[HN Gopher] Stephen King to shut down his 3 radio stations in Maine
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       Stephen King to shut down his 3 radio stations in Maine
        
       Author : tintinnabula
       Score  : 69 points
       Date   : 2024-12-03 20:06 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
        
       | linotype wrote:
       | Wonder if he's planning to leave the US.
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | I think the article explains it nicely: they generate steady
         | losses, and he's getting older; if he dies, he doesn't want his
         | successors to have to unwind the liabilities.
         | 
         | It's ~2025. What is a popular music terrestrial radio station
         | at this point other than a vanity project?
        
           | pie420 wrote:
           | An institution of culture. something the new money tech elite
           | dont seem to understand. modern society is desperately
           | missing the concept of noblesse oblige
        
             | IncreasePosts wrote:
             | There might be a better way to implement noblesse oblige
             | than provide 30,000 people a 39th option for hearing rock n
             | roll music.
        
             | jprjr_ wrote:
             | FM radio is dead and has been for years. I haven't
             | seriously listened to FM radio since I got a portable CD
             | player and that was in the late 90s. I can't imagine
             | anybody trying to get into it now.
             | 
             | Why would I subject myself to obnoxious ads every few
             | minutes and music I don't like when I can just listen to
             | what I want, when I want, ad-free?
             | 
             | AM radio is still going with conspiracy talk and maybe
             | sports radio? I honestly don't know, I've never given AM
             | radio a real listen.
             | 
             | Sometimes I get nostalgic for the radio. I remember calling
             | in to stations and requesting songs, contests, morning zoo
             | hosts, and so on. But it's probably not coming back.
        
               | gazook89 wrote:
               | I'm not trying to argue the point, but I listen to FM
               | about every day, or at least every day I'm in the car.
               | It's much easier for me than getting music from my phone
               | going, even with Bluetooth.
               | 
               | And I have come to the conclusion that I like talk
               | intermixed with music, even if the talk is an ad. It's
               | weird, I never thought that'd be the case, but I do. In
               | fact, I wish I could easily mix my music library into my
               | podcast library-- specifically, interrupt podcasts with
               | music (maybe replace the ads with a single song).
               | 
               | I also like how easy it is to switch channels to
               | something different. I could do that with CarPlay or
               | something too with my own music, but then I probably have
               | to actually think about it (when I should be thinking
               | about driving).
               | 
               | And for people who care about live music events (shows
               | etc) it's a great way to find out about those things,
               | particularly if your city has a good public radio station
               | and not just iHeartMedia.
               | 
               | I'm not sure I Love radio, but I would probably really
               | miss it if it wasn't in my car.
        
               | inferiorhuman wrote:
               | Dunno where you are but local radio programming
               | disappeared in most markets years ago. Even in the Bay
               | Area. All of what you've said about radio content was
               | true a decade or more ago, but much less true now.
               | And for people who care about live music events (shows
               | etc) it's a       great way to find out about those
               | things
               | 
               | Big stations promote big acts, sure. But that's easy
               | enough to find information on elsewhere (e.g. Youtube).
               | Smaller stations (e.g. KXSF, KPFA, KZSU) out here promote
               | smaller venues but I'm typically out of range and end up
               | listening to their content via the good old internet.
               | I'm not sure I Love radio, but I would probably really
               | miss it if       it wasn't in my car.
               | 
               | There was a time I would (late 90s, early 00s) but now?
               | Not so much. The ratio of music to ads has gotten awful.
               | Even stations that have ostensibly gone back to their
               | roots like KITS are a pale imitation of their past glory.
               | Like they'll wear the meat suit of genres that were
               | previously popular but make sure to mix it with plenty of
               | mediocre top 40 and a suffocating amount of ads.
        
               | gazook89 wrote:
               | I don't really listen to radio while traveling so I'll
               | take your word for it. In Minnesota we gave The Current,
               | part of MPR family of stations which is pretty good from
               | what I hear (about its status nationally, though always
               | some one will say it "used to be better"). And yeah,
               | that's ONE station.
               | 
               | Probably another part of it for me is that most of drives
               | are probably considered short, the longest trip is
               | usually 20-30 minutes depending on traffic and that's
               | only a few times a month.
               | 
               | If I was doing hour long commutes, it'd be podcasts all
               | day.
        
               | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
               | That "most markets" does a lot of heavy lifting.
               | 
               | In the MSP area my two main radio stations are both
               | public radio. The state's MPR (Minnesota Public Radio)
               | station and The Current, which is basically what the GP
               | described for the Twin Cities region.
               | 
               | I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that I'd miss
               | them if they were gone. OK, I really like listening to
               | Terry Gross and Kai Ryssdal but besides that it's just
               | nice background audio.
        
               | eichin wrote:
               | Some time in the early 2000's I heard a Microsoft ad, on
               | FM radio, for FAT32. I turned off the radio and basically
               | never turned it on again (and made sure my next car had
               | mp3 player support.)
        
               | talldatethrow wrote:
               | As someone who doesn't listen to the radio in FM or AM,
               | does it really make sense to comment on your thoughts
               | regarding how often and why it's listened to by most
               | people? You're not one of them.
               | 
               | I've owned CDs since the early 90s. I e owned several
               | good MP3 players. I have several USB drives with music on
               | them. I haven't touched any of those in about a decade,
               | and instead listen to the radio every day.
        
               | vlowther wrote:
               | Give monthly donations to your local NPR affiliate. Most
               | of them have decently middle-of-the-road biased news, and
               | a few have really good music programming (looking at you,
               | KUTX).
        
             | sourcepluck wrote:
             | Excellent, agreed. Nothing is sacred except "the grind", it
             | appears, yes. No value exists outside viewcount, or
             | listenercount, or whatever metric the media uses.
             | 
             | Your comment reminds me of something I read yesterday, an
             | allusion that mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota made to what he
             | called "Kultur", in this remarkable interview
             | https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/00326965.pdf.
             | The context is different, but I think your usage is in line
             | with his in the interview.
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | You can write as many paragraphs of this stuff as you
               | like but I don't think that's going to get people to
               | retain long-term 7-8 figure liabilities on their books.
               | If there's even a notion of a system of "noblesse
               | oblige", everybody has been defecting from it except for
               | King.
        
             | bawolff wrote:
             | There are plenty of cultural institutions in the modern
             | world that are basically run as a charity. I think the
             | elite understand this just fine they just don't view some
             | random rock radio station as a cultural institution.
        
           | klodolph wrote:
           | Ah yes. _If_ he dies.
        
             | codpiece wrote:
             | And if he _remains_ dead...
        
             | michaelwilson wrote:
             | Let's just hope we're not on his "People to Haunt" list.
        
           | sjhatfield wrote:
           | KEXP
        
             | caust1c wrote:
             | So happy they expanded to the Bay Area after living in
             | Seattle for a few years!
        
               | xnorswap wrote:
               | I've been listening to them on KEXP.org for a decade or
               | more now.
               | 
               | It's a little odd tuning into "the morning show" in the
               | afternoon, but it's good radio, and so much better for
               | discovering music than any of the alternatives here.
               | 
               | 6 Music can be as good, but it never quite got over the
               | "death" of the UK indie music scene and sometimes feels
               | more like a tribute act to it's former self. As I speak
               | the heaviest tracks in rotation are from Bon Iver and
               | Doves, and while both are great acts, they're not new
               | bands. Overall the discoverability is way down, and
               | fairly often I'll find new music, even music from
               | UK+Ireland, via KEXP, rather than from the media here.
        
               | bagpuss wrote:
               | give Do You Radio a try, former NTS guys went out on
               | their own, all available on mixcloud so you can flick
               | through bits you don't like
               | 
               | https://doyou.world/
        
               | indigodaddy wrote:
               | Radio Paradise is also still pretty good for discovering
               | new music..
        
             | into-ruin wrote:
             | XRAY.fm in Portland is another
        
               | UncleOxidant wrote:
               | And KMHD for Jazz
        
             | jauntywundrkind wrote:
             | With radio on the internet, there's a ton of great
             | worthwhile stations available.
             | 
             | WTMD, Colorado Sound, WEQX, Koto.fm, Mountain Chill, WETA,
             | WMRW, 102 Cue, KCRW all get a lot of play around here.
             | 
             | Radio feels dead because most places have been taken over
             | by a couple major broadcasters. Radio is awesome when
             | people care about it, is still a fantastic institution of
             | lots of small local shops doing amazing things for great
             | good.
        
             | downut wrote:
             | KFJC, WREK, KXLU, WWOZ, WFMU...
             | 
             | Each is not always good 24x7 but when they are good they
             | are so much better than any playlist I've ever heard.
             | You're just not going to get a Firebunker(RIP) or Cousin
             | Mary or Alma de Barrio without the humans.
        
             | djbusby wrote:
             | I love them, discovered when I lived in Seattle. Now I've
             | got a crazy little one WJOP-LP but some of the DJs play
             | local little bands and more obscure artists. Must be a
             | teaching/training type thing.
        
           | disantlor wrote:
           | WFMU
        
           | RobRivera wrote:
           | Heritage project, source of joy and soothing, an opportunity
           | to ply your intellect on radio tech?
           | 
           | Vanity project seems like such a misnomer. When I think of
           | vanity project, I think of Bender building a tomb in his
           | honor a million cubits high with fire eyes saying 'RE MEMBER
           | MEEEEEE'
        
           | stevage wrote:
           | A valuable community service appreciated by thousands of
           | people? The opposite of vanity.
        
             | tptacek wrote:
             | Given how people consume music today, I stand by "vanity",
             | and I think King agrees.
        
               | talldatethrow wrote:
               | I think he'd agree more with Passion Project not vanity.
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | Sure. Either way: not a thing sustained for its utility.
               | I think running independent rock radio stations is
               | admirable. It sounds fun. But if it's losing him millions
               | of dollars, obviously, he should immediately stop doing
               | it.
        
           | xemdetia wrote:
           | Depending on the market it is still possible to be
           | profitable. There is still a market even though it is narrow
           | and most stations solve the problem like how Stephen King
           | did- you have multiple stations to increase inventory.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | Something that can be received without a data plan
        
             | jprjr_ wrote:
             | Before we had data plans we had MP3 players, CDs, tapes.
             | 
             | I guess what I'm getting at is - for a lot of us the radio
             | was already dead before streaming was an option.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | Yes yes, you can find any little thing to add as an
               | argument to support "I don't listen to radio", but a lot
               | of us still listen to radio.
               | 
               | Sometimes, you want to find something other than what's
               | in your mp3/CD/cassette collection. Growing up, there
               | were very specific shows that I would listen to
               | specifically for being introduced to something (whether
               | it was new or old and just new to me). Radio did not
               | become a bad experience to me until Clear Channel/Comcast
               | bought up all of the non-indies and made it greater than
               | 80% chance that you'd hear a commercial whenever you
               | tuned into any given station.
               | 
               | I'd also suspect that your "a lot of us" sounds really
               | big in whatever echo chamber you find yourself
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | You listen to it, but presumably you don't support it,
               | since it's dying, right?
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | Your presumptions are almost as bad as when you assume.
               | Actually, they're better since you can leave the "me" out
               | of the assu prove to be. I've supported my community
               | station KNON since I was in high school. Might have
               | missed here or there, but I've contributed to them longer
               | than anything else.
               | 
               | The only thing dying in this thread are the 3 stations
               | King runs, and whatever notions you thought you had on
               | me.
        
               | mmmBacon wrote:
               | I have 15 year old vehicles. I listen to the radio in all
               | the cars I drive as does my spouse. The receivers in our
               | vehicles are too old to have Carplay and with the removal
               | of the audio jack in phones there's no way to connect
               | them to the audio system. We do have one vehicle that can
               | stream over Bluetooth but it can be a hassle and
               | distracting in traffic so we usually only use it on road
               | trips. Locally it's easier to turn on the radio and use
               | presets (you can feel them!) to change the channel when
               | it gets annoying. It just works mostly.
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | > What is a popular music terrestrial radio station at this
           | point other than a vanity project?
           | 
           | More's the pity.
        
           | dredmorbius wrote:
           | Terrestrial radio: an immensely effective political
           | propaganda tool. (May involve more than just music, but music
           | is good earbait.)
           | 
           | "The Divided Dial: How Conservative Talk Radio Came to
           | Dominate the Airwaves"
           | 
           | (6 part podcast, transcripts available, originally published
           | Nov-Dec 2022)
           | 
           | <https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/divided-dial>
        
         | edm0nd wrote:
         | To me it read as if he is dying. He's currently 77.
        
