wal-Mart of music, widgets are more like vending machines.»

«Gerry Fabio defende que a e ’indústria da rádio está muito mal explorada", mas acredita que esta tem actualmente uma ’oportunidade fantáscica’, já que o ’mundo do marketing caminha para ela’. (...) O fundador e presidente da empresa norte-americana Creative Resources refere que actualmente a rádio é muito mais que uma estação, já que ’todas as ferramentas [como o vídeo e o online] estão disponíveis". "É necessário pensar mais largo do que a audiência, é preciso pensar em todas as maneiras de atingir os consumidores dos produtos que os clientes querem promover«, diz. E também considera que a rádio reúne todas as condições necessárias para impactar o consumidor moderno, com ’várias linguagens e tecnologias’ o que se for bem feito ’pode ter um efeito viral’» fonte: «REAL, Hugo, «’A rádio está muito mal explorada’», Diário Económico, 6/11/07, pág 47

... e de transição porque se abandonou o paradigma anterior, o da emissão hertziana, pensada de um para muitos, para um momento de coabitação entre várias plataformas e vários modelos de emissão/recepção: o hertziano ainda está presente, mas junta-se-lhe o DAB, o satélite, o HD e sobretudo a Internet. O momento é de transição porque de acumulação (com o hertziano ainda dominante, mas cada vez menos); é de expectativa, mas tambem de ligação ao passado (como falava McLuhan), à espera de uma clarificação, da superação de uma plataforma em detrimento de outras, uma vez que ninguém se atreve a decretar (o proprio switch off do analogico ainda está distante).

«It’s disconcerting to see that a majority of time spent listening to recorded music is to mediums other than radio.  Yet, the bottom has not fallen out. 73% of respondents say a majority of their music listening time is spent listening to music on sources other than radio (CDs, MP3s, iPods, streaming, satellite radio, etc).  Graph 1 The next finding is a bit surprising to me having moderated Paragon Media Strategies focus groups for last year’s NAB.  A very respectable 41% of the time 14 to 24 year olds spend listening to recorded music is to radio. Graph 2 The key concern is that we may be nurturing a generation who find radio nearly irrelevant.  Listening to music on sources other than radio is pronounced among younger and male respondents. Graph 3 For now, radio retains its position as the medium of convenience.  Yet radio needs to be sure to offer formats that resonate with younger listeners; no mean feat as owners pursue the 25-54 “money demo.”  It also needs to capitalize on its unique selling propositions: exposing new music, variety (between and within formats), and providing a human bond.  There needs to be a discernable human intelligence behind what’s being presented to younger listeners; not jukebox programmed by rote.» fonte: «The Floor Is Still There», Paragon Media Strategies, 1/11/07

«La nueva comunicación radiofónica por Internet incorpora los elementos originales de ésta: interactividad, hipervínculos y navegación. Son conceptos enriquecedores y que suponen un cambio tan importante como el que en su
momento fue la introducción de la estereofonía, la FM, los transistores. La grabación en cinta de aquella época hoy está vinculada a la grabación digital en disquetes o en discos duros de cualquier mensaje musical, oral sonidos de
ambiente. Son los elementos definidores de la nueva modalidad radiofónica»

fonte: Cebrian Herreros, Radio en Internet
http://www.nebrija.com/eventos/dca/ciberperiodismo/Ponen_Cebrian_12-03-03.pdf

Mark Ramsey: «My belief is this: It's not radio's fault that we lost this audience. But it will most definitely be our fault if we fail to get them back.»

O que é que Ramsey sugere?

«Why is your stream limited to your station's audio? Why not stream your station's video as well? And why not include chat capability in the streaming window so that listeners can talk to each other and to your talent? We're making the mistake of envisioning a station's stream as "our over-the-air station online," but this is wrong. The medium, as the saying goes, is the message. And a book is different from the movie based on that book in large part because the medium requires them to be different and the medium enables them to be different» e «Very few stations provide more than one stream on their website. That is, if you can brand one version of your station, why can't you brand several? And why can't they be tailored to different genres or moods or content elements (e.g., the All-Morning Show stream)? This is a tremendous lost opportunity, and I'm surprised more stations don't get this. As I recently reported, less than half of commercial stations stream their programming at all, let alone go "beyond the call" in the ways I'm suggesting. Yes, I know there are fears about licensing costs and bandwidth costs and the costs of losing rated on-air listeners to unrated off-air streams. But until you build these streams, the listeners can't come. And until they come you can't monetize them. And until you monetize them you will stand by and wait while your audience gets what they want and need from elsewhere online»

«Radio stations - and radio companies - that move their websites from just being flashy, one-dimensional billboards to truly interactive meeting places can benefit greatly in the next few years.  Boomers may have learned all about computers in the workplace, but many now regard the Internet as being integral parts of their lives.  As they share photos, concert stories, and life experiences with friends and family, radio can and should be a facilitator in making it happen.»

fonte:Fred Jacobs,  «Old Man, Take A Look At My Website», Jacoblog

Doug Hall: «In the past few years alone the number of alternativas to faithful old radio has exploded. Today magical, invisible audio can meet your ears via the Internet, over your cell phone, via Satellite, through your mp3 player, and so on. For much of its history radio has owned the only route to your ears. That kind of responsibility is a freedom and a curse. A freedom because it allows the creation of audio wonders great and small. A curse because the absence of competition from alternate technologies has a way of promoting a fat and happy settling, a bloated behemoth of an industry which knows how to do what it has always done, but not what it needs to do next. The status quo perpetuates nothing so much as more status quo. In the years to come radio will experience the most profound challenges to its status quo ever. We are entering a time where smart thinking, novel ideas, and profound innovacion will spell the difference between relevance for future generations and quaint nostalgic obsolescence.» (Ramsey, 2005: 1) 

«The Media Audit’s Phillip Beswick says "Metamorphosis is a fit word to describe what radio is going through right now and the decade to come." Not just from new media audio distribution channels, but also from new competition for radio’s advertising revenue. Beswick says radio has attracted people that thrive on competition. But perhaps more importantly, he thinks consolidation into well-financed corporations will help radio "take on the significant challenges inherent with metamorphosis."

fonte: SAXE, Frank, "", Inside Radio, NAB Radio Show, Setembro 07, pag 8

«"The long term prospects for our business look very bright if, and only if, we aggressively seize on the opportunities that new technology and changing market needs are pointing out to us," says Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth. He predicts radio will be the "center point of a web of communication channels" in the coming decade, as listeners turn to radio for recommendations, resources and reflections of their city.» fonte: SAXE, Frank, "Looking towards radio's long-term future", Inside Radio, NAB Radio Show, Setembro 07, pag 6

Mark Ramsey: «I made the point more than a year ago that, as I put it, "people generally don't buy radios, they buy things that contain radios."»

