What the future holds for
traditional FM AM radio is uncertain.
Technology has given radio opportunities it has never had
before, at the same time
technology has been and continues to compete with the
traditional radio. With new technology companies are slowly giving people more of a choice. This choice is something radio stations can only partially provide. People can tune into stations which play a certain genre of music. Even with this attribute, listeners still have to hear many things they’d prefer not to listen to. Technology continues to advance and inventions are surfacing that allow listeners the ability to customize their radio listening. Whether it is a MP3 player or satellite radio, technology is slowly over powering the traditional radio. It seems like an on going battle and it is rapidly becoming a one sided fight. It is radio against technology, and unlike radio, technology seems to be endless and adapting everyday to give listeners what they want. It is a reality; the only way to secede in this business of communication is by providing the consumer with their desires. Radio is struggling with this task and technology seems to be prevailing in a fast and precise manor.
Technologies’ first significant efforts arose late in 1982 with the release of compact disks to the market. This invention gave consumers the ability to narrow down exactly what it is they wanted playing out of their speakers. With no commercials and instant song changing, compact disks seemed like they were going to take over the business. In 1987 the first CD player was available in vehicles. Adapting to the technology consumers were now able to listen to their favorite CD in their vehicle. Eventually the CD player became a standard feature in higher end, newly purchased vehicles. Time slowly began to reveal the flaws in this new technology. While CDs were ideal for customizing songs they were expensive. Even when people were able to create their own CDs using re-writable disks, there were still many problems. CDs are fragile and often break, also over time wear down and scratch causing problems with the sound. CDs did in fact give consumers the ability to listen to exactly what they wanted, but could not provide listeners with news, traffic and weather reports. This effort to take over the radio was less then successful; radio prevailed and continued as a popular method of entertainment as well as a source for general information.
Yet another indirect attempt by technology to take over the radio market came in the early 1990s. The invention of the MP3 player gave listeners the ability to record thousands of audio files without the worry of CDs. Adapting to this new technology once again were vehicles. Hardware became available allowing consumers to hear their own MP3 playlists through their car speakers. Apple’s invention of the I-Pod was yet another blow to the radio world. This compact digital audio device gave consumers the power to download and store any song or audio clip they desired. Unlike some MP3 players the I-Pod was fashionable and very easy to operate. Vehicles took into this new technological audio wave and some car manufacturers made their vehicles compatible to the I-Pod. The ability to plug your I-Pod directly into your radio was yet another convenient technological advancement. Even if your vehicle did not support the I-Pod, hardware became available allowing anyone with a radio to listen to their songs stored on their I-Pod. With thousands of songs and features, traditional radio could not compete. It was seemingly obvious that radio was slowly being forced out of the picture. Despite the ability to hear thousands of songs at your finger tips; listeners continued to fall back on radio for news, traffic and weather. If not for those reasons loyal radio listeners simply enjoyed the random chance of hearing a DJ introduce their favorite song on the radio.
The most recent advancement has been the release of satellite radio to the market. Similar to subscribing for a cable service, satellite radio was available to anyone willing to pay a monthly fee and buy the actual radio receiver. Unlike AM FM radio satellite radio had features such as commercial free music, specific stations for artists, genres, and talk shows. Satellite radio has stations for weather, traffic and news. Even a sole station for popular talk shows such as the Howard Stern show. It seemed like this was going to be the fatal attack on traditional radio by technology. Still AM FM radio prevailed, loyal listeners did not want to pay money for this new technology. Just like other technologies time exposed flaws in this seemingly perfect new method of radio. Consumers needed to pay for a subscription and buy the actual device. There was also the problem of reception, driving threw heavily wooded areas scrambled the signal and resulted in static in the sound. Even if these problems seemed minor the reality remained that radio was a free and a standard feature in all newly purchased vehicles. Time and time again radio has overcome recent technology, but many radio analysts are predicting an inevitable end of the traditional radio.