Comparing Apples to Apples
Radio is definitely banking too heavily on the fact Zune added HD to their next model. According to the Radio industry, they think this decision is going to add leverage to their iGroveling at Steve Jobs feet...
Microsoft may help radio with Apple
Microsoft's decision to include HD Radio in the new Zune HD is seen as a "validation" of radio's digital move. The company is likely to help iBiquity with its mission to get HD Radio on all portable devices -- including Apple's iPod.
Ummm... YEAH.
Because Apple is constantly copying Microsoft's every move.
NOT.Labels: Duh, HD Radio, Industry, iPods, Radio
Lipstick + Pig = Zune HD
Confirmation that Microsoft plans to add an HD Radio receiver into its new Zune device. The Radio industry was quick to kiss Bill Gates' feet:
"On behalf of radio broadcasters across the country, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) applauds Microsoft for recognizing the value of free, local radio," NAB executive VP Dennis Wharton says. "Today's announcement gives America's 235 million weekly radio listeners yet another platform to enjoy our free service, and it uniquely positions the Zune HD at the forefront of entertainment products."
I'd like to see a survey of how many people own HD Radios in comparison to how many people own Zune players. As pathetic as both of these products are, I actually think Zune might be the one to benefit on this deal. If three out of 10,000 people own an HD Radio, I gotta believe that only ONE out of 10,000 has even HEARD of the Zune!
Click here for more coverage from cnet news.
This coverage from PodcastingNews.com pretty much mirrors my own sentiments. And they back-up their very logical assumptions with a recent Teen study that shows they have ZERO interest in any portable media player that isn't an iPod.Labels: HD Radio, iPods, Radio, Rants, Statistics
Does Radio belong on the iPod or in the iPotty?
So I get cc'd on an email from a station PD to his GM sharing a link to an article about the NAB's President (David Rehr) writing to Apple COO (Timothy Cook) "encouraging" him to add Radio to all future iPod, iPhones, and related devices.
The vibe I get from the email is that the PD is pumped-up because with the all powerful NAB making the request, it is a foregone conclusion that all existing iDevices will be immediately recalled so they can have not just an AM/FM Radio added to their features -- but an HD Radio as well!
MY take on this is as follows:
Rehr either heard a whispered rumor that Apple was going to add a Radio to the next iThingy and wants to claim credit for geting it done, or he just wants to appear to be "doing" something.
If it's the latter, I wouldn't expect much. Radio has been whining and moaning to Jobs and company to add Radio since version 2.0 of the iPod -- they completely ignored version 1.0 because this fad couldn't possibly last.
Attention Radio: it doesn't matter how many devices get manufactured that are capable of tuning in your station if all you're producing is content that belongs in the iToilet.
See HD Radio.
Another take on the situation here. I especially love the comment from msbpodcast -- I'm certain it echoes the sentiment of many others.Labels: Industry, iPods, RAB, Radio, Rants
Radio Looks Good to Newspaper
I've been seeing a lot of coverage about Newspapers getting into streaming audio lately.
I guess if you're a Newspaper, even Radio looks like a better option...
Reach & Phrequency: Will Music Sooth The Savage Newspaper Marketplace?
Hoping to capitalize on their familiarity with the local cultural scene, the Philadelphia Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer are launching a site devoted to local music-- phrequency.com, which will offer music downloads and video along with reviews, event listings, and user comments. According to Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns both papers, the Web site will exist independently of Philly.com, the papers' main Web portal...
more...Labels: Duh, Industry, Media, Radio, Streaming, Trendwatch, Webcasting
Why HD Radio (Still) Doesn't Matter
Wunderadio iPhone App
From the article...
It streams EVERY station on the planet, or so it seems. I'm talking about every station I've ever listened to. It has stations I've picked up while listening at night as a kid. It picks up the stations I listened to commuting in New York and New Jersey and in Pittsburgh. It even has the station I used to listen to to find out whether or not my school would be closed due to snow. In the age of Pandora and last.fm and iTunes, terrestrial radio has taken a back seat. But for me, as someone who has always enjoyed the thrill of the hunt - picking up a distant AM station at night -- this brings me back to my childhood. And it brings me to places I can't be -- like to my favorite afternoon drive DJ in Pittsburgh. I almost forgot ... the stations that use RDS (Radio Data) will show what's playing and who's on the air when you search for the station. ...only $5.99.
