Re: "The Lost 45s with Barry Scott" moves to Oldies 103.3!

[Shawn Mamros <mamros@MIT.EDU>]

>Maybe so, but because of the consolidation of ownership, it's unlikely to 
>happen.  The large conglomerates aren't going to do anything new.  It's 
>the small owners who are willing to try something new to find a nitch, and 
>there are very few small owners left.

To my ears, it seems like radio is moving towards the same programming
model that's been in place for many years on TV.

You have the commercial broadcast stations, of which there are only a
relatively small handful, whose programming is "safe" and listenable
to the majority, just like broadcast network TV.  Then you have satellite
radio, for which you have to pay (just like cable TV), but which gives
you more channels which, if you're lucky, might carry some niche(s) which
you might find to be more interesting (again, like cable TV).

"Anything new" which the large media companies might want to try out
will get aired - but it will most likely go to satellite radio first.
The risk is less there than it would be for putting it on a broadcast
station.  Satellite radio is nothing more than cable TV without pictures
- and without the physical cable as well.  And, just like cable TV, there
will still be a small-but-vocal minority who find satellite radio to be
"hundreds of channels, but nothing's on".

-Shawn Mamros (who doesn't have cable, either...)
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu