Alas Broadcast Radio…

I am going to make a bold prediction: within ten years broadcast radio is dead.

Digital music players, iPods and the like, are swarming in to replace the old standard. Already people drive to work and back listening to a selection of hundreds to thousands of their favorite songs without commercials or talk or crushing the audio to make it sound louder.

Now, with the not-even one-year-old concept of Podcasting (which, despite its name is not limited to the iPod) is here to put the whammy on news/talk radio. Now shows can be downloaded automatically to your digital player through free subscriptions. Weekly I listen to movie reviews from Ebert and Roeper, news programs from ABC radio, radio dramas, public radio shows like On the Media and more. I just synch my iPod in the morning and there it is, ready to listen at my convenience.

While there are some limitations, such as the shows not being live eliminate on-air callers and live events such as sports are impossible as well, this is the future. This Week in Tech has taken the idea of having live callers on air by playing MP3 questions recorded and e-mail to the show.

I predict in a year almost all of NPR’s output will be available (I want my Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me). They have put their toes in the water with Science Friday and soon they will jump. The BBC is taking the plunge and announced that most of their radio shows will be podcasted in the near future. With ABC on board expect the other networks to compete. So, go buy an iPod or Muvo or whatever, the future is coming like a wave.