Radio in Cyberspace

There are moments in time where you realized that perhaps you chose the wrong profession and with most people it is because of technology. I graduated from Specs Howard School of Broadcasting Arts in July of 2007. I got a job in Grand Rapids a week after I graduated doing radio for WGRD and WNWZ a Tex-Mex station. I also did promotions for the 3 other stations that at the time it was called Regent Broadcasting. I did it for a year working weekends on-air and doing promotions whenever possible. But there was a problem.

Radio was and still is in a decline. We were playing the same music all the time. My program director told me " We dont play requests if we did we all be out of jobs". So the question I raised to myself was " What are people listen to ?" I was not so sure if it was us anymore.

The following year, I moved back to Detroit and got hired working for Greater Media and worked for Riff2 on air and found out that Regent Broadcasting went bankrupt. The reason being? Online radio stations like www.pandora.com and lastfm.com were becoming places that listeners could customize their radio experience. People were not spending their ad dollars on the radio stations like FM or AM. There were going in mediums that people are using. My time at Greater Media prove this even greater. I was in a major radio market and yet lay-offs were happening all the time. If ratings were not there you were gone. No chances to prove yourself at all because people chose to listen to their mp3 device on their way to work.

The internet has changed many things but the most has been the music business and radio. You can promote bands via sites like Myspace and Facebook without getting into a radio station. Internet sensations are created. Look at Justin Bieber. Yes we all might hate him but thanks to Youtube, he found radio play via the net. Most bands have created their sound based off a audience created on here. They hear a band and download the song on their mp3 device.

The weekly Internet Radio audience has increased 50% over the past year according to Arbitron. No one wants to hear the same songs over and over again. The internet has created a chance for bands who might never got their chance otherwise through conventional and other methods to be on a radio station.

I run the campus radio station WUMD.org and we play all kinds from local to world music. We want people to have a awareness of what else is out there. The internet is a world-wide forum and we have people that listen all the way from England to listen to music. That is powerful stuff. Local radio stations serve a purpose to the community but the internet has allowed to push the envelope on increasing the music diversity and for others to hear a song.