[BC] More on the Wal-Mart HD radio story

[Steve Newman]

I have one comment. To quote my late father. GREED. It's at the root of so 
many things. Ok Robert, step up to the podium.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <WFIFeng at aol.com>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 9:29 AM
Subject: [BC] More on the Wal-Mart HD radio story


> Presented without comment. :)
>
> Willie...
>
>
> [begin quote]
>
>
>    HD Radio Wal-Mart Style
> 
> http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2007/03/hd-radio-wal-mart-style.html
>
>
>
>      Posted: 07 Mar 2007 01:05 AM CST
>
> The radio industry is all excited about a just-announced decision by 
> Wal-Mart to sell "affordable" HD radios. Bruce Beasley quoted in Inside 
> Radio said Tuesday, "Wal-Mart doesn't pick up on too many bad products to 
> sell."
>
> Unfortunately, HD radio is one of the not "too many".
>
> HD's time has come and gone with the radio industry fighting forever on 
> which system to adopt. HD might have been neat in the early 90's, for 
> instance, when radio had no competition and MTV was the only minor 
> distraction.
>
> And, the price of an HD radio is too steep.
>
> Nobody needs one because the content on the sub-channels is weak. The 
> radio industry has enough trouble keeping its primary terrestrial
> programming fresh and competitive after all these years of Wall 
> Street-inspired cost-cutting and most of the HD channels that are 
> broadcasting now are not ready for prime time. It's radio on the cheap 
> (that's if you're not counting what you hear on some of the
> consolidators' main channels, too).
>
> It strikes me as odd that while Internet radio has to fight for its 
> existence due to paralyzing royalty charges that could kill off the little 
> guy, HD radio is paralyzed by a lack of programming by the big guys who 
> refuse to make it a financial priority.
>
> HD is not going to save the radio industry.
>
> HD radio is not going to appeal to the next generation and the radio 
> industry doesn't even have the advantage of the funeral business
> currently which at least always gets the next generation as a customer. 
> Generation Y is Generation "Why" when it comes to HD radio. It's 
> meaningless to them. And already-happy terrestrial radio listeners aren't 
> exactly running to Radio Shack for all those HD radios that were supposed 
> to save the industry a few months ago. Remember?
>
> All this is beginning to sound like an act of desperation -- finding 
> retail partners to sell an overpriced radio that carries very little
> appealing programming and that is not much of an improvement over the 
> radio's we already own. Don't start with the digital audio argument.
> Most listeners plain and simple don't care about fidelity. And we know the 
> next generation could care less as they listen to compressed MP3 files on 
> little iPod ear buds or on computers with awful little speakers.
>
> I don't mean to be so hard on the radio industry. You can't blame them for 
> trying to put lipstick on this pig, but you can't really put lipstick on a 
> pig.
>
> Any other ideas?
>
> The radio industry puts a "stop-loss" on HD radio and puts whatever budget 
> or people power it is now squandering into bolstering their
> primary terrestrial programming. Give the PD more money to create content. 
> Start there. A no-brainer.
>
> Then, get a group of radio consolidators to spend their time and money not 
> on how to sell this Edsel called HD radio but to contribute legal fees for 
> Internet radio entrepreneurs to fight the battle over a recent massive 
> increase in royalty fees that could wipe out Internet radio.
>
> Now I'm losing you, I know it.
>
> What? Radio help Internet radio. They're a competitor, aren't they?
>
> NO, they are not. They will be your replacement 10 to 20 years from now 
> because you still insist on hanging onto the past. Radio broadcasters are 
> in the news and entertainment business not the terrestrial radio business. 
> This is a fact they either don't realize or don't like.
>
> Hear me out.
>
> Help fight those onerous rights fees being imposed retroactively on 
> Internet radio broadcasters. Then, make alliances with them to produce new 
> and exciting content for your company.
>
> In other words, this is your way to get into the Internet radio business. 
> You can be the Clear Channel of Internet radio. I take that
> back. You can be the next major force in broadcasting where the next 
> generation of listeners actually reside -- the Internet.
>
> I am under no false illusion that any major radio group is going to take 
> this idea and run with it. But I can promise you that the stubborn and 
> ill-conceived HD concept is going down like the Titanic and radio 
> broadcasters seem hell bent to go down with it.
>
> Get out of HD.
>
> Get into Internet radio.
>
> Then, you own two platforms -- terrestrial and Internet and when WiFi is 
> universal, you'll still be in business. Hey, Wal-Mart's got a lot of 
> problems, too. It seems, just as radio has lost touch with its audience, 
> they have misread their customers. Wal-Mart vows to get back in touch with 
> what made them the world's largest retailer. And if their embrace of HD 
> radio is any indication, they, too, have a long way to go.
>
> [end]
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