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.