           | tptacek wrote:
           | He explicitly says his health is fine. People are just
           | hunting for a more interesting story than the real one.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | It's not any different than having a will without knowing
           | when you die. The point is to have one already in place for
           | when you do die.
        
         | Alupis wrote:
         | You have to be a very special brand of knuckle-dragger to leave
         | the US because you didn't get your way in one election.
        
       | josefritzishere wrote:
       | https://archive.is/tDHvx
        
       | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
       | The death of radio is a damn shame.
        
         | queuebert wrote:
         | On the upside, we'll be slightly safer from alien invasion when
         | we stop blasting RF into the void.
        
         | Workaccount2 wrote:
         | I turned on the radio for kicks a few weeks ago, just to see
         | what it was like nowadays.
         | 
         | Ads. It's all ads. Like 10 minute blocks of ads interleaved
         | with radio hosts reading promo weather and promo traffic,
         | followed by ads, then maybe a song. Then more ads.
        
           | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
           | Did you need an account to tune in?
           | 
           | I haven't listened to the radio in years because they closed
           | down my stations! WBRU and WBCN!
        
           | galleywest200 wrote:
           | Check out a listener-powered station such as KEXP at 90.3
           | (Seattle) or 92.7 (SF/Oakland). If you live outside of these
           | regions they stream at KEXP.org or on their mobile app. You
           | can also listen to the last two weeks of shows at
           | https://www.kexp.org/archive/.
        
             | nicksergeant wrote:
             | Yep, still going strong here in Rochester, NY as well with
             | WBER: https://wber.org
        
             | freddie_mercury wrote:
             | I've listened to plenty of listener powered stations. They
             | don't have ads. Just weeks of effectively ads when they are
             | begging for donations. I'd rather have an ad.
             | 
             | Plus every listener powered station I've ever listened to
             | has tons of shows I don't care about or even tolerate.
             | Streaming doesn't have the same issue. Just as an example:
             | your KEXP appears to play country, jazz, and electronic,
             | reggae, and metal. I think a lot of people aren't going to
             | be interested in all of those options.
        
               | dingnuts wrote:
               | I listen to KUTX and KEXP and appreciate that there are
               | shows hosted by different DJs that play different genres
               | at different times of the day, and week.
               | 
               | On Friday afternoons KUTX has had a old school dance
               | show.
               | 
               | I don't really listen to funk or disco but I always
               | enjoyed the energy of that show on Fridays, and have come
               | to associate it with the weekend and get excited when
               | it's on
               | 
               | I'm not interested in everything KUTX plays, but I'm way
               | more interested in the variety they offer and the chance
               | to discover new artists like Adrian Quesada, JUNGLE, or
               | Khruangbin, who I otherwise never would have discovered,
               | than I am in whatever twenty year old mainstream dreck is
               | on iHeartRadio's single-genre no DJ shuffle broadcast
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | I think there's a secret pirate in me that wonders if the
           | time is right....
        
           | 0_____0 wrote:
           | In Boston the college radio stations are a lovely and weird
           | respite from the Cumulus and Iheart scourge.
           | 
           | Weirdly enough Canada seems to have better and less grating
           | radio, anecdotal from my experience in BC.
        
           | pclmulqdq wrote:
           | ASCAP/BMI charge radio stations a lot for a license to play
           | music. Spotify's licensing costs are pennies for the same
           | reach as a local radio station. It's no surprise that the
           | expensive distribution channel is packed with ads.
        
           | soygem wrote:
           | Amen. I also hate ads so much it's unreal.
        
         | bena wrote:
         | It may be, but to be fair, I either stream music via Pandora or
         | listen to Podcasts. Sometimes, I'll play specific music I have
         | on my phone. Basically, my phone has replaced every function
         | the car stereo had.
         | 
         | And for long trips, streaming beats terrestrial radio. After an
         | hour or two, you'll have to search for new stations as you
         | leave the range or the previous tower. Then you'd better hope
         | there would be a station you could tolerate in some places.
         | 
         | Podcasts are superior to talk radio. As they're curated by you.
         | 
         | Etc, etc.
         | 
         | The major thing we've lost is the specific curation done by
         | some stations. Top 40 radio is what it is, but some stations
         | existed to play things outside the charts.
        
         | DaveExeter wrote:
         | How so?
         | 
         | Ok, sometimes it's nice to begin the day with a friendly voice.
         | Like a companion, unobtrusive. But you can get that from
         | podcasts.
        
