of week 2 - 2

More interesting ideas from week two, about the demise of traditional media........


Though we already mentioned radio, we need to go a little further into this. Someone pointed out that though radio will survive, in some format, that local broadcasts may be seeing their time coming to a close.

I can see that. Radio is suffering right now and, with the advent of satellite and internet radio, and greater ease of access to each (including on the go), with all the specialty programming that comes along with them, local radio just doesn't seem to have much of a chance.

But how local is "local" radio anyway? A lot of radio in local markets is actually corporately owned, and thus, in many markets, the programming is virtually the same. There are still some local elements which are important, but the "local radio" we know is largely a format that wouldn't be familiar to many of those in previous eras.


The Yellow Pages piqued my interest in this discussion, because I'd forgotten to even consider them.

But of all "traditional" mediums, their time may perhaps may be coming to a close sooner than any of the others.

At least, again, in their current format. While radio can essentially be "radio" in any of its formats, paper formats just don't seem to be the same beast once they've gone intangible. The Yellow Pages demise is greatly exaggerated: They will survive.

Just maybe not for much longer as actual pages.


I commented that I thought there would still be some smaller version thereof. In Morgantown, we already have that, along with the larger books, for quick reference. It may simply just morph into a phone book for business and perhaps government services and that sort of thing. Is there any reason really though that we need most everyone's phone number for reference though?

Not in an age where we can just as easily hop online and check out the same thing (and also where many simply have cell phones now, and not land lines; cell phone numbers they often keep private anyway). It's the same for businesses of course, but that's where the phone book, in a paper format, could still make some money with a smaller reference book, and survive.


For a while anyway.