RADIO AND RAILROADS

In the news recently was a rumor that Greenstone Media, a feminist radio network, is going to shut down. One of it's backers is none other than Gloria Steinem. Whether it survives or not isn't important to this post. What's more important is it's beginning which was only about a year ago. When interviewed about the development of Greenstone's programming by women, for women she was asked, "Why radio"? Her reply indicated that she thought radio was the most democratic of all media. We'll risk putting words in her mouth to explain further.

Radio is just about everywhere. The average household has more radios than televisions. Receivers are cheap. Until HD came along, you could get a hand held radio for next to nothing. All you needed was a nine volt battery to stay connected to world news, a local baseball game or the music that accompanied some of the great moments in your life. The internet doesn't come close to being as democratic as radio. So, what is all this web chatter about the grim future of towers and transmitters?

Theater survived talking pictures and radio survived television. AM radio survived FM. All of these have been declared to be on life support by someone with air time, print inches or cyberspace to fill. That task is now almost exclusively the domain of the internet. The web has a mechanism to deliver negativity quickly and easily. Just paste "FAIL" next to anything and surfers flock to it like Romans to a slaughter at the coliseum. But what about success? Is there any way to seek out and denote innovation or evolution? Maybe, but it certainly isn't as popular or as visible as "FAIL".

Isn't radio old technology? Yes, but so is the railroad, another business many tried to declare dead a long time ago. In the end, the railroad could do certain things better than any new technology so although, it got smaller, it survived.

On the flipside, criticism is good. Everybody needs to be checked into the boards now and again to be reminded to keep their head up. Maybe that's where radio is right now. It might have a bloody nose from getting it's face smacked into the glass but it will be back. A little smarter for the lesson as well. (This edition of Analogy Theater brought to you by Spishak Cola).

Creative and scrappy radio people have made a lot of amazing things happen for a long time. It's doubtful they'll roll over. Greenstone Media was one example. The company saw a need and took a risk on something that hadn't really been done before. Even if they don't make it, it was the right thing to do. Innovation is messy and involves much more failure than success.

Fortunately, we live in a time where anything is possible. One indicator of that would be that Jesus Christ has his own radio show. Surely, he could have chosen any outlet and he chose radio. Maybe he too felt it was the most democratic medium.