Theme 3: Digitizing of old media

With each passing year, technology advances more and more. Media that some thought would never change are becoming digitalized and transformed to be more accessible for the users/audience. For example: people now have the option of reading a book on their iPad or Kindle, or even listening to a podcast of someone else reading it for them instead of having to carry around a book. Things in paper form are becoming obsolete, and the more electronically-ready something is, the more likely it is to survive. In a piece entitled “For the love of reading,” the author experimented with different mediums to use in order to read, and found that she loved having the actual book and experience of reading overall. For many others, things like reading a book or reading a newspaper are the same for them - even if they are reading on a screen because we live in a fast-paced world where convenience often wins over quality.

Newspapers are facing the same problem as books, but on a grander level. Newspaper revenue relies heavily on ads, and so, with newspapers moving online, the ads now must also move online. The subscriptions that papers get are now also jeopardized because people can get their news for free after just logging onto their computers. The industry itself has had to adapt to the digitizing of society, and now the “old” newspaper has no choice but to move online. If certain newspapers can not adapt, they’ll basically be extinct.

The next type of changing media is the well-known song decoder, Pandora. Pandora has brought something new to personalized radio. By choosing only one song, “musicologists” are able to match your song preference to songs that are similar in genre and style. The result is a fascinating smorgasbord of music you might not have ever heard, or might have forgotten about. I believe that radio’s future looks promising in the form of Pandora because it will give new artists a chance to be listened to by a wide audience, and it will seem almost accidental when a new fan is created. DJ’s and radio stations are told to play certain types of music as priority because of how much they’re paid, and I’d like to believe that Pandora has allowed for it to be fairer for new artists.

"The Rock Jocks" Response

1.) Some factors within the radio industry itself that led to rising FM radio came from both the DJs and the changing society around them. The DJs were able to play, essentially, whatever they wanted and because there was so many societal movements taking place at once, their format reflected that. The news programs on the radio as well as the music had a progressive format and was able to get people rallied up and encourage them to get involved in whatever movement was being broadcasted. Corporations believed that they needed to start taking over because they couldn’t afford to take any chances. Eventually radio station owners tried to “polish up” the content (Ie: forcing them to wear ties to work, banning certain programming) but a strike followed. FM radio remained having the freedom that strict AM radio doesn’t allow.

2.) The growth of rock FM can be greatly attributed to the social changes and events of the late 60’s-mid 70’s period. Some of the movements included ecology, civil rights, women’s rights, and anti-war protests. The music played on rock FM appealed to a lot of the younger generation who were looking for an alternative music choice to fit their alternative lifestyle. Many lived a hippie-styled life, and were big fans of this progressive music that was not tightly controlled like AM radio.

3.) New York started off one change with FM radio by creating the first rock station that played “Wild Thing” by The Troggs. Rock proceeded to be a major music genre during upcoming years. Along with that, DJs were using their shows to tackle controversial topics and help bring people together so that they could understand that they are not alone in their ideas. Another thing that FM radio started was a woman being on the air. The first female radio personality was Allison Steele, who had a unique and sultry voice. Now female DJs have an increased voice in that industry.

4.) In the early years of radio economic support came from the listeners who felt strongly about the social change that FM radio was pushing for. FM radio was extremely popular, and so eventually cars were made with that radio frequency already installed. The listenership is what made the radio so successful.