A propósito da decisão da Apple de colaborar com as estações HD, eis as declarações de alguém com responsabilidade nas rádios dos EUA:

«Clear Channel President/CEO John Hogan said, "Apple has been a strong supporter of radio, previously making an FM tuner available for the iPod, and we view their support of HD digital radio as an enormous opportunity." Apple offers the iPod Radio Remote as an iPod accessory for $49.

Hogan continued, "With substantial gains in online and on-demand programming already under our belt, there should now be no doubt of radio's ability to constantly evolve and embrace new technology. The iPod is not a competitor to radio -- it is a collaborator in connecting with consumers on a continual basis."»

fonte: «Clear Channel Encodes For iTunes Song Sales Via HD Radio», Radio Ink, 07/09/07
 

«Apple has unveiled new technology that enables US high definition radio listeners to "tag" songs that they hear on FM stations for subsequent purchase via iTunes. iTunes Tagging technology, which was developed by Apple in conjunction with iBiquity Digital and major US radio broadcasting groups, was unveiled across the US this week together with the latest iPods.  Apple vice president of iPod product marketing Greg Joswiak said: "When a song plays on your HD Radio that you like, a simple push of a button will tag it and later give you the chance to preview, purchase, and enjoy it with iTunes and your iPod." The US initiative follows a similar scheme in the UK put together by UBC Media. The Cliq service displays the tracks playing on the radio and allows consumers to buy them immediately. Cliq is available on new DAB radio sets and also via Java enabled mobile phones. UBC Media chief executive Simon Cole welcomed the introduction of the iPod tag service: "This is great news for us and for the digital radio industry globally. "Importantly, it confirms our very strong and long-held belief that radio has a huge part to play in the future of digital music sales and that those sales represent new revenue opportunities for radio". »

fonte: «Apple launches radio tagging system», Broadcastnow.com, Yvette Mackenzie, 07/09/07

Mas, atenção, é preciso que as estações emitam um código hertziano: «and Clear Channel has already announced that it will encode all its FM HD broadcasts for the service». E ha tambem que garante, como se lê na newsletter da Inside Radio de 06/09/07 que: «Polk's HD Radio connection with the iPod will require stations to encode their HD signals to allow consumers to use the "tagging" feature for buying music on iTunes. Inside Radio has learned eight radio groups have already committed to encoding. Insiders say this alliance between radio, receiver manufacturers and Apple puts radio on the forefront of music delivery and turns would-be competitors into collaborators»

Outra chamada de atenção: a tecnologia não permite a compra, mas apenas marcar determinadas músicas, que poderão ser compradas, quando se ligar o iPod ao computador (ou seja, depois). «Well, it's not exactly a "push-to-buy" function... it's more of a "push to 'bookmark,' so later, when you hook your iPod up to your computer, you're reminded of the songs you tagged, and then you can buy them through iTunes" service. In fact, the iPod itself is really only used to carry these "bookmarks" from the radio to the PC»

Já Mark Ramsey chama atenção para outra questão (com a tradicional ironia, quando fala de HD): «HD radio has been reduced to being a storefront for iTunes? So I listen to my HD radio, tag the songs I like, download them to my iPod, and listen to my iPod rather than my HD radio, right?And who makes the money in this transaction? The people who own the store, the people who license the music, or the station that tags the songs?»

«Nadie puede asegurar qué sucederá en el futuro, pues la audiencia tiene mucho todavía por decir. La variedad de plataformas de distribución de audio que tan sólo hemos apuntado supera el ámbito de la tecnología y plantea interrogantes sobre los límites de la escucha radiofónica, los nuevos contenidos y las potenciales nuevas audiencias, para redundar en definitiva en la posibilidad de nuevas líneas de negocio. Los oyentes empiezan ya a tomar sus propias decisiones en cuando a programación y sobre su entorno de escucha (USADO), aún siendo evidente que los productores de esta industria cultural todavía mantienen el control sobre los contenidos. Sirva como ejemplo, entre otros, el podcasting, gracias al cual los individuos eligen contenidos, no emisoras, lo cual plantea ciertas dudas sobre las formas de identificación y diferenciación de empresas o el control de los contenidos»

fonte: BONET, Montse, «La radio digital, estándares tecnológicos y plataformas de distribución», Portal de la Comunicación In-Com-UAB, A modo de conclusión

Mark Ramsey alerta para os riscos e as oportunidades para a industria classica de rádio:

«This could work in one or both of two ways: Either you would be able to buy and download songs via WiFi (most likely) or you would also be able to stream or cache content via the iTunes strreaming "radio" channels (perhaps less likely - since a station streamed or cached on an iPod is not a song purchased, thus making the transaction less profitable for Apple. On the other hand, anything that drives the purchase of iPods is more profitable than anything that drives the purchase of songs). The ability to stream iTunes stations means, of course, that YOUR station could be one of those. But your 30 market competitors just became 3,000 worldwide competitors. And counting. (...) This is an obvious evolution for the iPod - WiFi is already popping up on iPod alternatives - and makes them even more of a substitute for radio than they've been in the past since any iPod could be updated wirelessly and on the fly. And anything which makes an mp3 player easier to use and more valuable to own makes it a more potent radio substitute. As I have said many times in the past, stations which live and die on a steady diet of music will be facing stiff competition from devices like these over the long run.
When these devices do not need a computer and feature a music discovery component, that's functionally equivalent to the best music radio station you can imagine: One which matches your tastes exactly.»

