How iPod Killed the Local Radio Personality

Much like The Buggles’ song “Video Killed the Radio Star” it looks like the iPod may be at it this time and the victim is the disc jockey. The fact is that almost every car and truck sold today has an auxiliary jack (or the option of one) for plugging in the popular digital music player by Apple, or a Zune, or some other type of MP3 player. The radio business has also changed over the past decade, we lost Stern to satellite, stations have changed formats much like we switch out an old pair of sneakers, and many have become part of a larger conglomerate, all in the name of spreading a company’s message or strengthening their already powerful market share.


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenkrieger/2161588755/

Let’s face it, most of us when we’re not blabbing on our mobile phones, or trying to map out directions to grandma’s house are listening to the radio or have some form of multimedia plugged into that above-mentioned aux jack while driving around town.

In Los Angeles there are approximately 45 stations anyone can tune in to find a variety of formats from hip-hop, country, jazz, alternative, and at least a dozen Spanish-language stations all battling for your attention. It can be mind-boggling with all the choices, yet alone trying to find the exact frequency playing the perfect song.

Local and syndicated radio talk show host Tom Leykis has stated that the radio business is dying out. Many stations that once featured market-specific formats are now being centralized to reduce costs. For instance, out of the four dozen or so radio stations in LA, almost half of those are owned by the big three media giants: Emmis Communications, CBS Radio, or Clear Channel, these corporate owners will soon be killing your local radio personality all in the name of improving profits, increasing ratings, and streamlining operations (if they haven’t already). Take for instance Clear Channel, when the media giant bought out a classic rock station in San Diego, they changed programming and Howard Stern was yanked from the airwaves of America’s Finest City. Another example in Los Angeles, a radio station once known as The Arrow 93.1 FM featured actual DJ’s announcing songs, it is now known as Jack FM, which has stations across North America and their slogan is “playing what we want”, gone are the DJ’s and their varied tones calling out music and seeking the 12th caller.

You can blame corporate greed, but I see other sources of noise in this equation: TiVo, technology, and our constant craving to be in control has forced out the independent radio stations while also alienating listeners who had the propensity to cling on to a pair of Chuck Taylors long after the soles wore thin and walking through a puddle meant soggy socks and hell to pay when the shoes came off. Let’s face it, TiVo and the DVR have changed the way we watch TV and its music equivalent, the digital music player, has altered how we enjoy our tunes. When was the last time you bought a video tape or CD? The former was probably more than 5 years ago, the latter, some of you are resistant but may be slowly but surely increasing online purchases and downloads of your favorite media. Technology has improved our ability to obtain things, dial-up modems are almost non-existent and the home landline telephone may soon be extinct, with both of these going away, data has become more accessible, and as a result, has put easily downloadable media in the hands of 47% of adult Americans (those with a broadband connection). Finally, our craving to be in control is why portable GPS units can now be had for less than $100 and why travel agents are becoming less significant, being in control means being able to choose and not rely on others, and in our highly-independent society those two are key criteria. So long Seacrest!!

Chrysler in the Dead Pool?

Like a wilted rose sitting in stagnant water, this blog has been long neglected. Call it my time has been occupied with gainful employment or that my focus has been centered someplace else other than the pages on this website, I have no excuse other than my mind has been elsewhere.

Let’s just say that since the last post, the automotive world and economy have seen some drastic changes. It’s hard to put a finger on a single-source to fault for the recession/depression, but two glaring themes ring true, greed and poor judgment had much to do with the current state of things. Here in the states, we are seeing ever-increasing unemployment rates, and every time you open the paper, it is not uncommon to see stories of Company X laying off employees or even municipalities closing doors on social programs and the like (at least here in Orange County, California).

To summarize things, car sales are at record lows, the American automakers got their government loans and now it’s a matter of time if the CEO’s each can pull Ford, GM, and Chrysler out of the muck. I personally see glimmers of hope with both Ford and GM, but since Chrysler went private after Cerberus Capital took over the company in mid-‘07; their current financial state is only left to speculation. I strongly believe that things are not rosy for Chrysler, unless some cash can be infused into the company by a buy-out offer from Nissan, a merge with GM, or some other offer, I predict Chrysler won’t be around in another 10 years or so. If we take a look back to almost three decades ago, Chrysler faced a similar fate (though the lone player in the near-bankruptcy ring back then), one Lee Iacocca took Chrysler off of the banks’ black list, with the help of a government loan signed by then-President Carter, by introducing a core product line that brought the company record sales and single-handedly changed the American car market, I am talking about the Chrysler K-cars and more specifically the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans. The K platform allowed Chrysler to essentially take a single chassis, stretch it to a certain degree to suit a multitude of body styles, but keep costs low by sharing common parts such as suspension components, engines, and transmissions. The Caravan and Voyager were wildly popular when they debuted back in late 1983, the same cannot be said today as minivans account only 4.7% of total vehicles sales (as of September 2008) down from 8% back in 2000. The minivan may soon be dead as crossovers offer a cooler mode of transport while being equal in terms of utility. Unless, Chrysler can hit another home run with another revolutionary product, the money lent is only buying Chrysler time and could be written off as a loss without some much-needed angel financing.

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