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The birth of appointment radio (and audio TiVo)

7 comments on The birth of appointment radio (and audio TiVo)

The birth of appointment radio (and audio TiVo)
: Fred Wilson heralds the coming of digital radio in America. At last.

The biggest change for me: I will be able to listen to my only two appointment radio shows — Howard Stern and Kurt Andersen’s Studio 360 — by recording them; I’ll be able to TiVo radio.

This will change radio. I’ll bet that there will — for the first time since the advent of TV — be other appointment radio shows. Now, to get a decent audience, you have to do what Howard does: fill four hours of morning drive. And it’s not easy to target advertising. In a digital world, radio will go what TV has gone through — that is, it will have to create more shows instead of just stations that attract us. Radio will have to compete with our MP3s. That will be good for radio programming and us.

Can’t wait. So Fred says, don’t wait:

This conversion will take some time. But its starting in 2004. I hope you are as excited about it as i am. If you are, please call your favorite radio stations and ask them to put up a digital signal this year. And then go out and buy an HD Radio for your home and your car.

OK, WXRK and WNYC, you’re on notice: Convert.

7 responses to “The birth of appointment radio (and audio TiVo)”

  1. DMCA Scofflaw Avatar
    DMCA Scofflaw

    Jeff, fyi. The usenet group alt.binaries.howard-stern has the show commercial and static free almost as soon as it airs. I moved to where the show is unavailable and usenet has been heaven sent.

  2. N.Z. Bear Avatar
    N.Z. Bear

    And Studio 360 has its archives available online as well:
    http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/archive.html
    -NZB

  3. Skippy Avatar
    Skippy

    I “tivo” my favorite programs from radio stations that stream on the Internet right now using sofware called Reply Radio.
    It produces an MP3 or WAV file I can play whenever it’s convenient. And I don’t need to wait for digital radio.
    I use it primarily for BBC and WNYC programs. Sorry, Stern doesn’t make my list.

  4. James Joyner Avatar
    James Joyner

    In addition to time shifting and pausing life programming, the biggest advantage of TiVo is that it lets me jet through commercials and boring guests and the like. I’m not sure how well that’d translate to radio, since there’s no visual cue to tell you when to stop.

  5. triticale Avatar
    triticale

    Isn’t that Replay Radio? I heard the ad the other day as my connection to KHYI, out of Plano Texas, was setting up. I listen to it while driving around the Milwaukee area to test the performance of GPRS cellular internet in the course of my work.

  6. rICHARD cOOK Avatar
    rICHARD cOOK

    I really hope WNYC does. I gotta hear that old music from Danny Stiles “on my stereo dials”.

  7. Morgan Avatar
    Morgan

    Jeff, I received, as a gift, POGO. Kind of like TIVO for radio. You program in the stations and times and it then records for later listening. Pro: I’m not chained to a radio and can listen to shows at my leisure; it is not very expensive; and it does not require any type of subscription fee. Con: Eats AAA batteries like they’re candy.