«Apesar de o fonógrafo ter elevado a música a mais do que um simples desempenho, foi a rádio que criou o ídolo pop. Nos anos 40 e 50, o programa 'Your Hit Parade' tornou-se um evento das noites de sábado, anunciando-se como 'uma classificação rigorosa e autêntica do gosto dos EUA pela música popular'. Depois, com o aparecimento e atracção da juventude pelo rock'n'roll e pelo R&B, chegaram as listas de músicas elaboradas por personalidades e a celebridade dos DJ de rádio. Na década de 50, Alan Freed e Murray "the K" Kaufman ajudaram a transformar a rádio na mais poderosa máquina de criação de sucessos musicais que o mundo alguma vez conheceu» (Anderson, 2007: 31)

«A rádio está a viver um renascimento, e está a transformar-se no meio de comunicação mais difundido do mundo» (Castells, 2004: 226)

«As emissoras de rádio estão a experimentar um grande auge na Internet, tanto as que emitem através de ondas como as que o fazem só através da rede. A lista de emissoras de rádio nos EUA, elaborada pelo MIT, indica que há mais de 10.000 na Internet. Há dois factores determinantes nesta transformação. Por um lado, a dificuldade de satisfazer o interesse pelos assuntos locais a uma escala global, fora do alcance das redes locais de informação. Se quer saber o que se passou na sua cidade a partir do outro extremo do mundo, só a Internet pode proporcionar-lhe essa informação, tanto em formato texto (jornais locais) como em formato áudio (emissoras de rádio locais). Portanto, a liberdade para ultrapassar a cultura global em busca da identidade local própria é possível graças à Internet, uma rede global de comunicação local. Po outro lado, o êxito comercial experimentado pela rádio resultou no seu controle oligopolítico por parte de grandes conglomerados mediáticos em cada país - como consequência directa da desregulação, que na realidade resultou em muitos outros sectores da economia) numa concentração cada vez maior. Assim, enquanto a rádio está dirigida ao local (você precisa de conhecer o estado do trânsito da sua cidade e não de outro lugar), o seu conteúdo está cada vez mais empresarializado e homogeneizado. As emissoras de rádio alternativas, de alcance local, encontram na Internet uma forma barata e fácil de emitir, sem ter que depender da concessão de licenças de transmissão, limitadas pela capacidade do espectro» (Castells, 233) 

«HANNOVER - Quem precisa ouvir notícias de rádio e TV em línguas desconhecidas pode ver a luz no fim do túnel em pouco tempo. A empresa austríaca SAIL LABs, especializada em inteligência artificial e linguagem, criou um software, o ROSIDS (Rapid Open Source Intelligence Deployment System), que ataca o problema de frente. O ROSIDS produz legendas tanto de rádio e TV quanto de dados da internet através de um sistema de reconhecimento automático da fala. O que se diz é transcrito na linguagem de preferência em tempo real. O programa foi premiado na CeBIT, feira de tecnologia da Alemanha. A qualidade da tradução ainda não foi avaliada por INFO.»

fonte: «Software traduz rádio e TV com legenda no ato», Info on line, Quarta-feira, 21 de março de 2007

«Radio industry consultants, explicitly pandering to the millions of people perpetually zoned into the permanent shuffle of their own music collections, have tried to answer this challenge with the first major new broadcast format in years. It is dubbed "Jack'. The name comes from the buddy-buddy moniker assigned to the ocasional voice-over interspersed between tunes - though some staions call their voices Bob or Hank or Dave or Max. Instead of ticking to a playlist of a couple of dozen carefully chosen songs, a Jack station draws on a selection of hundreds, spanning several decades and multiple genres. The unofficial motto of Jack is «If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. "The almost anything - goes eclecticism of the format, sometimes called adult hits, seems to appeal to listeners accustomed to scanning through thousands of MP3s at a time", explains a New York Times reporter. WCBS, the New York City station that adopted the format, puts it more blatantly in one of its promos: "It's like an iPod, only the batteries never run out". But why accept someone else's version of your iPod when you have the real thing?» (Levy, 2006: 248) 

« (...) For many listeners, their favorite radio station Web site is like home—literally, their home page... "...Rocco Macri, president and founder of Promosuite, a software and interactive services provider for radio... says, 'your Web site is an opportunity to build a relationship with listeners. The first thing you need to do is to give them an incentive to give you personal information. The best way to accomplish this is to offer many different entry points. And your best opportunity to get listeners to give you information is the first time they sign up.”

"These entry points include loyal listener clubs, Web site contesting, text messaging alerts, Web site surveys and music testing...

"One of the most common uses of a database is e-mail marketing. Stations also use databases to do online music testing and perceptual studies. Previously, direct marketing was conducted through the mail and was a costly option. With an e-mail database, the cost is much more efficient, if there is cost at all. And you can reach listeners more consistently..."More recently, with Web sites becoming a greater generator of revenue for companies, the database can also help sales teams sell Web site advertising."»

fonte: Radio&Records, via RAIN, «Programming station web sites keeps AM/FM listeners on line», 27/02/07

«THE BBC is in talks with technology companies to develop a plug-in device that turns MP3 players into digital radios. While the BBC last night refused to name its potential partners, Apple, maker of the iPod, is understood to be one. The device would be a small tube containing a DAB digital radio chip that clips on to an MP3 player. Users of the iPod already use tiny bolt-on transmitters, such as the iTrip, to play their MP3 collections through car radios. BBC officials stressed last night that talks were in their early stages. However, the corporation believes part of its public service mission is to make digital radio as available as possible. Simon Nelson, controller of radio and music interactive at the BBC, said: "We need to ensure there are devices that can enable people to listen to radio - especially on something they already carry around." The BBC is also looking at a digital plug-in that could work with car radios. Apple recently signed deals with Mazda, Ford and General Motors, which will manufacture 2007 models with a docking system for iPods»

fonte: Scotsman, Britain's 'wired generation' shuns traditional media for a life online, 11/08/06 FERGUS SHEPPARD

Etiquetas: iPOd, BBC

«(...) For younger audiences, daily entertainment options now include visits to online sites like YouTube, and video has become part of radio's outreach strategy. WKST's Web site, for example, features on-demand music videos in addition to podcasts of some of its "Morning Freak Show" bits. Younger listeners are using cell phones as the new request line connection, text-messaging song requests to their favorite radio stations instead of phoning them in. Some cell phone companies now offer the capability to see a radio station's recent playlist, download audio or take part in contests. A terrestrial station's cyberspace presence has become an important programming tool. "We're really tuned into the audiences that utilize our sites" says Clear Channel's Rohm. "We know who they are. They tell us what they want. We've begun to develop a tremendous amount of proprietary content. In a variety of platforms, we're trying to make the best entertainment value to consumers. No matter how much on the go they are, we're accessible to them." "What comes out of the speakers over your radio is the most important thing," adds CBS Radio Pittsburgh's Clark. "But there is content that comes out of those speakers that people might want to hear again, at a more convenient time. Making a lot of our content available in short Webcast form is going to be an important part of the future."

fonte: «Radio competes against downloads, file-sharing, satellite broadcasts», Wednesday, January 10, 2007, Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

