In the 1950’s and 60’s in the nighttime, we listened to distant radio stations amidst the crackles, pops and fzzzisttttssss on AM radios.

With the "Technologies of the 2000’s" we listen to radio stations from around the world in clear, digital stereo sound through our computer speakers via the Internet and satellites.

In the 1950’s we could only receive and watch four or five television channels on black and white TV sets.

With the "Technologies of the 2000’s" we can receive and watch up to 500 channels in thousand of colors of the spectrum on digital, high-definition cable systems, via HD.net and satellite TV.

In the early 80’s we paid about $1000 for heavy and bulky VHS videocassette recorders so we could record and watch movies and other programming on television.

In the 90’s, we began paying less than $100 for better quality, lighter-weight VHS recorder-players. With the technology of the 2000’s, we now have DVD recorders and players for less than $100 that allow us to experience video and audio in digital quality on TV and computer screens.

In the 1970’s we installed 8-track player converters in our cars to listen to FM radio, until AM-FM radios became standard equipment in most cars.

With the "Technologies of the 2000’s" we use FM modulators and portable XM and Sirius Satellite receivers to listen to crystal clear, static-free music, news, sports, talk and information beamed down to earth from nearly 25,000 miles away.

Given this track record of technological advances, do you think that time will now stand still and there will be no  further advances in radio programming distribution? Did the quest for the technology to distribute music, news and talk programming suddenly end with the invention of radio transmitter towers? Hardly.

I have a feeling that, in time – and I don’t know how long a time it will be - AM and FM radio receivers, as we know them, will become antiques, and radio-TV towers will become nothing more than junk metal that will be sold by the pound.

These things are inevitable. They will happen.

Are you embracing the new "Technologies of the 2000’s" or are you allowing the new technologies to swallow you up and spit you out? Are you still investing your time, energy and attention in the old technologies of the 60’s?

With the inventions of the transistor and microchip in the 1950’s, a technology boom began and continues. The advances in technology during the past 50 years have been remarkable.  As long as they continue to make faster computers and creative software, the technological progress in radio will continue.

The radio and television industries have certainly taken advantage of the improvements and advances. Look at the size and portability of the TV cameras of today compared to those of the 60’s. Click on any TV and you’ll see reporters broadcasting from the most remote parts of the earth and space thanks to satellite and micro technology.

Voice over talents don't have to book studio time to voice a spot anymore or travel cross-town.  They have their own home-office studios equipped with the latest hardware and editing software.  

The Internet and satellites provide the pipelines through which broadcasters communicate and programming flows in more ways than ever before.  We are no longer landlocked by telephone lines and line-of-site thinking. 

Among the stars are where the new frontiers for communication are now located.  There are no boundaries except the limits of the creative, technological minds of those who will provide us with these micro technological roadways.

I predict that one day both AM and FM land-based stations will begin to "satel-cast" their programming via satellite to their local listeners who will subscribe to a package of local and national radio programming.  

Impossible, you say?  Already DirecTV and the Dish Network are carrying local stations on their satellites to local cities around the country.  Why won't radio take advantage of this stream? All it will take is FCC approval.  You may throw up your hands and say, "It would cost too much!"  Remember those $995 eight and ten feet wide satellite dishes that you needed to watch satellite TV in the 1980's?  The satellite dishes are now less than two feet wide and are selling for about $49.95 -- or they're giving them away if you subscribe to the satellite TV service.  Technology -- and mass distribution -- will bring down the price of AM and FM local satellite delivery sooner than you think.

Without a doubt, the wiser leaders among forward-thinking media organizations that own 12 or 1200 radio stations are already contemplating these satellite distribution possibilities.  Perhaps we could use a few more visionaries and forward-thinking people on the payrolls of these large media organizations and fewer attorneys, MBA's and numbers crunchers.

Last year, in July, Randy Michaels left Clear Channel Radio to take over Clear Channel's New Technologies Division.  Has anyone heard from Randy lately?  Is Clear Channel's New Technologies Division working on satellite delivery of AM and FM programming?

