Movies are going to kill live theater. Television is going to kill movies. Television is going to kill radio. Cable and Satellite TV are going to kill broadcast TV. FM is going to kill AM. Satellite radio/internet radio is going to kill “regular” radio. Citizens Band is going to kill the amateur band. And the internet is going to kill every other means of communication.
The latest of radio’s death predictions
or threats comes from the little portable music players. Everyone who’s
anyone has one or more. They’re in your pocket, your handbag, your
bedroom, your kitchen, your car.
Radio’s death? Not going to happen.
Why not? Because we still need
plain ole radio free stuff, spare the cost of the hardware (which you can buy
for as little as a buck at those “dollar” stores.)
“Oh, but I can choose my own music with
an MP3 player and not have to listen to 1000 commercials about reducing my
credit card debt, buying gold or finding the right untested food supplement for
my (memory) (energy) (aging body) (eye condition) (colon condition) (prostate
condition.) And I don’t need a weather forecast every five minutes.”
Your music player going to warn you
when you have three minutes to duck an oncoming tornado? How about when
the levees on your riverbank are about to cave in? Things like that.
Rely on your RSS feeds? Wait for
a notification on your smartphone? (You and it will be separated and
swept away. The cell tower will have toppled before it can tell you “Run for
your lives, it’s Godzilla.” Radio “towers” can be faked by stringing bell
wire between trees or phone polls.)
So, there you are in the midst of a
Louisiana hurricane with your Greatest Zydeco Super Rap Hits MP3 playing in
your head. Or you’re zooming along unlit State Route 11232 at 70 in the
middle of the night, and you don’t know the bridge up ahead has washed out and
fallen into the river. Or there’s been a radiation leak at your
neighborhood nuke plant.
But don’t worry, be happy, at least
you’ll crash or drown or get a good dose of some poisonous element in a
“positive” state of mind as the music goes round and round and it comes out ...nowhere.
Or you can just turn on the radio.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my
own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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