Well if it does anything, it'll shut up those claiming radio is still healthy and "the kids are still tuning in".  It's REALLY hard to argue against stats issued by Numeris/BBM which have a vested interest in a healthy radio industry.  After all, they rely on it.  

PS, the kids listen a whole 6 hours a week (and that would include streaming).  My guess is all those 6 hours is streaming & none is radio.  

bucky wrote:

so why are there radio groups actively seeking new radio stations across Canada?

Exactly. As soon as there are no more applications for (non-existant) frequencies, I will believe radio is dying. When I lived in Winnipeg  ~1990, there were five FM radio stations, one of which, QX-104 was from Selkirk. Radio was apparently at the pinnacle at this point, before XM, mp3 players, and internet streams existed to be competition.

But today, in 2015, cities such as Winnipeg and Edmonton have 20+ stations on FM.

Seriously, if it is a dying medium for the last ten years, why are the number of FM radio stations the most it has even been? And more are applying for licenses.
 

Further to above....

The people in radio who blindly ignore what is the coming reality of conventional radio put their own careers & lives at risk.  Hey, I get the "love" for the medium. I've loved it since I was 6 years and old played records talking over them. But reality IS reality.  

The situation in radio is dire for the workers.  Downsizing has cost thousands of jobs and will cost more in the future.  This forum had frequent contributors who were EXCELLENT broadcasters but they were let go & are either out of radio or marginalized.  A layoff can mean the end of a career or you having to take a huge pay cut and relocate to a small prairie town.  That atmosphere breeds some real nasties too.  The future of radio is seeing broadcasting as part of your portfolio, not a job.  

What happens when you turn 50 & suddenly your career is gone?  I can think of a few guys who are going to have one shitty decade ahead, scratching by, broadcasting job to broadcasting job, hanging on with hope.  Hope, combined with emotion and blind love for something is paralyzing.  

PS.  Some of you believe that because radio owners are "investing in new signals" that's a sign of health.  That's no more the case than the new restaurant that opens in the place where the old restaurant went bankrupt.   The assumption that because someone invests in something that it's healthy is misguided.  It means nothing.  It speaks nothing of the business acumen (or lack thereof) of these broadcasters.  MOST small business never makes it.  

and god knows that most radio stations could NOT run as stand alone busineses. They couldn't in 1999 when they asked for market consolidation.  

Last edited by Hathaway (June 10, 2015 11:37 AM)

Eldon wrote:

"success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts" -- winston churchill
 

Cute quotes are just that, cute quotes.   Quotes tend to romanticize things whether it be hard work paying off or a soldier walking off the Chinook while the world cheers him on for savings freedom & liberty.   The reality is different.  

The elders in radio stay in the business because of their love for it.  That love clouds their judgement. Unbridled passion is a good thing in fairy tales, it's not in real life.  You need to temper it & often people don't.  I see it happening on my own social media.  It's like a bad relationship where everyone clings to hope that it's going to improve.  

The "right wing" types will tell you success in life is about hard work.  And, as someone who is successful, I'll tell you that's mostly bullshit.  Success in life is more about timing & positioning yourself..like a surfer does with a wave.  For years I worked hard working in the IT business.  But the bulk of my growth, success & money came from riding the "right wave" as it came along.  

Radio is dying.  It has no future and if it has no future, you have no future working in it.  But I suppose someone working at BlockBuster renting videos figured they'd never get laid off either.  
 

That said your point is moot.  The decline in listening is an international thing.  Trending is the same in the UK and the USA.  So exactly what makes you think that listeners in small, unrated towns are listening more than in cities?  Do you think it's 1974 and those stations are "vital" to those small towns because there is no other media available?  I can pipe in 50 Mb internet in Revelstoke BC & that gives me the same choices as everywhere else.  

The deluge of stations appearing in small markets is because that's the last market size left to exploit. Further, because someone applies to start a station doesn't signify a healthy industry. It signifies someone is willing to risk starting a station.  And, what evidence can you show me that these smaller stations are financially viable?  Don't tell me it's because they're on the air because you can't just close down a radio station like you can a pizza place.  

BTW, Barrie reports on Numeris in the Fall diary.  It's a once a year thing.  

What's ironic about this conversation is this >.  If you talk to someone in professional radio, they'll tell you ratings are about long term trends not a single book.  Yet, the here we have radio people claiming radio is healthy despite a clear, long term decline.  If the chart I posted above was a FM radio station, it would have changed formats 5 times in the last 13 years.  

FYI, some quick math. Assuming the decline in listening continues at the rate above, the 17 year old of 2013 will be listening to about 3.5 hours of radio in 2025.  In 2025, that 17 year old listener will be 29 years old.  I'm not even accounting for further competition from the tech industry.  You're going to make a viable business model on your prime advertising target when they're nearly completely disengaged?  

If you think the last 5 years were nasty in this business.  You wait for the next 10 years my friend.