«Historically, radio has been good at adapting. When Franklin Roosevelt gave his “fireside chats”, radios were in the living room and families gathered round them during prime time. Then television came along, and radios migrated to the car for use during rush hours. Podcasting may herald yet another migration, to a place and context yet to be determined»

fonte: «Heard on the street», Economist, Apr 20th 2006

Até agora tivemos empresas fora da rádio a criar canais de música em streaming (PAndora, Cotonete, LAst Fm, Yahoo); agora é a vez da rádio criar ela própria esses espaços, integrando-os. Diz PAula Cordeiro: «O projecto procura fazer frente e assumir-se como uma alternativa ao sucesso da Last.fm e representa, de acordo com o director de marketing da Xfm, uma primeira fase da estratégia que o grupo vai desenvolver, no sentido da criação de serviços de rádio personalizados e interactivos. Será que a rádio está finalmente a perceber que o caminho é o da ligação dos seus ouvintes numa comunidade online de partilha de interesses, com serviços personalizados e interactivos?...» (Net fm).

«The move comes as GCap, the UK’s largest commercial radio broadcaster, is looking to interactivity and social networking tools to help it offset declining ad revenues and respond to the popularity of online radio outfits like last.fm.» («XFM to launch personalised internet radio station», e-consultancy)  

Etiquetas: lastfm, streaming, musica

diz Mark Ramsey:

«(...) In a 1,000-person national study that his company did of people ages 12 through 54, just 11 people said they didn't listen to radio. "That's not altogether different than what Arbitron shows," he says. In fact, the national ratings service's numbers "are a little higher than that. But, still, more than 90 percent of people listen to the radio." He says a lot of people – in radio, other media and even in the audience – think that radio is like an iPod on shuffle. But he disagrees. "One of the key things that makes radio different from all these others and makes it stand out, and valuable, is the fact that there's stuff between the songs that people value," he says. "In fact, the loyalty to the stations, preference for those stations, is driven very much by what's between those songs. It's about connecting with other people. "That you cannot find on an iPod, you cannot find it on Internet radio, and, to a large degree, you cannot, with certain exceptions like Howard Stern, find that on satellite." (...)». 

Several other factors favor radio in the media wars, he says. Commercial radio is free and easy to access. It's a place where people tend to turn for new music. And the radio usually comes with something else such as a car, a clock or a stereo.

Diz Kurt Hanson, do RAIN:

«Despite continuing press reports of radio's 'death,' the truth is that radio is in the middle of the most amazingly fertile period of innovation and growth in its history! 

In addition to the thousands of traditional AM and FM stations broadcasting in markets across the U.S., new forms of radio are now coming to consumers — to over 10 million people a week via satellites, to over 30 million people a week via their PCs, via cable TV systems, and increasingly via 3G and WiFi wireless signals that can be picked up on PDAs and cell phones — and soon on MP3 players and in-dash car audio system).» (fonte: «Book launch party at NAB Radio Show!»,

«The UK's radio industry will die unless it embraces multiple platforms and technologies like mobile DAB, according to a BBC executive. In an interview with industry newspaper Broadcast, BBC controller of interactive radio and music Simon Nelson said he feared for the future of radio in Europe and across the world unless it embraces new technology.  He said he wants to see DAB chips in mobile phones and portable devices so that digital radio can be accessed by more people. "If we don't change quite radically as an industry we will die,” said Nelson. “It's imperative that we have a digital transition for radio, a transition across multiple platforms. Radio is the most flexible of all mediums and has the potential to exploit what is going on in technology."

fonte: «Radio must adapt to technology or die», Jane Hoskyn, vnunet.com 04 Aug 2006

«The internet delivers thousands of traditional stations and even more music streams and podcasts - downloads for personal MP3 players.

With these broad changes afoot, delegates at the International broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam have been considering what it all means for the future of radio.

They conclude that radio has a rosy future as it enters a new era, where sound is accompanied by pictures, textual information and other content.»

fonte: «Future looking 'rosy' for radio», BBC News, 11 September 2005, By Ian Piper and Chris McWhinnie
BBC Monitoring, in Amsterdam

feitos pelo «guru» norte-americano em marketing, Seth Godin:

«I see three or four alternative futures and they depend on some technology and marketing bets.

Scenario A: Everyone has Wi-Fi or WiMAX in their car. Once that happens, we're not talking about 200 XM radio stations, we're talking about 2 million, and all bets are off.

Scenario B: The aftermarket people get very focused on putting hard drives and iPod docks in cars. If that happens, again, radio is in trouble, because people are gonna bring their own pre- recorded content with them.

Scenario C: We end up in the satellite world, they figure out how to get a little bit more content through those pipes and we end up with 300 or 400 channels in the car. I had XM radio for a year to check it out. What's interesting is it doesn't matter how many stations there are, sooner or later you end up with four. And so the thing is, what do you have to do to be one of the four, and how do you live in a world where you've got hundreds of competitors a click away, but if you spend all your time not offending anybody, you'll never get anybody.

Scenario D: A hybrid of what we've got now: Traditional analog radio combined with HD combined with satellite. This scenario will, I think, not make anybody particularly happy, because the advertisers are going to be faced with an increasingly splintered audience that's hard to address, and as a result, it will be hard for that local car dealership or that politician to do a sensible radio buy»

fonte: «Seth Godin on Radio's Future», Hear2.com, por Mark Ramsey, 23/8/06

«Mp3 files, iPods, Satellite Radio, SmartPhones, PDAs, and other technology is forcing commercial Radio to take a long, hard look at what it has become and how it can stay relevant. If a station pops up in your city named “JACK” or “DOUG” or any other number of names don’t be surprised. This past October 7, 2004, the former KFME-FM (105.1) in Kansas City became JACK-FM. Their slogan? “Playing What We Want”. The Susquehanna owned radio station has taken a cue from the changing challenges of what listeners really want: a library of music that offers real variety and an irreverant but fun attitude. That’s what you get from JACK. (...) The JACK stations are using the iPod “shuffle” metaphor. In other words: don’t expect the same 150 songs over and over again (...)» (fonte: Corey Deitz, (”Maybe Commercial Radio Didn’t Know JACK All These Years“, 20/7/05)

