The additional thoughts just shared by Marshall add wonderfully to his starting message and, I believe, all the comments in between. This thread is probably the first on this website regarding the potential of social media, and to repeat myself, I expect this subject to expand permanently, as integration with the internet is inevitable for Part 15 low power radio.
I will argue and wrangle about these subjects, but it's the response of a student who wants to learn and an inventor who wants to discover.
The more negative I get, the more positive I hope you'll react.
Count me in.
I agree with you that we all have to understand the 'new' media. It's actually not all that new technologically speaking, but in its acceptance by the masses, however, that's a moot point.
But I don't want my micro radio station to be normal. If it isn't different, then why bother, as there are plenty of licensed radio stations out there trying to do the same thing? I play the music I like and I choose deliberately to be retrograde - to play old jazz that you almost never hear on the radio anymore, old doo-wop that is so obscure I don't even remember it from the first time around (and not many that I've talked to do), the top 500 of, say, 1965 as opposed to the top 10.
I can also see being different by pushing the boundaries of the 'new' media, however that's not my interest. But I don't see it as a necessity. Most people don't understand why they can't hear a micro radio station, whether it be AM or FM, in their house on a cheap portable radio more than a block away from the transmitter. They never will. You probably will never get these 'normal' people, who want something cheap, free and easy (and whatever it is their peer group wants) as listeners.
The key, as I see it, is being different in a way that gives YOU pleasure. Even though a micro broadcaster's listenership will never be large, the people who do listen are willing do a bit of work to do so because THEY really want to. They'll buy an Internet radio, actively search out the music they like regardless of what is popular, drive to wherever they can hear your station in the car, whatever.
Be different. The new media isn't everything.
Heh-heh ... yeah, my station here is certainly not "normal". I don't talk much about national or international news, there are so many sources on the internet, TV, and talk radio, that it's actually difficult to avoid it.
But there are precious few sources for current information on Friday Harbor and the San Juan Islands.
As we get closer to the summer season, I think sources for ferry info you can listen to in your car, or blurbs about entertainment, festivals, lunch specials, let alone support for local musicians (which I play all day M-S), and live activities, etc., are hard to come by.
My goal is to service my community with content (or more correctly perhaps, product) which they cannot get anywhere else.
Which is why I've also been investigating LPTV this week
First I'll reply to the note just posted from Ken Norris, because you have triggered a long time question I've had. Looking back over the years I have known several small and medium sized radio stations which have gotten themselves included as the audio channel on cable television channels, such as the directory channels and others which normally have video only. That seems like a real target to explore.
LPTV would be smart, and getting analog TV channel 6 would also put you on the FM dial. There's a channel 6 in Alaska somewhere that replied to the FCC that no rule prohibits addressing an FM audience on the audio portion of TV channel 6. I don't know where that issue stands.
Now, about all the internet related stuff..... starting with Apps.
I notice at WWOZ.org, a licensed station, they offer free WWOZ Apps for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and Facebook. Their Apps are customized to their own station. How is that accomplished?
Do you want to pay a developer or do you want to learn how to do it yourself?
1) Time: How much do you have to invest to go through the tutorials and learn how to write programs. There are many thousands of experienced developers who have been writing software every day for a living for a long time. Creating apps using SDKs for media phones is relatively easy for them. How about you?
2) Money: How much do you have to to invest in hiring a developer to write a couple spec programs just for you?
In either case, chances are there are already a few apps out there for which only a small modification is necessary to gear it for your purposes ... I think that will get you the most bang for the buck as it were, so that's where I'd advise you to spend time looking.
Media professor and sociologist Marshall McLuhan remains the prophet of how we interface with new technology. He is quoted as saying, “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.” And his famous quote, “The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium that is, of any extension of ourselves result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.”
And finally this bit of wisdom, “The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”
So, ignoring new technology and media platforms will eventually over take all of us; either through adoption or to bury our dead carcasses. Listeners are not attracted to the sight of circling carrion foul.
As an operator of a Part 15 radio station, the opinion of how other people see you and your operation is determined by which path you have chosen. A "progressive effort' builds confidence in your listener base and the word-of-mouth message that you have become their new favorite. They don't care whether your micro-watts or megawatts, the perceived size of your heart is what makes the difference.
And finally, social media can be the great equalizer. With the proper message and graphics and technology tools, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube can make your micro operation look as big and forward thinking as any mega radio corporation on the planet. Dare to dream, to stretch, to learn and to create the new normal.
All communicators should have a few Marshall McLuhan books in the library, here's a quote from "The Medium is the Message (page 100)":
"The youth of today are not permitted to approach the traditional heritage of mankind through the door of technical awareness."
I think the reason for this relates to what Marshall Johnson, Sr. mentioned earlier: "If listeners don't chose your radio program within a 9-second door of awareness they lose interest." The heritage of mankind is far longer than 9-seconds; it won't fit the door.
My 9-second blog entry ends with this: "Listen to the Marshalls."