By Jeff Roberts
The medium of radio has undergone major changes in its long history.
Before
television, the programming on radio tended to be arranged as shows
and
nation-wide broadcasting played a large role. Radio was the medium
which
connected people locally as well as across the country. TV has since
replaced radio in this function. Now, with the notable exceptions
of
stations such as NPR and shows such as "Imus in the Morning"
and "Car Talk", most stations are local music stations and
most programs are not presented as "shows" but as continuous
streams meant to be turned on and off at any time. Now, with the internet,
radio broadcasters once again have the chance to catch a national
audience, and the variety of programming available is (theoretically)
unlimited. I was always interested in this phenomenon, but
I hadn't actually taken the time to experience web radio until I started
exploring the online version of Comedy World.
Comedy World is an actual radio station out of somewhere in southern
California. On the online version of Comedy World, I can listen to
the
current broadcast, or I can listen to recorded episodes of previously
broadcast shows. The site is quite well organized: it's easy to turn
on the
current broadcast, easy to read the programming schedule (though the
times
are PCT, which is a little annoying), and easy to find and play past
episodes of shows. I love this site if I didn't think the programs
themselves stunk. The shows I've heard, including "Wrestling
101" and
"Drastic Radio", remind me of the same DJ banter that I
hear on local radio
stations, only without the few but welcome interruptions by music.
Some of
it is similar to Howard Stern's and Don Imus' shows, but with less
originality or taste. Shows feature the overuse of background music,
sound
effects and gags, such that I can't ever really tell what I'm listening
to.
Some relatively famous comedians, such as Taylor Negron and Sandra
Bernhard, have shows which are relatively funny and well-produced,
but not worth my time. However, I did spend time listening, and in
the process I have gained some initial impressions of web radio in
general.
First, this made me think about my own radio-listening habits. I
tend to
listen to radio when I wake up, when I drive, at work, and while at
a gym.
Radio provides the accompaniment to my morning routine. I typically
like to
listen to some news, some weather, some jazz, but I tend not to be
picky.
Driving by myself, NPR typically keeps me company, unless I feel like
flipping through the top 40 and classic rock stations. Driving with
others,
radio fills gaps in the conversation. I used to listen to NPR on the
radio
at work, when I was at the computer most of the day. Also, since I
tend to
do a lot of walking around Boston, one of my more recent habits has
been
listening to a radio walkman while on long hikes. In general, I can
summarize all this with, "I tend to listen to the radio when
I <insert
mundane task here>."
As I've been exploring Comedy World, I've found I can also listen
to the
radio while working on the computer or surfing the web. The experience
isn't too different. I've found that while listening to programming
on
Comedy World, I can't help but take the time to check and write e-mail,
contact people over the internet, write papers and even look at other
web
pages. Maybe it's because I think the programming on Comedy World
is
horrible. But it seems more the fact that radio just doesn't seem
right
when I'm not listening to it while doing something else. In fact,
while
I've been writing this, I've abandoned Comedy World to listen to the
latest
episode of "Car Talk", which is available online.
There are a couple problems with this method of web radio consumption.
First, the web is so full of other distracting things, such as chat,
e-mail,
and videos, that the "background" radio programming might
get too easily
lost. Radio is good to have when I'm doing boring things, but when
I'm
really engaged in something, I don't need it. Second, there's no flipping.
Most people think of flipping as an important function of television;
I
would think of it as a more important function of radio because it's
harder
to know what's on a particular radio station at a particular time.
Not only
is there no "TV Guide" for radio that I know of, but when
people want to
listen to radio, they usually want to just turn it on and find something
that sounds acceptable, or sometimes find a particular station, but
usually
not a particular program. I can't just turn on web radio and flip
to
something; I have to search for a web site, buffer the stream, and
then
decide whether or not I like it. And that takes too much time.
The future of web radio is a mystery. With some better programming,
it
could become the new background music for everyday computer-application
and web-surfing activities. Then again, as the "web-waves"
get filled with
noise, people might decide it's not worth the time looking for something
good and just abandon it. Some applications, such as RealPlayer, try
to
simulate the real radio experience by offering a limited selection
of
channels which can be accessed right away; perhaps this will be the
middle-ground which allows some channel to thrive. But only time will
tell.