MEDIA MIX

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?
On Sunday, May 14, The New York Times Magazine reported that all knowledge, all books, all music, everything pertaining to past thinking will be digitized and available to anyone on the Web. Books will still be printed. Bookstores will still stock new titles. People will still collect and sell the printed word. But for the new generation and for those unable to buy books, the Internet will be the resource. A decade ago this was unthinkable, as were IPods, photo phones, regular cell phones, MP3s, BlackBerries, high-speed Internet access. Amazing, but the digital age has arrived and has changed the way we live. Zeros and ones.
Analog is out; digital is in. The photography industry has virtually eliminated film, a medium many photographers still prefer. The digital camera is a must for clients, everyday amateurs, and professionals. Minolta hasstopped making film cameras; Nikon has made the leap already. Mamiya is out of the camera business altogether.

People are spending more and more time staring at a tiny screen or a wide flat screen, totally unaware that a whole way of life will be lost. We don’t write long, contemplative letters; we send e-mail messages often interpreted in an unintended way. Newspaper circulation and advertising are down. Internet advertising is up 29% over last year. For the most part, magazine advertising is down. Annoying ads pop up all over the tiny or large screens. All because of digital. Ones and zeros. That’s all.

Radio, alive and well and living in New Jersey
One thing that hasn’t changed is radio, although that too is going digital. HD radio will allow radios (and we’ll all have to buy
new sets to be able to use this technology) to multi task — i.e., carry several channels at once. All we’ll have to do is push a button, just as we now can to change a TV channel from VHF to UHF. But there’s one thing that will remain the same, at least in New Jersey. Radio signals from the 70 or so stations scattered throughout the Garden State will continue to provide local news, weather, traffic, school closings and announcements of charity events. We’re not talking satellite radio, which broadcasts generic information or features the scatological Howard Stern, but local news and information with hosts who could be your brother or sister or dad or mom.

There are talk shows, religious discussions, Spanish and other language stations. Oldies (meaning ’70s, ’80s or ’90s) abound. We can listen in the car, on what used to be called a Walkman, at home or while we work. If it’s music, it’s soothing. If it’s traffic, it’s informative.

For the most part, single stations or groups of stations are doing well. Advertising is up particularly where a station has a long-lasting, loyal following. There are 12 stations in the Millennium Radio Group, including 101.5 FM. That group, along with Press Communications, Rock Radio, which has two stations, devote all their programming to New Jersey. Other groups like Nassau, ClearChannel and Greater Media have a wider reach.

Central New Jersey’s public radio stations have developed their own niches. To them, underwriting is essential. But by any other name, it’s still advertising. Revenues there seem to be on the rise as well. And then there’s streaming radio — coming right out of your computer, your photo phone, your BlackBerry.

Radio gets under the skin
Radio stimulates the imagination, unlike television, which creates images for you. With radio, you visualize what someone looks like and conjure up a character to go with the sound of his or her voice. The voice becomes the image. It’s almost magic.
Radio saves lives. Consider the Amber Alert system for abducted children. And the emergency alert signal is broadcast instantly. Electronic billboards are activated. Most often, within three hours kidnapped kids are rescued.

In the words of 101.5 FM General Manager Andrew Santoro, in New Jersey, local radio serves local people, saves local people. When all stations convert to HD, the message will be the same; it’s the medium that will change.

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