DAB On The Road
A sweltering journey down the A9 this afternoon - in a hired car. I'm doing a bit of zig-zagging across the country for the next few days, so the train was no use. It took me half an hour to work out how to operate the air conditioning by which time I had discovered the car was equipped with a DAB radio.
No signal on that until I reached Perth, of course, and then a chance to hear how some of the local commercial stations sounded now that they are networking programmes across the country. It was odd to hear a well-known Radio Clyde D.J. on Radio Tay, but there's a slick system which adds in lots of local 'idents' and even a short 'what's on' guide for the local area. The D.J. sitting in Clydebank is obviously very careful not to make specific mention of his whereabouts...and the saving grace is the familiar music which, on DAB, sounds a lot better than it does on Medium Wave.
This, for better or worse, is the changing landscape of radio in Scotland and my news colleague Jamie McIvor wrote a piece about that last week. It's worth a read.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~34~RS~)
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What a shame that Scottish ILR is dying such a slapdash and undignified death. In the same way that a McDonald's in Bristol looks exactly the same as a McDonald's in Blairgowrie; the cleaned, gutted, processed and packaged ILR stations are becoming vapid, soulless wastelands, devoid of any innovation or joy. ILR is simply now just an ipod with adverts.
Isn't it sad to think that this generation will never spawn a Kenny Everett or even a Chris Morris from the commercial sector?
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Spike - I have a tremendous amount of sympathy with the points that you make. I have great memories of listening to ILR stations in the North East as I drove around on holiday in the past decade or so - 'Find The Mic' was a particular favourite of mine! Also one time I actually heard a local DJ auctioning a spider with one leg! Great stuff!
However, the world is changing... Some of the principals I have been involved with in various companies I have had the pleasure of working with over the past 15 years or so have been involved with the early days of local radio in Scotland (Northsound etc) so I HAVE heard all the stories of 'how it used to be'. And I still remember the day and the hour when Radio Clyde was switched on - good memories of days now passed into history. Let's face it, though - those days are gone now.
All is not lost, though! Whilst DAB does as you say create a single level playing field for 'national' content, the online environment presents a new opportunity for TRULY local content to survive and perhaps thrive - if it is able. There are now thousands of examples of individual citizens 'broadcasting' from their own homes/garages/community centres over the web. And they don't need to pay a licence for buying frequency usage as in the 'old days'... Granted, there are issues over copyright and PRS rights etc, but that doesn't negate the point that broadcasting can (at this level at the very least) remain democratic and reflective of the individual and 'grass-roots' level. Not only that, but we can receive and interact with broadcasters and their 'stations' all across the world - something DAB will not provide in it's current instance.
So to sum up, whilst I do regret the passing of the kind of mid-ranged local radio content that you describe, I am also optimistic for the future; yes there is a shakedown happening, but it ain't the end of the world!
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Jim, you're a fine man.
All great points, and as a podcaster myself in addition to my "real" broadcasting career, if you can still call it a career, I can heartily agree with the theory that "new media" is a great addition. The problem is that for the individual, internet broadcasting isn't lucrative in any way, shape or form. Come to think of it, even DAB isn't lucrative. No DAB station is currently, or has ever, turned a profit. So what chance do online-only bedroom stations have? And since it costs these people money to broadcast, what impetus do they have to sustain it? My dinky wee podcast is a lot of fun, but it's costing me money in bandwidth fees, none of which I see back. Fun is all I get out of it. When I did talk radio as a career, the motivation was that I had great insurance for myself and my family, and that I picked up a decent paycheck - that got me through the occasional bad times or moments of doubt. But when radio is something that I PAY to do both in investment of money and time, and I hit a hitch in the giddyup, what's my motivation to continue?
Furthermore, add to that fact that I have heard few unaffiliated internet-only programming that I considered to be of acceptable quality or that has challenged me in any way.
But even if there *were* pearls of innovative genius out there, there becomes the issue of being able to find it. When any old hobbledehoy with a five quid Asda PC microphone can broadcast anything he likes from his bedroom, it becomes more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. I have neither the time nor the patience to search through a hundred hours of guff to look for ten minutes of something worthwhile, particularly since I don't even know if it exists - and I'm a fully fledged radio geek! Joe Schmoe from Linlithgow is even *less* likely to go hunting for it.
My point isn't necessarily that ILR should never have evolved from the so-called halcyon days of the 70s and 80s, my point is that ILR can't evolve *at all* now. In fact, when you really think about it, even the term "independent local radio" has died. It's a misnomer, since it's neither independent nor local anymore.
Hospy radio is where you made your mistakes, commercial is where you honed your craft, and the BBC is where you shine and retire. (right, Jayzee? ;D )
The older I get, the less optimistic I get for the future of *anything*, and after watching commercial radio have its identity and localness stripped, it's near the top of my list of the moribund. I'm afraid all *is* lost, particularly since we're in a recession, the effects of which are going to last for years. Decades, maybe.
Well, I have to go. The CCUIBF, the Council On Comma Use On Internet Blogs and Fora, say I've gone over my allotted punctuation allowance for the month.
Stay hungry!
Spike.
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:-) Again, pretty much agreed with what you say, Spike! However whereas you are a bit pessimistic, I'm on the optimistic side as I have been through this kind of 'technological trade cycle' before with the early Internet service explosion that happened a while back. Then, as now, the early adopters did not make money, and many predicted that in the end the 'bubble would burst' and unless you were some kind of mega-corporation with billions of dollars behind you, you wouldn't make a bean. Now, that was correct THEN - but look now at how an online presence is ESSENTIAL for just about any business in any sphere - and the infrastructures are now in place for the nuts and bolts of communication, content management, and payment (where relevent). But most importantly peoples' mindsets have moved on - whereas 10 years ago people were not prepared to pay for anything online, now they are. The Nintendo generation has grown up.
So - here's the thing: With television and radio we are now in a similar age of transition - turbulent, chaotic, and loads of nay-sayers around! BUT we are not standing still... The trick will be - as with those brave early adopters of Internet 'killer applications' - to be on the right side of the curve and avoid cost so that you can deliver a cheap service with good content that will in time be 'commercial'. For example, in 10 years time how many of us will be sitting down in front of televisions every night to watch passively as the programmers decide what we should be watching? I am already an avid online viewer so I can even posit the eventual demise of such linear forms of transmission as in the end the consumers of that service will demand that THEY are in control of what they watch and when. Democracy, as I say again, will rule.
So what of independent local radio? What's to prevent some small local radio station streaming online from their web site? Is it already happening? Yes it is! Are people finding it? Yes they are. Is it expensive to do? Not really! There are loads of channels to market for online radio and a brilliant example is a Dutch station I listen to almost every day from the north of Holland called Omroep Friesland - conceived as an attempt to promote the Frisian language. It's successful and it's quality.
So it CAN be done, Spike. Learn Frisian and pop over for a job interview! Or stick around here - things will get better, I promise!
http://www1.omropfryslan.nl/Radio_Gids.aspx
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=D Good stuff. I suppose *someone* has to be hopeful for the future. Me, I live by the theory that a pessimist is never disappointed. And I've yet to be disappointed.
Thanks for the tip, but I already moved away! I jumped and swam to a foreign country before, like so many others, I was made to walk the Scottish commercial radio plank. As for learning a third language, well jeese... I'm still trying to get to grips with Redneck!
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