«ll it "whatever" radio, because the programming philosophy is to play hits from the 1970s, '80s and "whatever we feel like." It's part of the latest wave to hit broadcasting in the era of the iPod.  (...) "Take that and contrast it with the amazing success of the iPod. A lot of folks, myself included, have a diverse selection of music on the iPod and put it on shuffle." Put that format on radio and you have a new phenomenon. (...) The variety format is seen, in part, as a way to appeal to listeners used to loading their own iPods with music from different genres or to keep the loyalties of those thinking about switching to satellite. More than that, it's a mea culpa to music lovers who started tuning out as their favorite stations shrank their playlists in the 1990s, playing the same old songs hour after hour. The stations tell listeners "we play what we want" or "we play anything." But they're really carefully crafted to keep advertisers happy, observers say. Song choices target a lucrative but musically hard-to-define demographic, 25- to 54-year-olds who want to hear new music but not rap and bubblegum pop and who declare themselves too young to listen to the oldies (...)» («Random format comes to radio Stations try varied approach to please iPod generation«, San Francisco Chronicle, 31/05/05)

«A empresa Paragon Medias Strategies estudou o impacto do formato JACK nos ouvintes de seis mercados norte-americanos (Denver, Dallas ou Kansas City, entre outros três).
Foram analisadas 12 rádios que aderiram a esse formato e estas são algumas das conclusões:
- 63 % têm entre 25-44 anos;
- mas os 35-44 prevalecem (36%) sobre os 25-34 (27%)
- comparando com outros formatos, a sua fatia de 25-44 é a mais elevada;
- 54% são homens e 46 mulheres
- 8% são ouvintes com idades entre 18 e 24 anos;
- 45-54 anos: 20 por cento;
Conclusões aqui: http://www.paragonmediastrategies.com/rfax/111.pdf»

Mais aqui

«RadioTracker operates under to allow users to stream practically any Internet radio station and automatically grab the music and write it to mp3 files for your iPod or any other digital player.

RadioTracker “rips” the music as it “listens” to the stations you choose either by: Genre, Favorites, or your “Wishlist”.

Finalized cuts are placed in separate folders by genre, artist, station if you choose or all in your main music directory.

RadioTracker has a built-in database of over 13,000 Internet radio stations (updatable) you can select from. You create your own Favorites list from the stations you’d like the software to rip from.» (Corey Deitz)

O software aqui (a pagar...)

«“Nearly three years after the debut of Adult Hits, most radio stations that have adopted radio’s newest format are still showing audience gains over what their previous programming delivered.” That’s the word from Arbitron and Edison Media Research.  “At least of half of Adult Hits stations have also defied the conventional wisdom that the audience for any oldies-based format has nowhere to go but down after any initial peak in audience.”  The study is called “Adult Hits 2006: Keeping Track Of Jack, Bob and Pals” and looked at 38 stations that have been with the format for at least three quarterly Arbitron ratings reports, including one that switched to the format in late 2003. “In terms of station performance since embracing the Adult Hits format, 15 were up among 25-54 year olds in the winter ’06 ratings, 22 were down and one was flat,” Arbitron stated. “Of the 38 stations examined, 36 were measured against their previous format (two were launched on brand new frequencies). Of those 36, 28 had higher ratings among 25-54s in winter ’06 than in that station’s last book before changing format.”  Of the 38 stations examined, at least half have rebounded from at least one decline in audience during a quarterly survey period, a number “that is only likely to increase as stations stay with the format during additional Arbitron surveys.” More than 80 percent of listeners to Adult Hits stations are adults, age 25–54. Only three stations – Bonneville's KPKX (the Peak) Phoenix and WARH (the Arch) St. Louis and Citadel’s KBBD (Bob FM) Spokane, Wash. – were ranked number one in average quarter hour ratings for adults, age 25-54, during the Winter 2006. An Edison exeuctive said in the announcement, “This study suggests that well-programmed, well-executed Adult Hits stations can be durable.”»

(diz mais um estudo da Bridger Ratings...):

«“We saw in this study that traditional radio listening benefits from some digital media alternatives,” explained Bridge Ratings President Dave Van Dyke. “Peer-to-peer file trading, podcasting and MP3 player use can cause increased time spent listening to traditional radio depending on format, while satellite radio and Internet radio can cause reduced listening to conventional radio.”

“What’s most interesting,“ Van Dyke continued, “is that traditional radio can benefit from some of these competitive media. However, some individual formats are hurt more than others.”»

fonte: «Bridge Ratings: Digital Media's Impact Varies By Format», 28/6/06, Radio Ink 

«On Friday, the Indianapolis radio-station operator said it is working with Apple Computer to integrate iTunes into its radio stations' Web sites. It's an unusual partnership headed for a national rollout.

Walt Mossberg, o especialista em tecnologia do Wall Street Journal, esteve na convenção NAB 06 e falou sobre (o futuro d)a rádio. O texto merece ser lido na íntegra, ou pelo nos extractos divulgados pelo site RAIN, mas aqui ficam algumas ideias:

«There are now 50 million iPods out there,” Mossberg said. “What you have to do to confront the iPod and the Internet isto be better at what you do. “My music tastes don’t fit into the little boxes that Clear Channel in my market has decided I need to fit into,” he said, arguing that broadcasters need to use streaming, podcasts, HD-2 channels, and other tools to beat that iPod“You’re in the business of producing audio programming, and you should be  using all the technology at your disposal.” (...) “Your job is not just to string together a bunch of songs in a row, but to put on exciting new programming to attract new listeners and beat the iPod.” »

«There used to be four Great Remaining Questions about future radio. With portability now with us, there are now three GRQs:

Can we make this two-way radio? Can I upload my stuff as well as download yours?

Can we integrate national with local? The FCC has discouraged XM and Sirius from competing with local stations (though this stricture may soon crumble). Yet most listeners still want a local component to whatever radio they use. How do you do that and still be national?

Can we randomize? Radio - especially radio news - does something no other media do as well, not even the Web. It preserves the random. It gives us things we didn’t know we’d like. National Public Radio is a fine example. You’re not going to like everything - but you’re going to learn something and probably like it.

It’s really important for radio to preserve the sweet random. The day someone figures out how to give me what I choose along with what I haven’t chosen but still might like - and make money doing it - that’s when radio will have changed forever.»

fonte: Philadelphia Inquirer, In radio, satellite is gaining ground, John Timpane,  Mar. 05, 2006)

«a) La convergencia digital nos lleva hacia un nuevo modo de comunicación.

b) Implica un diferente concepto de radio del que puede derivarse una mayor diversidad en la especialización radiofónica.

c) Se dispone de un número mayor de soportes para distribuir la programación radiofónica.

d) Las tres consideraciones mencionadas con anterioridad implican cabios en la concepción, producción y realización del mensaje radiofónico así como en la recepción del oyente.

