Milwaukee Area Radio Enthusiasts 11/16

[Mark Strube]

i have no idea...possibly, but they cant be all that impressive as they are not well known as made evidence by us discussing it.

What reasoning! The only good things are popular things. :wave:

[Chinatown]

I'm going to be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Milwaukee Area Radio Enthusiasts (MARE) on Sunday, 11/16.

I know it's Packer-Bear game day. I didn't realize that when I accepted the invitation, but am happy to speak anyway.

I'll be discussing local broadcasting history, my forthcoming book on Milwaukee TV history, and perhaps look into my crystal ball.

The meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. in the community room, G-110, in Mayfair Mall. Once in the mall go to the Garden Suites East and take either the stairs or the elevator downstairs. G-110 is in the basement of the suites.

Perhaps we'll see a few of you there. I promise not to have an earphone with the game!

- Dick :OnAir:

Had a segment with Clark Weber. He is a legendary on-air personality. Grew up in Wisconsin then gravitated to WLS in Chicago in the 50's. Anyway, he was asked what he thought the future held for free radio in general. His response was that it will cease to exist within 10 years. His reasoning was that people will not put up with 6 to 7 adds being unidentified music selections.

Curious as to your thoughts........

[bschlafer]

This is an interesting subject.  

In one way of thinking, we now live in a golden age for radio.

With the proliferation of satellite radio, internet radio, and other forms of non-traditional broadcasts, there are more selections than ever before.  Almost any format, any type of content you can think of, is available over your computer, or via one of the new receivers.  

For example, just last night, I listened to the Wisconsin Badger-St. Cloud State hockey game on my computer.  There are no broadcast stations in Milwaukee that carries Badger Hockey, yet it was available via the Internet  and courtesy of a St. Cloud radio station that offered it online.  Sweet!

The beauty of OTA terrestrial broadcasts are that they are free.  No fees, no subscriptions, no special equipment required.  Standard AM/FM radios are dirt cheap.  Virtually very car and every home has a radio.  You can't ask for better saturation than that.

The government also has a large interest in keeping terrestrial broadcasting going.  As it is the best and easist way to disseminate information in the event of an emergency.  When the cable is out and the cell phone towers are down, everyone turns to radio.  

The downside of broadcast radio are the reception issues, and the insistant drum-beat of commericals.  HD (Hybrid Digital) radio offers clearer reception and more channels, also for free.  But the HD reveivers to date are expensive and have quality and performance issues.  HD radio will be in our future, because so much has been invested in it, and it has a huge upside.  But I don't see it completely replacing standard AM/FM broadcasts anytime soon.

Talk radio, sports broadcasts and religious stations still have strong listenership and followings.  They should continue on as long as they can offer lower cost advertising rates, and lower cost of operations and ownership, as compared to TV and other broadcasting forms.  

Despite the efforts of some politicians over the years to kill it, support for public radio broadcasting has never been stronger.  NPR continues to provide some of the best programming that can be found on the free dial.  Many NPR stations have alternate HD broadcasts on their sub-channels.  WUWM-HD2, for example, offers excellent commerical free music 24 hours a day.

Alternative radio stills holds it niche on the radio dial, despite strong competition on the internet radio side.  Locally, WMSE-FM in Milwaukee, and WORT-FM in Madison are two of the better non-commerical independant stations to be found anywhere.

Will radio disappear forever in the near future?  I doubt it.  Free radio fills a need that I think will always be there in some format.  It's cheap, it's easy, and it's widely available.  It may morph and continue to evolve in ways we can only imagine, but I don't see it dying anytime soon.

Long live (free) radio!


*Bill in Milwaukee

[Dick Nitelinger]

Had a segment with Clark Weber. He is a legendary on-air personality. Grew up in Wisconsin then gravitated to WLS in Chicago in the 50's. Anyway, he was asked what he thought the future held for free radio in general. His response was that it will cease to exist within 10 years. His reasoning was that people will not put up with 6 to 7 adds being unidentified music selections.

Curious as to your thoughts........

I would concur with the thoughts given above. Most broadcasting -- aural and video -- is going to move to using the internet as the distribution system. Whether or not over-the-air aural broadcasting survives -- other than as an emergency service -- will have to be determined. We're living through what will be a massive change in the way we receive broadcast media. As such, it's hard to tell just what is going to shake-out!

- Dick :OnAir: