The Death of Radio?

No, this isn't another rant about Wannabee-Medic Mike's obsession with XM!

I've been wanting to put this up for awhile now. Today, I'm reading
"The Motley Fool's" take on "The Death of Radio."

While I can see why WHFS's demise hurts, I am surprised the format lasted as long. Philly's own format sister WDRE went to rap years ago.

I also disagree that radio is in freefall because of XM and Sirius. A recent report came out stating that better than 60 of 2004's Top 100 songs (based on play and requests) were hip-hop/R&B/rap.

Rap is a meaningless, repetitive format that fits well into today's corporate, meaningless, repetitive radio monoliths. A reason cited by The Fool for HFS's demise is that it stopped taking chances. How can you "take chances" when your station is looking more at the bottom line than promoting music? (Remember - my position is that rap isn't music anyway - 'nuff said)

Another reason for the rise of satellite Muzak/canned programming?

Look no further than MTV - which promotes such cutting-edge talent as Ashlee Simpson and her sister, Miss Chicken-of-the Sea. A few years ago, I contacted one of Philly's rock stations and called them on promoting themselves as a "rock" station, while giving airtime to Linkin Park, which I deem to be a rap act. Their reply was, in no uncertain terms, that "MTV says Linkin Park is a rock act, and Rolling Stone Magazine lists them as a rock act, so we give them airtime as a rock act."

Finally, if you want to read another view on why radio is dying, check out RAZOR magazine's article "The Day the Music Died (Feb 2005 Issue)."