Internet replacing Radio?

Link: Is Radio Dead?

My first reaction to that was, yeah, maybe it is dead or dying for music, but that talk and news are still important. However, as I thought about it more, I realized that the only time I listen to radio is when in my car, and even then, only when I'm alone. When my wife and I drive somewhere together, we talk to each other, and aren't interested in radio. We might turn it on to catch the weather or the top news stories if we have been following something, but we never listen to shows like The Connection when we are together.

At home, the radio is seldom on. We get our news and information primarily from the internet, and secondarily from TV. About the only time the radio goes on is for background music while reading or eating, and even that often loses out to the CD player and sometimes even to the TV cablemusic channels.

So that leaves the car, and as I thought about that, I realized that the internet has affected that another way: I don't drive as much as I used to. The internet lets me do a lot of work from home. When I started this business, and for many years after, I was out on the road every day: I could tell you just about every topic that had been on WBUR the entire week. Nowadays, I still get out now and then, but more and more I'm working from here, and I get to hear very little of what I used to listen to regularly.

You'll point out that I can listen to those shows over the internet also, but in fact I don't, because I prefer reading to listening: it's faster, more accurate, and easy to put down and take up as I need to. When working, talk radio is just a distraction that I don't want.

So maybe radio is dying. I would guess it will be a long time before the last gasp, but I do have to admit it is far less important to me now than it was in years past.

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Wed Sep 16 19:45:53 2009:   TonyLawrence


Not much has changed. I listen to music with iTunes, and still will listen to NPR if I'm alone in my car, but here at the computer I am unwilling to tie myself up listening to people talk.

I'm surely a minority, though. A lot of people don't read very quickly, so for them, talking probably isn't as glacial as it is for me. Also, many people are conditioned by schooling to prefer auditory learning, so talking heads probably aren't in danger. But radio? I'm still not sure, but my guess is that it will fade away.

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