Article Summary

I chose to do this article summary on one a blog post that was more compelling than my local paper. It was called: The Future of Media: Radio by Celia Farber (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=91573). In the article, Celia talks about the radio that was, and what it has become. She cites Vince Gardino saying that radio used to be innocent, and now it's just a big bully.

She predicts that the future of media will be something called "a media station." She describes it as "Radio, TV, magazine, and newspaper all rolled into one." This description she offers matches perfectly with what our book calls "The Mutation of Broadcasting" as stated on pages 217 and 218.

From the article, she makes the implication that as radio changes to fit its role in society, Radio had "lost its soul." It makes sense, because when radio started it was the primary entertainment in the world. Now, radio is a gentle companion that goes with us everywhere. She states that the way in which we receive radio is the only thing that will change (AM to Satellite).

The Future of Sirius

It seems like just yesterday that all of the business critics on this tiny pale blue speck in the universe were saying "satellite radio has all but nailed the coffin shut on terrestrial radio." However I must admit that this was 10 years ago... Now, I'm no doctor, but doesn't that seem like an awfully long time to put a casket in the ground if the deceased is really dead?

I checked the books for Sirius XM, and according to their quarterly report for the third quarter of 09 and my findings were somewhat unnerving. Sirius XM shaved almost $89 million from their operating costs, but at the same time, acquired expenses of $141 million dollars... That's almost $52 million in losses ($12 million alone in interest payments). http://investor.sirius.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=422100

This differed from clear channel in that clear channel actually managed to outdo themselves even with a 17% decrease in revenue. http://www.clearchannel.com/Investors/Documents/328.pdf

This poses an extremely unique situation, with Howard Stern possibly leaving Sirius XM for a position on the American Idol judges panel, (many individuals did indeed switch to satellite just for him, as implied by Media Programing: Strategies and Practice by Susan Tyler Eastman's page 342), and all of the debt that these companies have, will terrestrial radio "rise from the coffin" as Stoker put it? I guess we'll just have to see.