Thoughts on what radio is good for

I had a very interesting meeting today about how we would plan to use the new technologies that are emerging to offer new services. I have been thinking a lot lately about what radio can do well in this new world we live in. Google and other search engines have dramatically changed how we are informed. In the old days, if you wanted to know about something, you would tune in and find out. Or if you wanted to hear a piece of music, you would tune in and listen, maybe even make a request. Now, search has made it possible to find almost anything you are looking for and you can usually download it and listen or watch it on your own time. This is natural and much more efficient. I could imagine fewer and fewer people listening to radio for this purpose. However, as the saying goes, "You know what you know, and you know what you don't know, but you don't know what you don't know." This is something I try hard to remember because no amount of searching for something will educate you on how much you don't know. We need other people to tell us things about things we don't already know, things that are interesting or entertaining. They can help us discover new styles of music or information that we didn't know we didn't know. I can't think of a better way to do that than broadcasting. I hope that broadcasting of the future will involve more of a two way interchange between broadcasters and the communities they serve.

Tags: radio media search hdradio