Is radio better for kids than TV? asks Zoe Williams in the Guardian. No surprise I love radio. But no matter how hard i try I can’t force my children to listen to radio. I scanned the band today 88-108 30+ stations 2 played music, the city is Dublin Ireland. very metro, how odd, 2 played music. Ads and chat and talk & news and bloody phone ins. the kids want music. They want their music, not Larry Gogans choice or Ian Dempseys choice [old DJ syndrome]. Their own their music is what they want, they have it on little memory sticks with headphones. They are more into that and DVDs and over repeated crap on telly than any stale radio. Even making it digital means nothing, what you can’t get DAB in the car daddy? chuckle. not fitted as standard.
When i was young, C60 was hi tech. 7″ was played on the stack system long before stack meant separate hi-fi units to a tuner amp. Stack meant an arm held 45’s aloft the turntable dropping the next disc down on the platter like a jukebox. The point isn’t, think of how quaint it was, we didn’t own much media thats the point, we shared media (record radio tapes) with siblings and friends and parents (yes we played their radio stations and they ours).
If Disney put Top 40 radio as a soundscape in Club Penguin or Mattel put pop princess format radio as a soundscape to the Barbie website or Bebo would listen up and put radio into the social network then the kids will be getting radio as we know it and an audio channel for ad men to xxx dream about. But don’t hand the kids a plastic box with knobs on, and expect them to care, or find it interesting or entertaining. My band scan says they will find (old) men talking at them like the Rolling Stones song goes
.. And that man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be ..
I can’t get no, oh no no no
I can’t get no satisfaction
expect a generation gap – expect rejection of service as old hat – when from their ears it is very old hat. I was shocked to hear on Sunday morning VibeFM Enisskillen on air full time now, just 1 month old, with an 80’s soft rock playlist and a radio production mentality and sound to match the same decade, at least they are consistent. I get scared when the BCI advertise these safe as houses niche formats as licences. Remember even houses aren’t safe in times of revolutionary change.
sneak preview a soft radio @digdeeper & @dojodub are building from the ground up.
icecast shoutcast podcast podseek MP3 finder & player [beta testing now] you can log in – share – vote – swap and soon network while listening to realtime live and autopilot radios all over the world on your PSP via wifi. gocam not required. [separate blog post needed to explain all]