Click to read the entire article.Labels: HD Radio, Industry, Internet, iPods, Radio, Streaming, Trendwatch, Webcasting
Baltimore Coffin Nails
In another great leap foward toward making WiMax Radios a realistic and sustainable product, Baltimore adds a city-covering WiMax signal with help from Sprint.
This means any radio station in Baltimore that invested money on HD Radio conversion basically pissed away dollars. Why would the public buy an HD Radio to get only a few stations who converted (and then simply repeat their existing programming) when an entire internet full of audio awaits them?
Just one more coffin nail, my friends.Labels: HD Radio, Industry, Radio, Streaming, Webcasting
Record Labels Finally Profit!
...by robbing RADIO.
According to this morning's Inside Radio, BMI's revenues topped $901 million last year and $224 million of it came from Radio. Their total revenues were only up 7% last year -- but a whopping 25% of their overall revenue came from the industry that helps push their vapid product on millions of listeners who could have otherwise avoided hearing their mediocre music.
AND, the Labels think Radio should pay MORE! The Labels are pushing Congress to undo Radio's exemption from a performance-based royalty that could add from $2 to $7 billion in new fees to their bottom line.
Radio is the delivery vehicle for the Label's product. It introduces (and pushes) their product on listeners who might not have otherwise been exposed to their product. The Labels do not pay for the time spent airing their product (hell, it's against the LAW to charge them!)
This seems an awful lot like charging truck drivers for delivering the Label's music CDs to stores. "Yes, we know that we need you to deliver our CDs to the store, but we want you to pay US a $1 for every CD you deliver."
Hell, at least the truck drivers are allowed to charge the Labels for toting their crap from city to city...Labels: Industry, Radio, Rants, Record Labels
Is Online Radio Killing Traditional Radio Advertising?
Hi-Jacking Delivery Trucks
Seen this?
i.Beat cebrax RS
Integrated RadioStation™: music played on your MP3 player can be transferred wirelessly to any radio in the vicinity - whether in your car, at home or during sports activities.
Playable file formats: MP3, WMA, WAV.
Not only does the broadcast industry need to worry about people using their OWN iPods and MP3 players to replace traditional broadcasting, they now need to concern themselves over users "hi-jacking" their programming delivery vehicles -- the radio itself!
This threat is to Radio what VCR and DVD players were to Television. Control over personal, on-demand, programming. Radio's only intelligent strategic response should be to create compelling content -- but we both know that won't happen.
They're too busy coming up with lame new names for lame old marketing (Audio Anchored Advertising? Really??)Labels: Industry, iPods, Radio, Streaming
The More Things Change...
...The more they stay the same.
Check out this quote I stumbled across. Please note that it is 70 years old!
"Never before the advent of radio did advertising have such a golden opportunity to make an ass out of itself. Never before could advertising be so insistent and so unmannerly and so affront its audience."
~William J. Cameron,
Director of Public Relations, Ford Motor Company, 1938.Labels: Advertising, Industry, Radio, Rants
N is for Nokia and Net Radio
SymbianOne.com has posted a review of Nokia's new N95 device that features an internet radio application. As their YouTube recording (embedded below) illustrates, this bit of software is quick and simple to use.
Just how long do you think it will take for this utility to be adopted by other mobile companies? Since the net radio application is built from an open source solution, professionals and hobbyists alike from around the globe will be developing the versions (and hacks if neccesary) needed to get it running on a myriad of other mobile devices (whether the manufacturers want them to or not.) How long before you can buy a net radio-hacked Verizon or iTouch phone on eBay?
ZombieRadio thinks you just might have time to finish this article and watch the video clip.
Labels: Internet, Mobile, Radio, Streaming
Every Now And Then, I Turn It On Again...
...but it's plain to see that the radio still sucks.
Here are the lyrics (in case you've like to sing along.)
"The Radio Still Sucks" by The Ataris
I'm really fucking sick
Of Beck and 311, And Marylin Manson, I wish someone would break his fucking neck.
And what about Bush
And lame-ass Oasis? Hey, talk about pretentious, why don't they just blow England off the map?
Every now and then
I turn it on again But it's plain to see that The radio still sucks.
Every now and then I turn it on again But it's plain to see that The radio still sucks. Labels: Consumer Generated, Radio, Rants
What if every artist had their own radio station?
