Reinventing radio
Local radio leaves a lot to be desired. If you’re a fan of good music — that is, if you like anything other than top-40 pop pabulum — chances are that, like me, you’ve largely given up on music radio. But the Internet is promising to turn the industry on its head.
I love my iPod. Other than Primedia’s Talk Radio 702 — great for news updates and traffic reports — and the soothing sounds of Classic FM, there’s not much worth listening to on the FM dial in Gauteng. There’s Radio Today, which plays good music at night, but it’s on a weak, medium-wave signal and the crackles and pops make it hard to listen to. During the day, the station appeals to the retirement village market.
Big regional music stations such as Highveld and Jacaranda broadcast the same retreaded tunes day after day. I’d rather be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay than be subjected to another song by James Blunt. Being water-boarded sounds more appealing.
Before I get accused of being too old or simply uncool, I know plenty of people my age and younger who bristle at the dreck on local radio. We may be a minority but there ought to be greater diversity — music and talk — on the SA airwaves.
Why do we have so few radio stations? In the US, even small towns have more stations jammed into the FM dial than we do. And countries that have supplemented analogue FM broadcasts with the more “spectrally efficient” digital audio broadcasting — still a distant prospect for SA — have managed to license even more.
Yet Johannesburg, Africa’s richest city, doesn’t even have a commercial station dedicated to rock music. Since the SABC restyled Radio 2000 from an eclectic (and sometimes very good) rock-orientated channel into an “adult contemporary” station, the popular rock genre has virtually died on SA airwaves.
So, the iPod it is. But this has its disadvantages. Because I’m listening to music I bought, I’m not being introduced to new artists. Unfortunately, there are few, if any, music shows available as podcasts. The BBC has an excellent range of podcasts, but restrictions imposed on the British broadcaster by the record labels prevent it from distributing its music shows outside the UK.
There may be another answer to my problem, though. Recently I have become excited about the possibility of delivering radio content over 3G cellular networks. My interest was piqued by news of new software from US Internet giant AOL that allows Apple iPhone users to select from more than 200 radio stations that are streamed over the Internet.
The service spans more than 25 genres of music and more than 150 CBS Radio stations in the US. I haven’t tried the service yet, so I’m not sure how well it works in practice, especially when driving. You’d also want an all-you-can-eat broadband plan from your operator otherwise costs will quickly mount — these plans are common in the US but aren’t yet available in SA.
On the face of it, though, it’s an idea that could revolutionise radio. Without a regulatory authority exercising tight control over the airwaves — online broadcasts are unregulated — anyone with a bit of cash could launch an online radio station.
Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig is already thinking along these lines. The cellular operator recently launched Yebo Radio. The idea is eventually to offer the station streamed over Vodacom’s network to cellphone users. For now, though, it is available only as a channel streamed into Vodacom retail outlets.
Online radio doesn’t have to be live, of course. With 3G networks, users can download podcasts over the air or stream and store material to their phones for later playback.
None of this will kill radio but if, like me, you have had enough of the schlock that passes for music on the local airwaves, it can’t get here soon enough.
First published as the column Technology & You in the Financial Mail of August 8 2008
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