In the 60's and 70's when I would ask our radio station's chief engineer, Darryl Parker, about a problem having to do with compression, signal drift, microphone clarity, etc, he would often reply, "Don't worry, technology will take care of that problem."  His words are as true today as they were 30 and more years ago.  

The demand will be there for quality, static-free content via satellite for AM FM land-based radio stations.  Technology will take care of the details of how to make it work.  

Technology provides solutions to problems and unveils new marvels to us almost everyday.  Just look around you.  Technology is the great monster that has been unleashed, but is a gentle monster that you can tame to serve your needs.

Look at the "International Garage Sales" that ebay's auctions have created.  People who live in the smallest cities of America can now sell goods and services to worldwide customers, thanks to Internet technology.

Those who are still investing in land-based radio stations and AM-FM frequencies are doing so as if those soon-to-be-primitive methods of mass programming distribution will never be replaced. They might do well to wake up and smell the microprocessors!

In the movie, "The Graduate," the character Benjamin, played by Dustin Hoffman, was advised to invest in "plastics." Perhaps the investment advice of this day and age would be to invest in the technologies that build satellites, microchips and microprocessors, and the software companies that provide the brains to run the "Technologies of the 2000’s."

Just as Sam Walton created a better, less expensive and more efficient nationwide distribution network for products through Wal-Mart, so will the "Technologies of the 2000’s" create far more practical, cost-effective and affordable methods of distributing radio and TV programming.  These methods include the Internet, Digital Radio and Satellite technologies.  Already - today, right now - the technology that will replace digital and satellite distribution is being perfected.

Since that essay was published, XM and Sirius Satellite Radio companies, combined, have signed up at least 1,000,000 subscribers. And more are signing up daily.

What's the reaction of many radio veterans with whom I speak who haven't really taken the time to listen or review the programming on the XM or Sirius Web sites?  Some fear XM and Sirius while others wish both XM and Sirius would go away because they are afraid that it will cut into their already small shares of the local radio audiences.  

Curiously, the strangest reactions I get are those of radio folks who suddenly begin quoting stock shares prices and the quarterly earnings of XM and Sirius as if they had studied it like Biblical scripture.  When I hear those comments, I wonder if it may be that some are trying too hard to come up with excuses not to spend a couple of hundred dollars on an XM or Sirius receiver.  

Automobile manufacturers are now installing XM and Sirius receivers in new cars. It’s not just on the drawing boards or in the planning stages. It is a technology in motion.  XM and Sirius-equipped cars, pickup trucks and SUV’s are rolling off the assembly lines today. New car buyers are asking for them to be installed when they buy cars off the showroom floor.

According to many coast to coast and local truckers who call the Open Road Channel 171 show on XM or Sirius’ Trucking Channel 131, they’re the hottest selling item on the 18-wheel road – as popular as the CB mobile units that were the craze of the 1970’s.

Best Buy, Circuit City, Crutchfield and thousands of Wal-Mart stores from coast to coast are selling XM and Sirius receivers "faster than we can put them up on the shelf," says a local Best Buy salesman whom I interviewed.

Enough has been and will be written about the variety of programming on both XM and Sirius. Those articles are featured regularly in RadioDailyNews.com.  

Personally, I enjoy the news and information channels plus the diversity of the music from the 1940’s through the 90’s, and the combined dozens of country music channels ranging from Rock-a-Billy to Nashville.  Bloomberg Radio channel is a welcome news relief from the shout fests that have lately invaded the Fox News and CNN channels that are also on satellite radio. Sirius features a few more news and talk channels than XM with PRI, NPR, Talk Left and Talk Right.  On XM's "Ask" talk channel, you can hear Michael Reagan, Dr. Dean Edell, Bruce Williams, George Noory and others.  On XM's "Buzz" talk channel, you can listen to Bill Handel, Glenn Beck,  Bill Cunningham, Phil Hendrie, John and Ken and Mike Trivisonno.  Both Sirius and XM offer the ABC Talk Channel, and there's ESPN and NASCAR channels as well as comedy channels and children's channels.  There are live concerts, recorded specials and more to enjoy.

Check out the programming listed on both the Sirius and XM Web sites.  If you thought that satellite radio was just endless streams of music, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of programming. 

