The more I read the title to this, the more ridiculously obvious this is, but anyway, I’m going to post this as I think some of us might not have realized it just yet.
As the printed newspapers continue to shrink and try to find profit as they switch to a digital service, the FM music radio stations are poised to succumb to the same financial pressures. The smart phone and mp3 players have supplanted the traditional music delivery service for the “digitally connected” among us. I have no expectations for my children to “tune” in a radio station…..unless you consider selecting your custom music stream from Pandora “tuning in a station”.
You will see car stereos main features become Bluetooth paring for data and audio. Dashboard “radios” will start adding physical interfaces for radio that help keep the “eyes on the road”, similar to the track selection that exists for the ipod, but they will improve on them for the application layer. The car radio will begin dropping the “1-6 station” memory buttons favoring direct music service selection buttons, namely for Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Disco, Slacker or similar music service. I guess this also spells the decline for satellite radio as well except for the long haul drivers and residents that do not live in decent cellular data coverage areas. Satellite radio was the stepping stone used to help transition free FM radio listeners into a paying customer revenue stream. Shifting the over prevalent radio advertisement music disruption downward and helping the consumer enjoy a better product.
Anyway, good by FM radio, We still have the memories.