Rapper JA RULE is webcasting his own internet radio station from his home in New York. The Always On Time hitmaker, real name Jeffrey Atkins, fronts the ambitious new venture and hosts a weekly hip-hop show every Friday from 10-2.
"I got an Internet radio station, 187FM.com. It's a vehicle for new artists to get on and get their music heard worldwide. Internet radio is good because it doesn't pigeonhole you to just your region. You can be heard everywhere."
The hip-hop star launched the network in March (07) and he's delighted with his first months as a radio mogul. He says, "It's the best because we're not censored, and you can log in from anywhere and hear my station. "As technology is going forward... if you go on the iPhone, you can go to a website that has audio... It's becoming easier. "It's even easier than satellite radio because we're not making you pay for it."
"I think internet radio scares them all."
ZombieRadio says: What if EVERY artist has their own radio station?
What if they released their hot new single via their own webcast rather than fighting for airtime on local stations across the country? You could hear the song and buy with a single click.
If you follow Ja Rule's line of thinking, their stations could even help with the breakthrough of new artists.
I agree with Ja Rule -- internet radio should be scary as hell to traditional broadcasters.Labels: Artists, Internet, Radio, Satellite, Trendwatch, Webcasting
Apple Sees No Future in Radio
Apple announces plans for their entire new line-up of updated iPods, and you know what is so painfully obvious in its lack of presence? Radio.
The entire iPod product line is receiving a major overhaul, but Radio is not part of their remodeling plan. InsideRadio argues that it is because Apple is in the music download business, but one of the new features is in partnership with Starbucks that allows iPod users to locate and purchase any song they heard played in a Starbucks location via wireless access to a special WiFi version of iTunes. Seems like this could have been executed through a partnership with terrestrial broadcasters had the interest been there. But it wasn't.
Since the new iPod has WiFi access and a built-in Safari browser, perhaps we'll see the same sort of hear-it/buy-it feature connected to Webcasters and Radio stations who are streaming their programming.
Perhaps.
But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for someone from Radio to approach iTunes in order to get this concept in motion -- because according to InsideRadio Steve Jobs is just "in the business of selling music as well as listening devices."
I'd say he's in the "Kicking Radio's Ass" business.Labels: Industry, iPods, Radio, Rants
Records vs. Radio DeathMatch
Just put these two prehistoric prats in a cage and let them duke it out, will ya?
Here are the latest whinings...
Headline #1:
Study says radio airplay actually drives down record sales.
University of Texas at Dallas Professor Stan Liebowitz says radio airplay can hurt music sales by as much as 20%. He finds the more time listeners spend tuned into the dial - the less likely they are to buy pre-recorded music. Liebowitz's study comes at a time when record labels have started pushing to nix radios' royalties' exemptions.
ZOMBIE RADIO SAYS: If the reporter had bothered to ask a Radio PD they would have said their RATINGS have been suffering because of the CRAP the Labels have been pushing to play on the air. They beg for additional spins but cry when the audience is so sick of their tune that they don't want to own it? DUH. ZR also feels that even if Radio didn't play their music -- no one would want to own it anyway. With the exception of 2 or 3 artists -- show me any talent being promoted by a major
label that the public can get excited about.
Headline #2:
Here's why the record industry is after radio's wallet.
Their sales drop yet again. According to Nielsen SoundScan album sales dropped 15% in the first half this year. In short - the record industry has definitely seen better days. The good news for labels is that the sale of digital tracks increased 49% compared to last year.
ZOMBIE RADIO SAYS: So, is this profit drop being blamed on Radio too? That's right -- it's Radio's fault you and your product sucks. Bitch about the 15% drop in album sales and completely ignore the fact your sale of downloads INCREASED 49%!!! Boo-Hoo-Hoo... I can't dig for coal anymore because all these gold nuggets are getting in my way.
BRRRAAAAAIIINNNSSSS!!!!!Labels: Fees, Radio, Rants, Record Labels, Trendwatch
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Brraaaaainnssss...
Focusing
primarily on terrestrial radio broadcasting, ZombieRadio.com is
dedicated to pointing out the mindless and brain-dead actions of the
mainstream media industry in general.
Don't
get too comfortable satellite, television, cable, and internet -- we
all know from seeing zombie movies that the contagion spreads quickly.
"They're
coming to get you..."
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