Radio listening continues to be miles ahead of podcast listening.
As the quality of radio declines, there are benefits such as:
1. Radio is free. We tolerate 8-minute-long advertising blocks for that freedom. 2. Radio, as in any station in any city, is portable. 3. In a perfect world, severe weather reports, traffic gridlocks, accidents and more would be reported in a timely manner. Yes, we can get all of this on our smartphones. In this sense, radio can be a life-saving instrument. A power failure often has no effect on radio due to backup generators at the station or transmitter site. 4. A good station can be quite entertaining. People have to remember; stations target specific demographics. As an example, if a 65-year-old is listening to CHR-formatted WKSC-FM/103.5, it's simply a bonus for the station. However, don't complain about the music, the DJs, the comedy bits and so on. They aren't programming to YOU. It's that simple.
Podcasts seem to have taken on a life of their own. Many in broadcasting are doing podcasts. In addition, nearly anyone can do one. It's sort of like YouTube. Choose something you really like and start a channel. Let me stray for a minute here. I wear a high-end G-Shock watch. I paid a lot of money for it six years ago and it was shipped directly from Japan. Do you know I have watched no fewer than ten YouTube videos which have reviewed my specific G-Shock? Some are superior to others. I gave up after ten. Now we have videos which compare my G-Shock to other watches. In six years, I've never had to set the time or date. These G-Shocks are nearly bullet-proof. But I digress.
With tons of podcasts being recorded daily, who has the time to listen to even a fraction of them?
Radio is another set it and forget it convenience. If it's a music station, you can look up what songs were played.
Finally, as podcasts grow in popularity, will they seriously encroach upon radio? If a station were starved for cash, would they actually play someone's podcast? I'm thinking news/talk stations on the weekends' where brokered programming is heard.
Re: Radio vs Podcasts
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on September 25, 2024, 6:50 pm, in reply to "Radio vs Podcasts"
Good post.
The people on the train that travel 30 min or more each way for work.
The people on the expressway in gridlock all day.
The people that really like someone they can no longer listen to on terrestrial radio.
The people that belong to some way of life, living, a certain sector politically for example, will follow a podcast.
The people that have short attention spans.
The people that do not like commercials, but do not realize there are subliminal or not so subliminal advertisements in the podcasts.
While podcasts can be popular standalone, they majority do not work on a terrestrial station. Most podcasters can't afford to pay to have their podcast aired. To be honest..... why limit yourself to a terrestrial signal when you can be heard worldwide?
The thing about podcasts are that one can listen to it at one's convenience. A lot of the content is targeted and there's no FCC restrictions on language. But these generally are talking formats. Musically it's better to create Playlist on YouTube or download from Apple Music than to submit to a radio station that has a tight rotation Playlist.
on September 25, 2024, 6:27 pm