ALTERNATIVE CHOICES FOR SURVIVAL IN A NEW MEDIA WORLD Radio and Records "You need to stay aggressive in order to keep things fresh," said Lee Abrams of XM Satellite Radio at the R&R Convention while describing the challenges for Alternative radio in today's new media world. This morning's panel discussion, "New Media: Alternative Choices For Survival," moderated by R&R Alternative Editor Kevin Stapleford, comprised Abrams, Jack Isquith of AOL Music, Kim Monroe of WXTM/Cleveland, Bryan Miller of WOXY.com and Dave Lombardi of Astralwerks Records.
Isquith took on terrestrial radio and the Alternative format saying, "Radio has ignored people under 30 for the last 10 to 15 years," and claimed the Internet has become much more in-tune with the younger demo. "Songs are also breaking out of TV commercials and from films," said Isquith. Monroe defended the format and terrestrial radio, but was cautious, asking, "Will kids still come to us to hear new music? The jury is out. We'll see."
All panelists agreed that the advent of HD Radio will be a boom to terrestrial and the format, but it still ultimately boils down to which digital source will have the best content. "The best content will win," said Abrams. Lombardi put the content issue in stronger terms. "It certainly boils down to content," he said. "People have been talking about how great HDTV is, but if you're playing crappy re-runs of The Flying Nun, who cares." |