Years ago, my wife and I lived next door to a wonderful retired couple who had moved to the Dallas area from Iowa.  The husband had a successful career as an engineer with one of the subsidiaries of one of the major automakers. In his off hours, he passionately restored antique radios.  His large, beautiful home was (and I imagine, still is) chock full of some of the most amazing radios you have ever seen. And I believe that most of them still worked thanks to his skill.

Radios used to serve as pieces of furniture and now they can literally fit in our ear.  We listened only to local stations and, if we were driving across country, we would often find ourselves searching for a radio with a signal strong enough to listen to in order to break up the monotony of the road.

Radio has changed a lot since those days. Ownership of the stations has changed from a mostly “mom and pop” business model to conglomerate owned, centrally managed and programmed, remotely broadcasted entities.  Sure, there are still local stations who have local personalities – especially in talk radio.  However, when it comes to music, it seems that stations have become so pigeon-holed and restrictive in what they introduce to their listening audiences, one finds it hard to learn about great, new music by both new artists as well as some of our iconic favorites.

Satellite radio has done a pretty good job in filling some of the void in our listening palette and I’m certainly a huge fan of the medium. However, I do believe that they need to bring things back around full circle in order to make things whole again.

One growing medium that I believe is bringing radio back to its roots while embracing technology is that of “web radio”.  There are “automated” programs like “Last.FM” (they even play “Metal Polka” music.  I’m couldn’t possibly make that up, folks.), Yahoo Music and Pandora Radio will tap into your interests and create music play lists based on your interests.

 For a more “traditional” approach, acquaintances of mine like Mason Ramsey and his www.RockandRollHeaven.net in Denver, Colorado, and Lucas Campell’s www.the-rock-of-ages-radio-show.com/ in the U.K., are doing a phenomenal job of filling the listening void within the classic rock genre.  Not surprisingly, web radio is being used in all other types of genres and formats, even talk radio.

Speaking of web talk radio, last week, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Deborah Brown and Pete Peters for their “BlogTalkRadio” program, The Boomer and the Babe.  It was a very enjoyable experience – so much so that I couldn’t believe how fast an hour can fly by (you can listen to the interview here). Their organization and infrastructure was brilliant in its simplicity, allowing them to be the wonderful, gracious hosts that they are.

Since that show, I have thought a lot about the evolution of radio and the impact it has had, and still has, on society.  Even more so, I thought about where all of this is going.  Technology is making it possible for people to set up high quality home studios for cheap – real cheap, while providing an audio product that people are clamoring for.  Many of these people are producing shows as labors of love, first, with the hope of “monetizing” their baby running a distant second.  It really is about doing what they love whether they get paid for it or not. 

Yes, radio has changed and not what it used to be.  However, if you’ll check out the work like those listed above, I believe that, like me, you’ll agree with the late Freddie Mercury’s words from the song, Radio Gaga: “You’ve (radio) yet to have your finest hour.”