The Concept Of "Comeptition" Has Changed

The issue is not whether a new radio station will succeed or fail. Today everyone is talking about "Jack FM", but it could just as easily be any other fad.

Jack-FM signed on in Los Angeles yesterday. How will it do?

It will probably succeed.
It will probably plateau.
It will probably slope.
It will probably fail.

That's not the issue.

The issue is terrestrial radio as we know it.

Listeners are tuning out. Not out of this station or that one. They're tuning out of the medium itself. That point is not even up for debate.

Are they going to satellite radio?
Are they going to web radio?
Are they going to their iPods?
Are they going to their collections of mp3's?

They're going. Slowly, but surely. Not so much the 50 year old country listener as the 15 year old chr listener. Not as often the 60 year old oldies listener as the 25 year old modern rock listener.

That they're going isn't even up for debate. It's a fact.

Terrestrial radio has gotten so bad that people are PAYING for what they used to get for free. They're actually paying for equipment so they can then pay to subscribe to services that compete with terrestrial radio.

Times are changing. I can't even fathom the notion that anyone would debate that fact.

So, as radio enters into these uncharted waters of competition from more and more outside sources launching every day, the question is: What is anyone doing about it?

If Kiss this or that FM thinks they're only competing with Hot this or that FM, they're fools. Those days are gone.

Let's take a look at another competition: Coke verses Pepsi. Times have changed. Back in the preverbial 'day', we had cola wars.

Do you know what Coke views as their chief rival today?

WATER.

They're not fighting Pepsi anymore because it is clear the battle for beverage choice is far more diverse than that. In the old days, sure... I liked 7 Up, maybe you liked RC Cola. There were choices.

Today, bottled water is everywhere, as are those filter doodads for your tap or the fridge (Britta, PUR, etc).

Is Coke against the idea of "Choice"? I say no. They want to BE that choice. Not in the cola wars, but in the beverage war in general. Number one overall, not number one in a piece of the greater pie.

Terrestrial radio stations are not competing with each other anymore. The battle for potential listeners' time is far more diverse than that. We've got our own bottled waters and high-vitamin juice drinks to worry about, not to mention the filters at home and the occasional smoothie.

Every time someone who used to listen to radio chooses another audio source, radio has failed.

Why wait until the problem becomes catastrophic before seeking solutions?

In this day and age, I don't care if a "Jack" signs on to be another choice on the fm dial. I consider it a failure from the start because it is owned by a corporation that has a mammoth stake in terrestrial radio as an industry, yet they set the bar so damn low by serving up a product that could be just as easily run out of a low budget laptop computer. Upload songs, upload sweepers, upload spots. There's your radio station.

I'm not asking if it is good. I'm asking "Is that really the BEST they can do?"

Radio people have got to stop thinking about what else is on the dial and see the bigger picture.

People.

Radio can win over people on the short term with a fun playlist.

So can everybody else, from XM and Sirrius down to AOL radio and my own iPod, not to mention countless others.

Is that the BEST radio can do?

If you work in broadcasting today, I very sincerely hope your answer is no.