The Hardware Matters Too
Written Jul. 27, 2009 by Larry Rosin in Technology with 2 Comments
A little while ago I posted an idea about adding the functionality to radio to let the listener go back 30 seconds in time. This received some nice responses and reactions.
But I wanted to focus on this one from Greg Valentine:
That's a great idea. Here's another one: radios (car or otherwise) should include a display not unlike the iPod's so that artist name, song and album title, artwork(!!), and other content are shown in a visually exciting manner (no RDS LCD lettering, please) while the songs we play are airing. In radio, we seem to have accepted our lot that we are to be heard and not seen. This is unacceptable, as people flock to sexier tech. This will require commitment from both broadcasters and radio manufacturers. But to me, this is the number one thing you can do to make the radio a sexier device. Radio's losing the sexy battle. Consumers are speaking. Hear them.
What struck me about this (excellent) comment was that it made me reflect that while I have been involved with the radio industry for over 20 years, attended dozens and dozens of conferences, and held hundreds (if not thousands) of meetings with top radio executives at all levels, I have never once in all these years gotten into discussions of radio hardware. OK...there have been a few conversations about HD Radio issues in the past couple of years, but no one ever talks about the regular 'radios' that people use every day.
I have been involved in so many discussions of 'Radio's PR Problem' and no one ever focuses on the role of hardware in that problem. And, unless one wants to call RDS or scan/seek buttons 'advancements,' there really have been no serious upgrades in what a radio looks like or does in...well since forever.
So what else could be done to make radios 'sexy'? To make the alpha-males out there, who must have their toys, look over someone else's shoulder and say: "Wow...I HAVE to get my hands on one of these!"
Reader Comments
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On a similar note - for radio stations that repurpose content as podcasts - why haven't they learned how to put album art on them? If your listener took the time to download the podcast and put it on their media player, and with media players all being made with color screens that show the artwork, why aren't they adding it? It's very, very simple to add it to the MP3 before putting it up, and why wouldn't a radio station want their logo staring the listener in the face reinforcing their brand when the listener goes to listen to the station's podcast?
--*Rob
The BBC have been doing it for years as have we and many others. But I do agree many are also missing out on this very simple step