Gongol.com Archives: June 2020
June 24, 2020
Only about 10% of American radio listening happens via streams
Broadcasting observers wonder why. There are a few hypotheses to consider: (1.) Too many rival apps with no clear leader. (2.) Too many false starts from ca. 1998 until ca. 2015, during which people never got the chance to become accustomed to a habit of listening. (3.) Garbage preroll ads, awful filler material, and bad synchronization, all of which lead to an inconsistent and sub-par listening experience. (4.) Low broadband speeds (no, really; the United States lags in broadband speeds compared to many other countries, and the problem is worst in remote areas where streaming would do the most good for listeners who don't have as many over-the-air listening options). (5.) An ever-dwindling supply of compelling local content. ■ That last one is a doozy. It's a pipe dream to imagine that anyone would invest the kind of money in content it would take to produce an American analog to BBC's outstanding Radio 4, but there has been a semi-conscious choice by American radio management to chase the lowest common denominator instead of investing in great speech-based content first. Radio 4 gets more than 10% of all listening in the UK, and there's nothing at all like it in the US market. ■ But the technical side of things can't be overlooked, either: The platform-dependency model is just nutty. There's a perfectly rational explanation for how and why it emerged, but making the user go download separate apps for Radio.com, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and so on is daft. It's like needing separate apps to place calls through to your friends depending on whether they subscribe to Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile.
Review of studies on team mascots and psychological perceptions finds, unsurprisingly, that no matter how many times people try to say that using American Indians is somehow an honor, it just plain isn't understood that way. Any team that does it ought to reconsider, particularly the one in the NFL that substitutes a racial epithet for an actual mascot. This really shouldn't be a tough call. Washington's football team needs a new name.