Este nuevo modo de comunicación permite que exista una mayor interactividad entre el programador y el oyente. Una relación que se torna más estrecha. El oyente adquiere mayor protagonismo al decidir en cada momento qué quiere escuchar, sea un contenido que esté en ese momento "en la antena" tradicional o a su disposición porque el programador lo ofrece a través de otros soportes de distribución».

Elsa Moreno Moreno, Martinéz-Costa, 2001: 201 

«Hablar de un nuevo sonido para nuevos tiempos significa recoger el sonido que ofrece la radio a través de los diferentes soportes de producción y distribución que convergen en la actualidad. Un sonido que se complementa con la información visual -gráfica y escrita- que la radio puede ofrecer a través de los diferentes canales digitales».

idem, 202 

«La radio del futuro es una radio de mayor creatividad y de fabricación de nuevos mitos musicales para poder aplicar y exprimir esas enormes posibilidades que da la tecnología y los nuevos soportes. Todo se puede resumir en las tres "c": convivencia, compatibilidad y convergencia»

Javier POns in Martinéz-Costa, 2001: 118

Uma das mais fortes correntes de opinião nos EUA reconhece que o satélite ganhará cada vez mais ouvintes/assinantes, até estabilizar numa percentagem de população interessada em receber -pagando - rádio sem publicidade.

Mas essa mesma corrente - em vez de se preocupar em combater a rádio via satélite - percebe que há uma área em que nunca serão concorrentes: a programação local. Seja por uma questão de limite tecnológico seja porque não faz mesmo sentido, haverá milhares de rádios nos EUA (onde todas são locais) que nunca irão para o satélite ou que nunca terão uma oferta semelhante no satélite. 

A programação local poderá continuar a dar aos habitantes de uma pequena ou grande cidade aquilo que só a rádio - por agora - pode dar: informação na hora, o tratamento de temas específicos, abordagens (em phone ins, por exemplo) muito localizadas.

A programação local, aproveitando as potencialidades de difusão da internet e do HD, pode continuar a seduzir muitos ouvintes. Mesmo que deixe o éter (não previsto nos EUA) - o que significa que o futuro da rádio (desta rádio) passa muito mais pela palavra do que pela música.

«Con la explosión de otras opciones de radiodifusión que vienen de lugares muy distantes y lejanos a través de Internet y por satélite, conseguir que el formato de una emisora sea lo más local posible parece ser la mejor estrategia que pueden desarrollar los canales de radio para seguir satisfaciendo sus nóminas y sus proyecciones de ganancias. Según un reciente informe publicado en Broadcasting & Cable, una de las revistas más importanres de esta industria, "los oyentes siguen valorando por encima de todo el carácter local de las noticias y de la información (...) Mark Edwards escribió en la revista profesional Gavin: "como emisoras debemos trabajar cada día para hacer que el lazo de unión con nuestros oyentes sea más fuerte. Lo que hagamos entre canciones será lo que distinga a nuestra emisora del resto de las emisoras, de las emisoras en Internet y de las emisoras por sarélite. Sin un elemento local, habrá poco que nos distinga. Si hay una emisara local (independientemente de dónde esté ubicada en el mundo) que no sea local y tópica, acabará fracasando". . " (Keith, Michael C. La radio en mercado global, apud Martinéz-Costa, 2001: 104/105).

"participants of last week’s "Reuters Media and Advertising Summit" think radio is at a "perfect storm." On demand audio programs, satellite radio, and overcommercialization of broadcast programming are the three storm cells that are converging. The advertising community views these problems, when conjoined, as devastating to radio as Katrina was to New Orleans.

Como é que rádio tradicional reage? "Why would you pay for something you get for free?"

"I greatly enjoy Ken Dardis’s Audio Graphics web site and frequently link to it here.  His site is approaching its tenth anniversary, and Ken is not too optimistic about the current state of terrestrial radio.

"Entre las notas dominantes del nuevo paisaje de los medios digitales, Orihuela (2000: 47-S0) señala varias convergencias y transiciones que también pueden aplicarse al caso de la radio. Para el autor, la clave de la comunicación se ha desplazado desde la transmisión de información hacia la producción de contenidos y, en ese desplazamiento, «el público sedentario de los medios tradicionales se ha reconvertido en usuario activo, no se limita al consumo de medios interactivos, sino que también participa en la producción de contenidos». Por otra parte, «la distinción entre medios personales (como el teléfono o el correo) y medios colectivos (como la radio, la televisión o la prensa) se diluye en un entorno de confluencia bautizado por De Kerckhove como conectivo». Internet ha provocado la disolución de las fronteras que separaban a los medios en función de su soporte y de los formatos de la información. De esta manera, las redes de telecomunicaciones se fusionan con la radio y la televisión (broadcasting)"

María del Pilar Martinéz-Costa in MARTINÉZ-COSTA, María del Pilar e MORENO MORENO, Elsa, Programación Radiofónica, Ariel, Barcelona, 2004 , pág. 322 

"Muchos son los autores que caracterizan el momento actual de los medios como una encrucijada que pone en conflicto, una vez más, la dimensión técnica con las concepciones y lógicas culturales y sociales. Para Wolton (2001: 207-223) este cambio tecnológico no impone por definición una nueva jerarquía entre los nuevos y los viejos medios. La tecnología digital , y más específicamente la internet, no reduce la la comunicación a la satisfacción de una demanda tecnológica, como no lo hizo antes ni la imprenta ni la aparición de la televisión. Por el contrario, situadas en una perspectiva histórica, las tecnologías de la comunicación digital pueden plantearse la superación de la lógica de la cantidad por la lógica de la calidad, aunque con unas nuevas normas de juego".

María del Pilar Martinéz-Costa in MARTINÉZ-COSTA, María del Pilar e MORENO MORENO, Elsa, Programación Radiofónica, Ariel, Barcelona, 2004 , 322

Um estudo da Bridge Ratings mostra o que já se suspeitava: de um universo de 2000 inquiridos, entre os 12 e os 24 anos, 85% escolhem o seu leitor de mp3 à rádio tradicional.

"The study interviewed 2000 persons 12-24 years of age and was done on a national platform*. The project was part of a University of Southern California Media Lab analysis entitled "How to Make Music Radio Appealing to the Next Generation." »

outras notas: há diferenças entre os 12-17 e os 18-24;

- para ouvir musica, a internet é preferida do que a rádio tradicional: "When given a choice between listening to music over the Internet or traditional radio stations, 54% prefer the Internet while 30% prefer radio. This preference is more pronounced among 18-24 year olds."

