Presentation considering the possible futures of the radio broadcasting medium, written by Grant Goddard in October 2007 for UBC Media plc.

1. THE FUTURE OF ‘RADIO’
Grant Goddard
radio specialist
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
24 October 2007

2. Grant Goddard
The “Negroponte Switch”
radio specialist
Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT Media Lab:
George Gilder and I have shared the podium frequently, and I have learned a lot from him.
One of our first encounters occurred about 10 years ago [1987] at an executive retreat organized by
Northern Telecom (now called Nortel). At this meeting, I showed a slide that depicted wired and
wireless information trading places. This idea had been prompted, in part, by some early HDTV
discussions, during which I and others questioned whether broadcast TV should get any spectrum
at all, since stationary TV sets could be better served by wires (read: fiber).
In contrast, the theory continued, anything that moves needs to be wireless. Phones, largely
wired at the time, would go wireless, and TV, largely wireless, would get wired. Gilder called this
"the Negroponte Switch," even though Jim McGroddy at IBM or someone at the Media Lab may
have suggested it first.
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3. Grant Goddard
The “Wireless”
radio specialist
 1920s crystal set
 Radio has always equalled “wireless”
The Future Of Radio © Grant Goddard: October 2007
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4. Grant Goddard
“Piped Radio”
radio specialist
 “Wired” radio started in the 1930s
The Future Of Radio © Grant Goddard: October 2007
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5. Grant Goddard
Portable internet radio
radio specialist
 Wi-fi delivered radio needs to solve issues to develop momentum:
Increased home wi-fi take-up
Lower product price point
Improved station navigation system
Improved bookmarking
Longer battery life
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6. Grant Goddard
In-car wi-fi access
radio specialist
 Autonet Mobile Inc. in US
 Available as an option on rented Avis
cars from 7 locations (San Francisco,
Newark, New York, Dallas, Miami,
West Palm Beach & Fort Lauderdale)
 US$10.95 per day
 100 feet coverage
 Works over 3G and 2.5G wireless
 Plugs into the cigarette lighter
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7. Grant Goddard
The “Slacker”
radio specialist
 Mobile personalised radio
 Take your stations with you
anywhere you go with the Slacker
Portable Player. Your custom
stations are automatically updated
on the Slacker player, ensuring
that your favorite music always
plays when you want it to. The
large 4" screen displays album art,
artist information and
visualizations in vivid color,
allowing you to get your Slacker
online experience wherever you
might be.
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8. Wi-max
Grant Goddard
radio specialist
“HEAR 2.0” BLOG by MARK RAMSAY – 27 July 2007
THE FUTURE OF RADIO WILL BE AN “EXPERIENCE"
 I have regularly warned about the coming of WiMax which will create much more formidable competition to
the radio (and satellite radio) industry than any existing alternative to radio itself. But I think more than a few
broadcasters are confused about this threat, thinking it's as simple as thousands of new music options
competing against the dozens available on radio now. It's not. In fact, as this new Google/Sprint deal
suggests, the availability of audio entertainment wirelessly and in real-time will permanently alter the very
experience and definition of radio.
BLOG by NICK PIGGOTT (GCap Media head of creative technology) - 30 July 2007
WIMAX – NOT RADIO’S GREATEST THEAT
 I wasn’t going to follow up on Mark Ramsey’s recently blog post “The Future of Radio Will Be An
Experience“, as I thought most of it was bang on the money. However, there was part of it that was bugging
me, and a conversation with a colleague in the pub after work on Friday prompted me to respond to one
point. My colleague expressed his concern as “WiMax is going to be a real threat to radio”. Mark postulates
the same thing periodically in his blog, and used it as a hook in the posting I’m referring to. So what did I
say to my colleague, admittedly over a couple of pints of Wild Hare, to influence his thinking? We have a
real confusion, in part created by the promoters of new technologies like WiMax, between the “application”
and the “bearer”. The application is what the consumer experiences, and the bearer is how they get it. So in
this case, the application is “radio” and the bearer is “WiMax”.
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9. Grant Goddard
The future of radio ??
radio specialist
“HEAR 2.0” BLOG by MARK RAMSAY:
 The future of radio is to be much more than radio. Not simply what's
on the radio.
 The future of radio will be more interactive than passive, more
customized than homogenized, more visual and visceral.
 The future of radio will be an experience, not just a station.
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10. Grant Goddard
There are more questions than answers
radio specialist
How much ‘radio’…….
 will de delivered by terrestrial broadcasting, and how much by
wire ?
 will be ‘mass media’, and how much will be personalised ?
 will be live streamed, and how much will be on-demand ?
 will be ‘stations’, and how much will be utilities (ie: last.fm) ?
 will be created by other people’s software (ie: Selector), and how
much by my own (ie: shuffled mp3’s) ?
 will comprise local content, and how much will not ?
 will offer one-way communication, and how much two-way ?
 will be regulated by Ofcom ?
 will be just music ?
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