Because I listen to XM and Sirius doesn’t mean that I’ve deserted AM and FM local radio. I do, however, enjoy the freedom and variety that satellite radio brings with it. I am not limited to watching the TV to hear the news and financial channels.  All I have to do is to walk out the door and pick up listening where they left off on a XM or Sirius receiver in my car..

Lately, I’ve found myself spending about 75% of my radio listening time tuned in to either my XM or Sirius receiver, though. Once you experience the quality and variety offered, you might find yourself with a similar percentage in your listening habits.  

There is no substitute for AM and FM radio for local weather and traffic information.  However, just as local TV programming is suffering from steadily declining numbers and rising costs, local radio now has to compete not only with nationally syndicated powerhouse stations, but now, satellite radio.

Off all the radio people and non-radio people to whom I have spoken, those who own and subscribe to either XM or Satellite radio have expressed only positive comments about the services.  In fact, most are looking forward to even more channels being added to the current 100 and 101 channel line-up.

Between the two, XM and Sirius, which do I like better?  That would be hard to say.  Both have so many similar techno-features and a variety of programming that it almost makes it impossible to choose between the two.  However, there is enough quality programming on both that I am convinced that I should continue to subscribe to both -- and I will!

There are more than enough channels than you could ever listen to in your car. But, that’s not a problem. Satellite radio is not confined to your car. It is available everywhere that you are.

Sirius has begun selling the portable Kenwood Here2Anywhere™ or the Audiovox S.R.S. Satellite Radio Shuttle™ receivers. Late last year, XM introduced the Delphi SkyFi Receiver and Boombox. Either offers the portability you need to listen to satellite radio in your car, at home or office and, with the battery-powered Boombox, in the outdoors away from electricity.

The "Technologies of the 2000’s" is making the satellite receivers smaller, less expensive and within reach of most consumers. XM will be selling the XM "Roady" by mid-September. For $119.99 you get all you need to listen to XM in your car.

I have both Sirius and XM receivers in my home and car. A friend gifted me with an XM receiver, which I recently installed in the SUV of my 88 year young dad after I purchased a Delphi SkyFi Receiver. I also have the XM Boombox that works with my Delphi SkyFi Receiver. Sirius provided me with a loaner Kenwood Here2Anywhere™ receiver for a review.

As I am writing these words on my computer, I am listening to the "60’s Vibrations" on Sirius Channel 6 via the Internet, through my stereo computer speakers.  It’s a "bonus" at no extra cost for Sirius subscribers. You’re provided with a username and password and can listen to the same music channels that you hear on your Sirius radio receiver through the Internet via your computer’s soundcard -- at no extra cost.

Would I ever unsubscribe and go back to listening to only "old fashioned AM-FM radio" again? Never! To paraphrase Charlton Heston, you’d have to pry both my XM and Sirius receivers from my cold dead hands!

At a business dinner few years ago, I remarked to a friend, Bernie Appel, then president of Fort Worth-based Radio Shack, that if it had not been for Radio Shack, I would not be at that dinner speaking with him that night. He was puzzled by what I meant. 

I explained to Bernie how I believed that everything I had done throughout my life was made possible because of the knowledge, skills and experience that I gained through working in radio during my younger years.  I told him how Radio Shack and the products that they sold had played a big part in my radio life.

Growing up as a teenager in the Fort Worth-Dallas area during the mid-60’s, I visited local radio stations with the hope of getting an on-air job. "Practice reading out loud into a tape recorder," was what the PD’s and news directors would advise me.

In those days, even a good budget-priced tape recorder cost at least $100. It was a price that a fifteen year-old kid could hardly afford.

One summer day, I stumbled upon a $15 three-inch brushed aluminum, gray reel-to-reel portable tape recorder in the corner of the bargain bin table at a Dallas Radio Shack store.  I bought it immediately and put it to work for me.

I’d eagerly spend all my spare hours sitting in the family garage, reading stories from the Dallas Times Herald and Dallas Morning News into the tinny-sounding lapel microphone. But, that little tinny-sounding microphone got the job done.

