NorthEast Radio Watch 9/21: At the NAB Radio Show

[Scott D Fybush <fybush@world.std.com>]

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--------------------------NorthEast Radio Watch--------------------------
                           September 21, 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

*CALIFORNIA: Broadcasters Meet in San Francisco; We're There

-----------------------------by Scott Fybush-----------------------------
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"If No News, Send Commentary"

SAN FRANCISCO -- Listen to most of the 7500 broadcasters gathered here
for the NAB Radio Show, and you could easily be lulled into a feeling
that the industry's future is just as bright as the day Marconi sent
that first "S" into the ether above the Atlantic.

But in the occasional unguarded moment, the signs are clear that even
the veterans can see the business shifting, and nobody knows quite
where it will all end up.

As with any pressing radio question, the best advice seems to be "ask
an engineer" -- and that's just where NERW started our week here,
listening to a panel of long-serving engineers talk about the
challenges facing their corner of the industry.

And in the very first hour of the conference, the signs of the shift
were already apparent.

In-band, on-channel digitial radio may be the star of this convention,
with the new industry consortium called "IbIquity" one of the most
visible sponsors.  But listen for a moment to Susquehanna
vice-president Charles Morgan: "There is no consumer demand for it."

Flash forward now three hours, to a room filled with dozens of
alternative rock program directors discussing their future.  Amidst
the talk of call-out surveys and redefining playlists, listen
carefully to the words of a woman named Susanne Gubanc.

"I asked the students in my first-year media class how many songs
they've got (downloaded from Napster) on their hard drives, and all
the guys' hands went up -- 200 songs, 300 songs, 400 songs -- and this
was after just three weeks at school," says the Buena Vista
University professor, who manages the school's commercial KBVU (97.5)
in Storm Lake, Iowa.

"They may be listening to our radio station, but they're downloading
stuff from Napster at the same time, and when they get continuous play,
I'm afraid of what's going to happen," she says.

We'll give credit to the modern-rock panel for at least trying to take
on the threat: there was discussion of providing additional Web
streams to complement on-air programming (offering, for instance, an
80s-modern and a grunge channel).  But still...against 100+ channels
coming from the sky to the whole country, will it be enough?

Against that backdrop, it was more than a bit disconcerting to head
off to a panel of lawyers and FCC officials discussing modifications
to the current multiple-ownership rules.  No doubt people like Mass
Media Bureau Chief Roy Stewart mean what they say when they talk about
"public interest," but even Stewart admits he has no idea what the
media landscape will look like five years from now, or whether today's
media regulations will have any meaning then.

Stewart even mentioned the one word we haven't heard from anyone else
inside the Moscone Convention Center (and can't stop hearing about
from the demonstrators outside): LPFM.

"The market is changing -- more video competition with satellites and
cable, we're going to have satellite radio soon, and we may have LPFM
soon," he observed.

"Or not," was the immediate retort from NAB general counsel Jack
Goodman.

It's nice to see that kind of confidence, we suppose...but it's hard
not to think it's misguided.  

----

One unrelated note: We couldn't resist the chance, after the panel, to
ask Roy Stewart about the status of those FCC public databases.
(Don't ever say NERW doesn't look out for the interest of our
readers!)

The answer required two FCC staffers to come to the chief's aid, and
it comes down to this: the FM database is again being updated,
although it still contains some errors.  As for AM: "We're working on
it."  

We tried...

----

Off now to the floor, to see what the folks who sell to this
optimistic bunch of broadcasters have to say.  We'll be back with more
from San Francisco later in the weekend.

---------------------NorthEast Radio Watch------------------------
                     (c)2000 Scott Fybush

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