"Some ways make music radio more appealing to this Next Generation?

• Add variety - more different types of music and different types of programming throughout each day.
• Reduce repetition
• Showcase much more New Music.
• Hire relateable personalities who can expose this age group to new music.
• Podcast your personalities, create blogs, eliminate the pre-recorded, imported automoton announcers.
• Completely embrace all of the technology available as extensions of the radio station.
• Re-think commercial loads, placement and production quality. For example, properly placed hour long sponsorships would enhance client brands and station image.
• Provide what the MP3 player cannot.

Conclusion

While it appears that the next generation has responded negatively to traditional radio, the reasons are rooted in radio’s abandonment of the 12-24 year old over the last ten years.

This age group appears to want radio to step up, change for the better and challenge them with a new way of presenting radio that is customized for their lifestyles and tastes.

12-24 year olds believe that radio can offer unique programming that will attract them away from their MP3 players and Internet Radio. "

«How to Make Music Radio More Appealing to the Next Generation», Bridge Ratings, Dezembro 2005

[http://www.bridgeratings.com/press_120105-12-24%20Listening.htm]

Um comentário: "While it appears that the next generation has responded negatively to traditional radio, the reasons are rooted in radio’s abandonment of the 12-24 year old over the last 10 years. This age group appears to want radio to step up, change for the better and challenge them with a new way of presenting radio that is customized for their lifestyles and tastes.” And maybe that same age group is just as anxiously awaiting the rebirth of the abacus. The decline in radio listenership among today’s youth is part of a larger trend. It’s no secret, for example, that newspapers are increasingly ignored by this same demographic. And, in the case of newspapers, the same kind of recommendations have been made. “Grab young readers’ attention by creating stories relevant to their interests.”

Há quem veja a rádio - não, talvez, a rádio como a conhecemos hoje... - como uma plataforma para distribuir conteúdos. Para além da sua actividade central, beneficiando de canais paralelos de transmissão.

O presidente da iBiquity, que inventou e está a desenvolver a tecnologia HD nos EUA, tem feito várias declarações sobre as potencialidades da rádio do futuro. Esta declaração é uma delas: "if Microsoft is right, we’ll all be reading our New York Times on an e-tablet five years from now. Radio broadcasters will be one of the main distributors of that sort of content. Between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, when they’re not selling a lot of ads, they’ll be able to turn down their audio and blast out The New York Times to 100,000 e-tablets around Manhattan - and they’ll get paid for it. It’s spectrum rental. The Internet is a great way for distribution, but radio has great spectrum that’s so economically attractive compared with anything else out there - cell phones, WiFi etc.
We’re also excited about the concept of a “Buy” button. There’s no better place for an impulse purchase than when you’re sitting in traffic listening to ads. Radios will have a “Buy” button: If I like a song and want to download it, I press the “Buy” button, and that track gets downloaded in the format I want. Or, if I’m listening to an ad for 1-800-FLOWERS, I can press the “Buy” button. That stuff is very doable, and we think it’s pretty cool. Plus, the radio station gets a cut of the sale, because it occurred when that station was being listened to." "If You Aren’t Thinking Digital, You’re Smokin’ Dope" (04/11/05)
By Reed Bunzel, Editor-in-Chief "Radio Ink"

"Terrestrial radio is under fire. There are more and more outlets for the precise kind of music your listeners want to hear. These outlets and the technology needed to access them are becoming more mainstream by the day. If you think your market is so different that nothing more than the music you play will keep your listeners from seeking alternative modes of music delivery…you’re sitting right in the middle of the road and are about to get run over.

This, of course, isn’t the first time terrestrial radio listening has been threatened. There were people who felt certain the death knell of radio was the advent of the 8-track tape. 8-tracks didn’t kill radio, nor did cassettes or CDs, so why the big hoopla over satellite radio and iPods? Obviously, unlike 8-tracks and CDs, satellite radio and iPods offer a literally infinite combination of the EXACT songs your listeners want to hear. Satellite radio can provide some of that human touch missing from CDs and digitally delivered music, and in a commercial-free environment to boot. Terrestrial radio simply can’t compete with this."

Os detalhe na íntegra, aqui:

Um dos principais argumentos da rádio face aos aparelhos que reproduzem música é que esta permite uma grande variedade e diversidade na escuta. Por outras palavras, o ouvinte nunca sabe o que vem a seguir (mas com play lists tão reduzidas e repetitivas, quase pode adivinhar...). Em contrapartida, um leitor de CD reproduz os temas como estão alinhados no disco, sempre os mesmos, pela mesma ordem.

Esse argumento - teoricamente favorável à rádio - acaba com a presença nos LDM de um botão de busca aleatória, "shuffle", que vai buscar do universo de músicas guardadas em cada leitor uma qualquer, sem qualquer ordem prévia. Com a vantagem de evitar, ainda, os intervalos de publicidade.

"Some radio proponents point out that part of the excitement of radio is the unknown, and the fact that you never know what they’re going to play next. MP3 player owners, however, point to the little button on their devices labeled ’shuffle’ and point and laugh at the radio proponents, ceasing only to walk away and listen to the music they love while the radio proponents wait patiently through a 15-minute string of Buick commercials"

Por isso é que há quem, nos EUA, fale num novo formato radiofónico, chamado "Jack" como resposta ao iPod e ao fenómeno do "Shuffle": é um formato com uma play list muito larga e extensa, que pode surpreender a qualquer momento. 