I landed my first radio job at KSKY "660 on the Radio in Dallas" soon afterwards. Had it not been for the advances in transistor technology that helped to create that little $15 three-inch reel-to-reel tape recorder, I never would have been able to afford to buy a tape recorder to improve my enunciation and break into radio.  I might have never enjoyed the wonderful life that began with my young career in broadcasting had I not discovered that little treasure in the bargain bin at Radio Shack.  

I have embraced new technologies ever since that day when I stood in the Radio Shack store and reached into the bargain bin.  For me, it was a moment equal to that moment when King Arthur pulled his mythical sword, Excalibur, from the stone.

All the improvements in technology and the nationwide distribution of electronic products at Radio Shack and other electronic stores continue to make products accessible and prices affordable for every consumer.

When I was 15 years old, I found pure gold in a bargain bin treasure chest when I stumbled across that little $15 three-inch reel-to-reel tape recorder. During the past two years, I discovered two more small treasures that are influencing the future of programming distribution -- my XM and Sirius radios.

From time to time, I learn about "insider specials" for XM and Sirius Satellite radios.  If you'd like to be able to take advantage of these greatly reduced prices so that you can purchase a satellite radio, just send an e-mail to satelliteradio@radiodailynews.com and I'll put you on the list to receive the info.  Your e-mail address will not be passed on to either XM or Sirius.  I'll just provide the information to you via e-mail and you can act on it if you wish.  I will receive no profits, commissions or fees from any of these sales.

AM and FM radio are not going to disappear anytime soon.  So, don't think that I am writing a eulogy for the kilocycle and megacycle.  

However, I believe that we should all look toward and beyond tomorrow and not get too comfortable with what we have today.  Take advantage of your wits, knowledge, skills and expertise, and use them -- and technology -- to become even more successful than you ever thought you'd be.

The right place and the right time intersect from time to time.  Put yourself in the middle of that intersection.  Many of the millionaires and billionaires in broadcasting just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  A lot of them will probably tell you that they're no smarter than you are --- they just took advantage at the right moment and the place.

Don't develop a "herd" mentality.  Be independent in your thinking.  There are no experts.  There are just people who would have you believe that they are experts.  No one has all the answers.  Just because someone signs your paycheck does not mean that he or she has all the answers -- they're just on the signature card of the payroll account.  

Don't think that bosses don't have bosses, too.  We all answer to someone higher up the ladder.

In radio, the real bosses are the listeners who decide whether you and your radio station will succeed or fail.

Listen to the new "Technologies of the 2000’s" through an XM or Sirius satellite radio. You’ll enrich your listening pleasure a hundred times and more.  Satellite radio is not a step-sister or an orphan knocking at the door.  It's a member of the radio family now.  Satellite radio now sits at the table along with the other members of the broadcasting family.

Your AM-FM radio associates and professionals with whom you work and companies that own the stations won’t call you a traitor if you purchase and listen to XM or Sirius radio.  If any of them do, just tell 'em that they’re still living with the technologies of the 60’s.

You’ll not only enrich your listening pleasures 100 times more by getting an XM or Sirius satellite receiver -- you’ll also take steps toward embracing the "Technologies of the 2000’s." 

Lately there has been a lot of finger pointing going on.  It seems like people in radio have formed a circular firing squad and are trying to "point" the fingers of blame at everyone else.  

What's wrong and what's right about radio is nothing new.  I heard the same arguments in the 60's and I'm certain that the 50's, 40's and 30's echoed with the same arguments and people must have said then that "Radio is screwed up."

Some argue that we need deregulation while others defiantly shake their fists in the air and shout "re-regulation!"  I have a feeling that instead of more or less "re" and "de" of regulation, all of us in radio may just need a little more self restraint and discipline, in programming and management, up and down all the ranks, from the officer's clubs to the front lines of the radio battles.

Are mature, responsible adults in charge of programming, managing, promoting, engineering and selling radio?  Some say that there are a lot of immature kids who came in from the playground and took over the teacher's desk who are running the business.

Have the $5 Million and $25 Million air talent contracts scared the programmers and managers?  Who's in charge in radio programming nowadays?  Have talent and programming management become so wrapped up in contractual haggling that the listeners have become the victims? 

