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POSTRADIO

                                          (I wonder what date this was
                                          written... it might be
                                          pre-web... mid-90s at the latest.)

The death of radio has been predicted many times.

Television was supposed to destroy it completely,
but instead it only killed the radio drama, and
weakened radio news.

Cable TV is looking like a better contender to kill radio
(MTV and it's children are sometimes termed "national radio
stations").  But there will still be niche markets that
require something "cooler" (e.g. people driving cars).       COOL

Cable radio exists, largely
unpublicized and unlistened               There has to be a way to
to, but it has some great                 beat the technical problem
potential to make a dent                  of giving a mobile listener
into traditional broadcast                access to these kinds of
radio.                                    signals.

Someday, a beefed up                               Cellular cable-radio?
Internet will allow
phenomena like the
Underground Music Archives                 All car-drivers could
and Internet Talk Radio to                 have different kinds of
become serious competition                 preprogrammed autoselection
to traditional radio.                      running, looking for things
                                           they expect that they'll
It would seem that the                     want to hear.
future would be in Audio
Magazines.  A music radio
show then would be more like
an anthology, a collection,
and the DJ more like an
editor.

                                  But beyond all this, I would
                                  expect a day when driving
                                  itself is largely automated,
                                  and nothing will prevent
                                  people from constantly
                                  indulging in the easy and
                                  over-heated TV-like media...


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