Five Years On... (was: 1060, 96.9...)

["Bill O'Neill" <billo@erols.com>]

"Martin J. Waters" wrote:
The business just doesn't do that. So, five
> years from now 96.9 either will have proved me wrong by doing well without
> that sort of commitment, or it will be on its third format change since
> talk.

Five years down the road, there will be paper-weights we call servers
and jukeboxes jammin' the landfill, not the airwaves.  There'll be
radio that is either so good it puts us all to shame or so vanilla
that it competes with the digital audio channels in the cable box. 
(Shame, anyone?)  Five years later, there'll be $200M personal service
contracts for a half dozen Sterns hammering away at the top 100
markets.  Imus will be in a well-deserved state of retirement with a
watchful eye on his charitable projects.  Local jocks will swipe their
time-cards after their 3 hours of voice tracking and spots then drive
off to their non-radio gigs that they maintain so that their kids can
show a health card to the nurse when they check in for medical
treatment.  Five years from now, "local radio" will be even more of an
oxymoron, doing even less to define "where we are."  Listeners will
have evolved to rely even less upon the Fourth Estate, let alone know
what it is.  But, heck, I'm am optimist.

Bill O'Neill