tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972592.post705192375666183002..comments2023-09-19T17:44:32.648+02:00Comments on Media Network Series Two: Doc Searls on the future of free-to-air radioJonathan Markshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10649569693082320105noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972592.post-77878061540192896642008-08-01T00:15:00.000+02:002008-08-01T00:15:00.000+02:00Thanks for picking up the thread, and sorry if I s...Thanks for picking up the thread, and sorry if I suggested that over-the-air radio is dead, or even dying. What dies, and where, will largely be a matter of local economics, as you point out. There is still plenty of AM (MW), SW and even LW listening in the world. And FM is still doing fine in most places as well. Where there is no other way, transmitters will survive, as long as they're affordable. But, as you point out, that's the rub. Big energy is expensive. A 200kw LW or MW transmitter sucks about twice that much off the grid. That's a huge bill. High powered FM and TV stations obtain ERP, or Effective Radiated Power by stacking antenna bays and concentrating energy toward the horizon, where the listeners and viewers are. Even so, if all the listeners and viewers can be reached more easily over mobile devices shifting seamlessly from the cell system to random wireless Internet connections, a point gets reached where the economics of streaming become more attractive than those of transmitting.<BR/><BR/>Our job at <A HREF="http://projectvrm.org" REL="nofollow">ProjectVRM</A> is to change the economics of radio and TV by putting the listeners and viewers in charge not only of what they consume but of <A HREF="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/projectvrm/Relbutton_Scenarios" REL="nofollow">how they pay for it and how much they are willing to pay</A>. It's a fun challenge. If it works, all these stations will have much better data to go by, and much better relationships with their listeners and viewers.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13931662695110191059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972592.post-17706855707166673802008-07-25T23:42:00.000+02:002008-07-25T23:42:00.000+02:00Near the end of the run of Media Network, I starte...Near the end of the run of Media Network, I started listening to the Real Audio and MP3 versions rather than using shortwave. It was a lot nicer that way, even though bypassing shortwave saddened me a little. I think that streaming audio is probably the future for radio, but it's too bad that it requires a fast Internet connection.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com