Are attorneys running the programming?  Are chief financial officers managing the corporate offices?  Are CEO's, chairmen and COO's spending too much time worrying about stock prices which are tied to their bonuses, and poking their noses into programming territory unnecessarily?

I ask these questions not because I can offer any or all the answers to them.  On the contrary.  It is because I don't think that any of us has the answers to many or all of them that I bring them up.  

If you take the time to look around, you, too, may see a lot of vacuums that have been created by the lack of self discipline and self restraint up and down the hallways of radio -- on the air and off the air.  Who or what will it take to fill those vacuums?

On Monday, August 18, after speaking at the Progress & Freedom Foundation Aspen Summit, FCC Chairman Michael Powell asked the U.S. Congress to draft new media ownership laws.  Then he told reporters, "If we're going to do this, let's pass real laws ... that give the commission more specific guidance about what we want, not just an anti-vote." 

Translation? "If you guys in Congress think you're so smart, YOU do it!  Have at it!  I wash my hands of the whole affair."  Folks, powerful people in Washington never give away power -- they covet and keep it.  If they do give away a part of their power, they are planning to give it all away and they are on their way out the door. 

Yesterday, Marsha MacBride, the chief of staff of the FCC chairman, Michael Powell, resigned "to pursue new opportunities."

Translation?  "I think or know that Michael Powell may be leaving soon, so I am getting out while the getting is good."

Remember this.  When you hear Washington talking, be sure to "Listen to what they don't say, not to what they do say."

When I heard that FCC Chief Michael Powell said, "All I can say is I don't have plans" to leave, that tells me that the key word is "plans."  I sense that an exit strategy is already being "planned." 

However, V-A-C-U-U-M spells problems and opportunities.  It's up to you to take advantage of these opportunities to fix the problems.  And, pardon me, Darryl Parker, technology won't take care of most of these problems.  It'll take the creative minds and strong hearts of a lot of people who want only the best for radio's future to handle these.

Here's something to consider.  If you want to allow the staffs of and the members of Congress to write the rules and regulations that will govern the industry that you work in, live and breathe and depend on for you and your family's livelihood -- and you think they can do it without your input and oversight -- please think again -- then act!  (They mean well, but they need your help and assistance).

Participate and get involved in what ways that you can to make sure you have a voice in the rules and regulations that your elected and appointed representatives will debate, write, rewrite, vote on, pass and sign into law.

Write letters to your elected representatives.  Don't e-mail them.  E-mails get deleted with the click of a computer keyboard.  A letter should get a written answer and you know that it was read by a human staff member.  If you don't get a written response from the elected representative within two weeks, just send a copy of the original letter that you wrote -- and put a cover note on it to let them know that you expect a written response.

Having worked for the Congress for a dozen years, from 1986 until 1998, I can assure you that what you say and what you do, and how you say it and how you do it will make a difference in how the final rules and regulations will be written.

This is a golden opportunity that has been handed to people in the broadcasting industry.  From the earnest efforts and hard work that you put into it, there will be benefits for all -- For the listeners, for people like you who work in all branches of radio and for the advertisers who pay and keep your paychecks coming.

It's up to you.  What are you waiting for?

Comments and feedback about "AM FM XM Sirius 2003?"  Click here

Larry Shannon               
Publisher
RadioDailyNews.com

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Epilogue

What's next?  The Radio Congress of 2004!

When the Radio Congress convenes next year in a yet-to-be-announced city, radio people from around the country will debate the issues of the broadcasting industry and discuss the "Technologies of the 2000's." Leading technology companies will be invited to join in serious discussions.  We'll have more details as plans are made.  

Visit www.radiocongress.com and sign up to be on the e-mailing list for more information about the Radio Congress.

Note ... In the interest of public disclosure, it should be stated that I own one share of XM Satellite stock and one share of Sirius Satellite Radio stock just to keep an eye on them both. I also voice and produce the Overdrive Trucking News programs that run on numerous radio stations around the country and on XM’s Open Road channel. I was not asked or paid to write this essay.