iTunes Radio is coming. I wonder if Siri is doing the phone-in show? Don’t expect any strong opinions or debate from Siri. If someone calls up and says "All politicians are crooks", Siri is just going to say, "I don’t understand 'All politicians are crooks'. But I could search the web for it."
Radio needs to be about opinions and debate, because that's what Apple, Pandora, Spotify and the others can't do. Unfortunately for the last twenty years at least, most commercial radio stations have been doing their best to remove the human element, the thing that makes them unique. They've become a juke box of highly researched songs interspersed with slogans like "More music, less talk".
"More music less talk" makes no sense. "Talk" is the only thing that makes a station unique. Why do less of what’s original and yours, and more of what every other radio station can do? Ah, but the music is highly researched they say. OK, playing people twelve seconds of a song down the phone and asking if they like it is one thing but a streaming service that offers you the chance to "like" the song that's playing and suggest other songs that you might like, then adds those songs to your playlist goes way beyond any research radio stations can do.
Some say that iTunes Radio is not "radio". There's debate over when a music streaming service becomes radio? The question we should be asking is: "At what point did radio become a music streaming service?" Apple are calling their new service "radio" because it'll be the same as what radio has become, only better.
"More music less talk" is a slogan Apple Radio could use about their own service. It's as if people from Apple Radio went back in time, called themselves "consultants", and convinced radio programmers to make radio as easy to compete with as possible in the future.
"The research says that listeners don't like it when the DJs talk too much," they say. That’s true: but instead of just putting that research on the air in the form of a slogan, how about getting the DJs to say something interesting? When the research says, "We don't like this music", you don't play LESS music, you play better music - so why not do the same with the talk?
Teach people to be more engaging on the air or hire people that have actually got something to say. Otherwise you might as well listen to Siri.
More music, less talk?
Apple are calling their new service 'radio' because it'll be the same as what radio has become, only better.
This article was originally published on Mack's Craic and is reprinted here with permission.
Graham Mack is a multi-award winning broadcaster, and radio talk show host. Currently freelancing at seven stations across the UK, Graham's seeking a permanent position. These are his personal opinions.
Visit Graham Mack's website
17 comments
Brian Butterworth posted on Monday 17th June at 12:26
Basically, as Phil said 33 years ago:
“The way it was in the past a long, long time ago
Before staff levels dropped, they used to listen to the radio
And listen to the DJ’s talk about the songs they didn’t know
As if it really mattered…
Automatic stations came and sent them all away
And now I’m left alone, I haven’t got a word to say
And you’re the one who makes the choice to turn me on or turn me off
But now it really matters”
The Human League “WXJL Tonight” from the May 1980 album “Travelogue”.
Le plus ca change…
Danny Gibson posted on Monday 17th June at 16:19
“Radio needs to be about opinions and debate”
Well I’m not agreeing with that. I’m no fan of liner card and jukebox radio and have avoided working for them, but radio, when done properly, should and can be ‘about’ a number of things… e.g. if local, BE local – make sure travel & weather bulletins are plentiful and bang up-to-date – play only the very best music at prime-time – Programmers should select their presenters with care, paying attention to a presenter’s voice as much as his or her CV – And radio needs to get off its arse and get out amongst its listeners instead of just telling people there’s a beer festival, carnival, street fair happening.
Today’s radio listeners are very different to those of years ago. Radio today is essentially background, being listened to mostly at people’s places of work. This might explain why survey after survey tells us that listeners want music, not waffle ! Opinions and debate radio, aside from being risky, has become all but extinct in this country and the only people mourning its passing seems to be a few disgruntled jocks. If it has a place it’ll be late at night, or on a national with teams of lawyers on standby, either way it must be carefully managed.
I’m not worried about Apple’s ‘Radio’, it’s for teenagers.
Rupert Kirkham posted on Monday 17th June at 18:56
Most people listen to the radio to take their attention off whatever mind-numbing job life has thrown at them, and hope that whilst they are doing that there might be a few bits of interesting – dare we say useful – information provided by people you wouldn’t mind going out for a drink with. Or they are hooked on The Archers. Community radio seems to get close to what people want from radio. Listen to your nearest one.
Danny Gibson posted on Monday 17th June at 19:07
“Community radio seems to get close to what people want from radio. Listen to your nearest one.”
Don’t have one in Kettering, Northants, but I’m working on it.
Danny Gibson posted on Monday 17th June at 22:39
For someone who advocates ‘more talk’ the purveyor of this blog post sure is quiet !
Somethin’ we said ?
Shankar Meembat posted on Tuesday 18th June at 07:29
I agree with Graham’s overall theme – Radio is more than Music. Whether it is talk, traffic, weather, etc. the key thing about Radio is local. It is the local lingo, the accent that brings about the emotional connection that says – this is mine. That is something the new services will find hard to duplicate. Hard but not impossible.
However, I do see a worrying sense of complacency in some of the comments. Today’s youngsters are tomorrow’s adults. It is important to keep them engaged. The trend is there – new ways of listening, more mobile usage. Radio needs to embrace those, not ignore them.
Glyn Roylance posted on Tuesday 18th June at 15:56
a streaming service that offers you the chance to “like” the song that’s playing and suggest other songs that you might like, then adds those songs to your playlist goes way beyond any research radio stations can do
But if they dragged themselves into the 21st century, any radio station that streams could do exactly that and modify their playlist accordingly and generally be more two-way and interactive.
Ian Beaumont posted on Wednesday 19th June at 13:24
I have been saying for a while that radio is much more than music. Most music stations just play track after track after track, with no inclination to link the music to any content they may be doing. Contextualising your music output makes it sound so much better.
And by adding in interviews and other spoken content to your programme, you can turn it into a highlights podcast with minimal effort, and you potentially have another audience for your output, and another item to get sponsorship for.
Commercial radio right now is failing to plan, and that as we all know, is planning to fail.
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Good points, but in many cases the presenters are too young (cheap or even volunteers ) to be engaging! We all know of stations playing adult music with kids presenting who weren’t born when 90 % of the songs were released. Kids can’t engage an adult audience, cheap they maybe. Different if its kids music aimed at kids , possibly. Also the mainstream music played by most stations will need to improve and hold more surprises. Turning on a tap radio is no better or more engaging than what apple will be. Maybe it’s the kick up the backside the industry needs? Whether some have the vision to change and become better, we will have to see.