A Autoridade britânica Ofcom diz que sim:
De acordo com o relatório "The Communications Market 2005", pág 35:
"2.1.2 Radio moves into the hands of the listeners
Radio, as we noted in our June 2004 Communications Market report, has been at the forefront of convergence. Radio services are available across a variety of platforms from digital television, to mobile phones and the internet, as well as more traditional radio sets. Since last year’s report, GMG’s ejazz.com has entered the radio-on-demand arena, while the BBC significantly extended and enhanced its “radio player” – the pioneer in the UK market. On-demand services are also provided to a greater or lesser extent by other stations (e.g. Xfm provides listeners with the opportunity to listen to archived sections of some of their shows). In addition, “podcasting” has meant listeners are increasingly able to download and listen to radio on their MP3 players, where and when they want. The BBC, by extending its download trial recently, is getting increasingly involved in this area.
Multimedia and interactivity are increasingly becoming part of radio. Emap’s Channel Hopper, the BT Livetime service (due to launch later in 2005) and GWR’s “Hear it, buy it burn it” service are examples of new ways in which traditional radio and radio spectrum are being used to deliver listener benefits, and ultimately additional revenue.
However, although products such as the Reciva internet radio (which utilises WiFi and broadband connections) are coming onto the market they are not common, and most radio listening remains broadcast rather than internet based. DAB digital radio is the only widely available digital platform currently offered in the UK that allows portable reception (although DRM, broadcast from mainland Europe into the UK may launch later in 2005). Sales of DAB sets received a major boost during 2004 with total cumulative sales almost trebling from the 470,000 set sales at the end of 2003 to 1.4 million, raising household penetration of DAB sets to 5% (Figures to the end of March 2005 show total sales to date of 1.5 million sets. Source: DRDB).
Usage of all of these innovative services is growing. The BBC announced in February 2005 that 4.4 million hours of listening was to its on-demand services, while for commercial radio stations, 8.3% of all listening was to digital-only stations (1) by the end of 2004.
(1) Including digital listening to analogue stations outside their analogue areas (Source: Rajar)

Já nas páginas 40/41 encontramos mais informação sobre a capacidade da rádio integrar outras plataformas:
“Continuing the trend reported in last year’s Communications Market, the radio industry continues to be at the forefront of convergence in the communications sector. This is happening in a number of ways:
• Radio listening is increasing on digital platforms – digital TV, the internet and DAB digital radio
• There is a move away from live radio consumption through the use of “listen again” Internet services, such as the BBC’s Radio Player, “podcasting” and DAB receivers with built in pause, rewind and recording facilities (the first such receiver, “The Bug” was launched during 2004)
• Multimedia services which complement existing radio programming and enable new revenue streams are being developed and are due to launch this summer. These new services will develop against the backdrop of increasing DAB take up in the UK, the digitisation of the AM bands in mainland Europe, and industry initiatives to protect digital rights”. "

Ao contrário do que aconteceu com o primeiro choque, a tecnologia que ameaça também pode ajudar. Isso pode ser um bom sinal (1) :permite novos meios de transporte do conteúdo radiofónico (usando LDM, telemóveis, computadores, consolas), se a rádio souber aproveitar a boleia; também cria novas formas de rádio (internet ou satélite). Mas a tecnologia não tem apenas um carácter amigável. Gera novos meios de consumo, concorrenciais, que retiram à rádio o seu papel exclusivo (até agora...): a capacidade de acumular, em movimento - com um telemóvel ou um LDM faço o mesmo que antes, verdadeiramente, só a rádio me dava... (2)

(1) E daí talvez não. Se pensarmos que a tecnologia do primeiro choque (a televisão) era apenas ameaçadora, e que a rádio conseguiu sobreviver, mais hipoteses terá com uma que lhe abre a porta, embora a empurre para fora...
(2) o walkman com cassetes ou CD nunca foi verdadeiramente uma alternativa. Limitava muito a capacidade de escolha (uma cassete de cada vez) e obrigava a mudanças. Até o CD no carro, mesmo que multiplicado por 10, é uma escolha redutora (que obriga a tirar a caixa, mudar os discos, voltar a colocar a caixa e ficar sujeito a essa oferta)

Uma nova ideia para os formatos actuais

“El diseño de los formatos es otra de las claves de la radio moderna que la digitalización nos presenta como desafío. Hoy tenemos que reconvertir nuestras radios en herramientas nuevas con formatos de programas que respondan a la manera como nos vemos y retratamos a la sociedad en la que vivimos. Debemos ser innovadores en la presentación de los mismos, utilizar los programas de edición que vuelven más amigables y fáciles la manera de estructuras programas y buscar captar nuevos talentos que hoy no se encuentran fácilmente en el mercado. Estamos en Radio Libre convocando a nuevos talentos de radio para que envíen en formatos wap o mp3 trabajos que han sido editados en cool edit desde sus casas y que nos presentan desafíos y fórmulas nuevos. Debemos salir del ambiente encasillado y rígido en el que vivimos durante mucho tiempo. La radio tiene que salir en busca de su audiencia, se acabó el tiempo en el que los oyentes venían y los gerentes y administradores así como los locutores disfrutaban del misterio que representaba una voz concentrada en un receptor. Hoy debemos buscar nuevos nichos imaginativos en oyentes nuevos y en espacios donde anteriormente no creíamos que fuera posible hallar quiénes nos fuercen a renovar.”

“Vivimos el siglo del conocimiento, el mismo ahora es portátil como la radio, cuya virtud de transportación fácil revolucionó el concepto de cercanía y desplazamiento de los medios.”

La radio en los tiempos de la globalización y la digitalización, Benjamín Fernández Bogado, Sala de Prensa, 81-82, Julio-Agosto 2005 Año VII, Vol. 3 (http://www.saladeprensa.org/art624.htm)

De acordo com o Obercom, a Music On Comand é uma nova tecnologia desenvolvida por uma empresa norte-americana que permite que os ouvintes de rádio tenham acesso às músicas e às notícias que passam na sua emissora favorita via e-mail.
"Gone are the days of recording favorite songs off the radio with a boom box. Thanks to Music On Command (http://www.musiconcommand.com) by technology development firm Baxter Technologies, Inc. (http://www.baxtech.com) and Nielsen Broadcasting BDS, radio listeners across the U.S. can now call a toll-free number while listening to a song, talk radio or news broadcast and have it sent directly to them via e-mail"

Nota: a quantos de nós já não aconteceu estar a ouvir uma determinada música e ficar à espera de saber o seu nome/autor, sem resultado? Seja porque esse anúncio foi feito no princípio e já não o apanhámos, seja porque pura e simplesmente não foi feito, seja - finalmente - porque prevalece o péssimo hábito de passar quatro ou cinco músicas seguidas (sem palavra) e quando se chega ao final já não há memória que aguente o anúncio inicial! Esta tecnologia é uma solução - um pouco mais do que fraca, penso - para esse problema. E fraca, sobretudo, porque os aparelhos de reprodução digital resolvem a coisa sem equívocos ou perdas.

«As more consumers turn a deaf ear to traditional radio, stations increasingly are switching formats.
The Internet, iPods, computer games, podcasting, commercial-free satellite radio and staid programming have combined to slice average weekly listening time 9% since 1998, prompting many "terrestrial" commercial stations to jettison even relatively strong formats, such as rock, in several big markets.» (USA Today, via Obercom)