This week's headache-tinged, hastily-dashed-off edition of the All Access newsletter once again takes a dip into the future:
This week was great for a technogeek like me. Between CES (huge HDTVs!) and MacWorld (some phone thing), there was news galore about all sorts of cool whiz-bang new geegaws and doohickeys that look really amazing and totally desirable until I remember this: most of what you get on them is the same old garbage, only in digital, which means you can see every line on David Caruso's face. That doesn't bother the kind of people who develop these devices and go to the conventions, because they're also the kind of people who would rather watch an hour-long close up of Rosie O'Donnell's armpit if it's in HD than watch "The Godfather" if it isn't. Meanwhile, so far, much of the revolution in Internet "user-generated content" involves blurry video of exploding soda bottles and guys getting hit in the groinal region. As entertaining as that can be (for thirty seconds at a time, at least), I'm hoping for something better.
And for talk radio, the new gadgets are potentially huge, because... well, we've talked about this before- when you can stream audio to an iPhone, or podcast to a device like that, when your show can be streamed and stored on your PC and heard anywhere in the house or carried with you to the car or gym or wherever else you want it, when you want it, whether you're on a radio station or doing it yourself, the possibilities are endless. Unless, that is, you want to be paid to do it, in which case you'll either have to get enterpreneurial or hook up with someone who is. But, as we've seen, at some point, that stuff will work itself out. (And some people are already starting to find ways to make money doing podcasts and streaming, so there's hope that this will come to fruition within our careers, or our lifetimes, at least)
But, still, when radio executives talk about the future, it tends to be about the technology and not as much about the content. At CES, some of the big media companies, including radio station owners, made presentations, and they were all about digital. They told the audience how they'll be going digital, and converting to digital, and everything's going to be so digital that you'll be digitally digitizing all their digital digits forever. The companies' goal is to be digital in the digital age with digitalism and maybe even digitalis, which is, according to Wikipedia, "a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous biennials, perennials and shrubs that was traditionally placed in the figwort family," plus a heart medicine. And that's great, really, it is, because I love digital. I own several appliances that convert 1s and 0s to fine family entertainment. But I worry sometimes. We could end up with nothing but crystal clear audio of some 15 year old trying and failing to p ick out the opening notes of "Roundabout" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his guitar and several hundred thousand videos of teens lipsyncing "Sexyback."
So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to keep producing compelling talk radio, knowing that whatever new gadget the folks at CES come up with, there'll be some way for you to weasel your way onto it. Plus, we need an alternative to YouTube video of the Numa-Numa Dance.
And when you do, All Access News-Talk-Sports will still be around with plenty of stuff to talk about at Talk Topics, where this week we're featuring stories about a professional nitpicker, male elementary school teachers, a guy who made a critical mistake while robbing his "Pa-Paw," the theraputic uses of monkeys, how almost every rock star is available for the right price, what to do when your wedding and a big NFL playoff game coincide, why one school has banned hand sanitizer, the explosive end to a debate over the late James Brown's height, why you might think twice about carrying Canadian coins in your pocket, what Simon Cowell thinks about Bob Dylan, why one marathon is telling runners to leave their iPods at home, a particularly cocky meat thief, and why you probably don't want to answer if a particular former high school coach asks you what the capital of Thailand is, plus all the "real news" like Iraq surges and David Beckham's new home and the passing of the great L ily Munster. You'll also get "10 Questions With..." Bill McAllister, who was midday producer and weekend "Hamtramck House Party" co-host at WKRK (Live 97.1 Free FM)/Detroit when the interview was conducted but added midday co-host duties afterwards, demonstrating the magical powers of the "10 Questions" interview, and the Talent Toolkit with sources on climate issues, and, of course, the rest of All Access, where you'll get industry news first/fastest/best, plus jobs and the Industry Directory and ratings and Mediabase charts and columns and everything else you need to be a big-time radio mover and shaker, all free. Cool.
Next week: More inane ramblings. But it's digital, so it's better.
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