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Changes are in the airwaves for the year 2000

New alternatives and challenges waiting in wings

Thursday, December 30, 1999

By BILL VIRGIN Mail Author
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The big news about local radio in 1999 had to do with what was on the airwaves.

The big news in 2000 may be about the airwaves themselves.

Expect to be reading in the year 2000 about two developments, one technological, the other regulatory, that could offer new choices to the listening audience and provide some competitive challenges to the existing radio industry.

One is satellite-distributed radio. Two companies have been granted licenses to broadcast dozens of music and programming channels to a unit in your car (the two companies have also signed deals with the auto manufacturers). They expect to charge about $10 a month for the services, which could make their debut in late 2000.

The other is low-power or micro radio. The Federal Communications Commission is considering proposals to license small stations in unused portions of the FM band. Proponents say micro radio gives a voice to opinions and music not heard on commercial or large public stations. The radio industry says there's not a lot of room left, and signals from poorly run micro stations will step on existing stations. Micro radio advocates say the industry, which already is lining up allies in Congress to block any move by the FCC, just doesn't want the competition for listeners.

Of the two, satellite radio is probably the bigger competitive threat to radio as it exists today -- and if recent history is any indication, maybe not much of one at that.

Radio has been through this before. Television didn't kill radio, but it certainly transformed it. The Internet was supposed to, with Web radio stations offering more musical variety and depth than over-the-air broadcasters could.

Indeed the Internet is swarming with radio offerings, many of them put there by existing radio stations who are just now learning how to extend and supplement their service via the Web. The Web is a boon to radio in one other way -- broadcaster coffers are stuffed with advertising revenues from dot-com companies.

At this point, Internet radio is still an experiment rather than a mass medium. If people at home or employers (since a lot of radio listening occurs on the job) decide it's a waste of data pipeline capacity to produce the equivalent of a transistor radio, it may never amount to more than a niche service.

As for satellite radio, there are big questions about whether people will pay, and how much, for a service with no local content. The draw of local personalities delivering local news, sports, weather, traffic, comedy and commentary and, yes, even commercials shouldn't be underestimated.

All right reader/listeners, now it's your turn. What don't you like about radio here that you would change? What's not on the air that should be? What's on that should disappear into the static? E-mail your comments to the address below, and we'll run your comments next week.

In other radio notes:

  • "Jazzset" at 7 p.m. today on KBCS-FM (91.3) features highlights from a decade's worth of New Year's Eve celebrations, including performances by Carmen McRae and Harry Connick Jr.

  • The Capitol Steps review the year in "Politics Takes a Holiday" at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow on KUOW-FM (94.9).

  • Buck Henry and Jane Curtin are among the pundits looking at the events of 1999 on "Backfire! 1999" at 9 p.m. tomorrow on KUOW-FM.

  • KWJZ-FM (98.9) broadcasts the top 10 smooth jazz CDs, as voted by listeners, in their entirety beginning at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

  • The top 40 country songs of the decade are counted down starting at 8 p.m. tomorrow on KMPS-FM (94.1).

  • KING-FM (98.1) broadcasts a Seattle Symphony concert at 8 p.m. tomorrow.

  • KIXI-AM (880) broadcasts live from its annual New Year's Eve party at the Westin in Seattle beginning at 10 p.m. tomorrow.

  • "Casey Kasem's KLSY2K Kountdown" counts the 40 most memorable hits in rock music history, 9 p.m.-midnight tomorrow on KLSY-FM (92.5).

  • Jim French interviews Steven Pinker, author of "Words and Rules," at 7:05 a.m. Saturday on KIRO-AM (710).

  • John Harbison's "The Great Gatsby" is performed by the Metropolitan Opera at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on KING-FM.

  • KMTT-FM (103.7) will play its staff's picks of the top 10 CDs of the year, starting at noon New Year's Day.

  • "Mountain Stage" at 5 p.m. Saturday on KBCS-FM (91.3) features highlights from past shows including Robert Cray, Randy Newman, The Band, the Neville Brothers and Elvis Costello.

  • Tiger performs on "The Live Room" at 8 p.m. Saturday on KCMU-FM (90.3).

  • Ichabod Caine interviews the Judds on "Honky Tonk Sundays" at 7 a.m. Sunday on KMPS-FM.

  • The top 50 country songs of 1999 are counted down starting at 8 p.m. Sunday on KMPS-FM.

  • Musicians from the Seattle Chamber Music Festival Winter Interlude perform on "Live by George" at 8 p.m. Monday on KING-FM.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattle-pi.com

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