“This is not going to be about technology — this is going to be about programming….†said Michael Harrison, producer of Talkers Magazine’s New Media Seminar in New York City on Friday as the room cleared out after the session with big name radio hosts on “Navigating a Talk Host Career.†(This is new media?) It was an odd, but needed, qualifier. It seems strange that, in 2007, this “ad hoc†(in Michael’s words) message needed to be thrown in to start the seminar and draw people into the tent of a discussion called “Technology and Programming.”
“How many people have a radio with you?†asked Andrew Deal, CEO, president and founder of Cellecast, to start the session.
One man raised his hand. In a room full of radio people, one guy had a radio. That tells you something. “That’s amazing,†said Harrison. CelleCast is a company in pre-launch that will allow people to dial in and listen to their favorite shows, whenever they want, on their cellphones. (Disclosure: CelleCast is a client of mine and AR&D.) CelleCast lets people pause, rewind and play the shows when they want. We’re working on partnerships with major radio talk show names. (Because CelleCast is a client, I won’t give any further explanation or opinion. I wanted to give you context and my bias.)
Radio needs to think about new platforms and, despite Harrison’s exhortation that the seminar wasn’t about technology, it really was. But tech and content are intertwined. And, of course, they always have been. When I started my broadcast career at WKPE-104 FM on Cape Cod, part of the job was checking the meter on the transmitter and making a note on what the meter read. (There is tech jargon for this: I forget what it is. I realize I am at a radio people convention and I could ask someone. But I don’t want to.) It’s mainstream tech, and content providers need to understand the shift.
If you’ve ever heard a remote radio show that sounded great, it’s probably because it was sent back to the station by a little gadget that digitizes the signal. (That’s why radio remotes don’t sound like phone calls.) Chris Crump of Comrex Corporation is changing the technology from POTS (that’s “Plain Old Telephone Service†– honestly) and ISDN to internet and wireless delivery. They’re changing technology for radio, too. “IP is what’s proliferating the landscape. It’s easy to find a DSL connection in every nook and cranny, even where you can’t find a POTS line.†Crump talked about WiMax and the other delivery options. It’s tech – and the talent knows how to work it.
Tom Ray, the VP of engineering at Buckley Broadcasting talked about VOIP “I don’t think VOIP is ready is broadcast. It’s bad enough when you get a cellphone connection that drops.†True. He made a funny point when asked about what’s reliable for radio delivery — he put on a baseball cap with the letters “W2TRR†on them — his ham radio handle. Radio is working on new ways to delivery broadcast-quality, reliable programming via the web. The problem hasn’t been resolved, but it will be. Tech and content go hand in hand. There’s no church and state.
Radio doesn’t fear the lower prices that have come with high-quality equipment. Buck Waters, sales manager of Broadcasters General Store talked about the inexpensive and high quality mics and mixers now available. “Stations buy $250 mics and when the mics break, they just buy new ones rather than replace them… it’s very inexpensive, quality equipment.â€
A device smaller than a shoebox delivers radio-quality audio from anywhere. Any cellphone can be a DVR for radio. VOIP is on its way to replacing old means of delivery. Radio stations can get disposable equipment. Content is king in radio, but technology is the throne.
This is not to pick on radio in any way — pick your medium and it applies. You still have to sneak “tech†into the programmers’ mindset the way you crush up a pill and put it in grape jelly when you give it to a kid.