           | fredsmith219 wrote:
           | The song needs to be updated to reflect our current reality.
        
         | pjmorris wrote:
         | It's not over yet; I just bought my college radio station's
         | (WKNC) t-shirt.
        
           | Matticus_Rex wrote:
           | WKNC represent! I DJed there in undergrad from 2007-2010.
           | Great station.
        
         | Eumenes wrote:
         | There's NPR (not my thing) and some AM stations with
         | interesting local talk shows. I still listen to baseball games
         | on AM radio.
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | Counterpoint: radio, even independent/college rock radio in the
         | heyday of independent/college rock, sucked ass compared to what
         | we have now.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | Counterpoint: no it didn't.
           | 
           | Independent/college radio was full of music (even if you
           | didn't care for it) that was curated by people that gave a
           | damn. They are/were better than whatever your algo thinks it
           | can do.
        
             | tptacek wrote:
             | I have significantly more and better sources of human
             | curation now than I did when I was listening to college
             | radio.
        
               | dmonitor wrote:
               | Self-curated or do you have a good source for human-made
               | playlists?
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | I feel like basically all I listen to is human-made
               | playlists and recommendations from humans? RYM might be a
               | good place for you to start, but you can also just do the
               | obvious thing of starting from a couple playlists you
               | like and finding other playlists by the same people.
               | Eventually you'll find people who seemingly do this full-
               | time.
               | 
               | Really weird for me to see people talking about how bad
               | "the algo" is. Do people just open up Apple Music or
               | Spotify and tell it "find stuff for me to play"? I know
               | that's a thing it will do, but it never occurred to me
               | that I'd actually want it to do that.
        
               | ziddoap wrote:
               | > _Do people just open up Apple Music or Spotify and tell
               | it "find stuff for me to play"? I know that's a thing it
               | will do, but it never occurred to me that I'd actually
               | want it to do that._
               | 
               | I do this with Apple Music.
               | 
               | And, to be honest, "the algo" has been really good. The
               | "create a station" feature has introduced me to a few
               | dozen artists at least.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | I'd posit that at least part of those better sources
               | might still get some of their recommendations from a
               | station from somewhere even if you don't realize it.
        
           | lxgr wrote:
           | Compared to what?
           | 
           | Radio does convey a sense of locality and connection that
           | nothing else quite replaces for me (including web radio).
           | 
           | There's something unique about browsing the FM (or AM, where
           | still available) in an unknown place, seeing whether you can
           | still get the same station the next day on a road trip etc,
           | and knowing that some people in the general area are
           | listening to the exact same thing at the same time.
           | 
           | Long distance listening on shortwave can also be quite fun,
           | although fewer and fewer countries are still active there.
           | It's still fascinating to hear your home news an ocean away
           | with just a small wire, a handheld radio, and no network
           | whatsoever!
           | 
           | Obviously I wouldn't trade Spotify for it, but I'd still be
           | sad to see it go.
        
             | tptacek wrote:
             | "Obviously I wouldn't trade Spotify for it" pretty much
             | sums the whole thing up.
        
               | lxgr wrote:
               | Seems like a false dichotomy to me. Why wouldn't there be
               | room for both?
               | 
               | Personally, Spotify has replaced CDs and MP3s much more
               | than radio, also.
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | I didn't pose a dichotomy. I said one thing is better
               | than the other. If enough people disagree, the crappier
               | thing will survive regardless. I don't think they do,
               | though, which is why terrestrial radio is dying.
        
               | lxgr wrote:
               | The implied dichotomy being "for enough people, streaming
               | is so much better than radio that they'll completely
               | forego radio", or maybe "see, even you prefer Spotify
               | over radio".
               | 
               | But that's not how it works. Even I, a single person, can
               | very frequently listen to Spotify and occasionally listen
               | to radio. I don't have to trade one for the other
               | completely!
               | 
               | > If enough people disagree, the crappier thing will
               | survive regardless. I don't think they do, though, which
               | is why terrestrial radio is dying.
               | 
               | Is it really dying, or stabilizing at a lower-than-
               | before-Spotify-but-non-zero rate? Listening rates in
               | Germany and Austria have been pretty stable over the last
               | 20 years, for example.
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | Well, people who own terrestrial popular music stations
               | are losing millions of dollars and shutting them down.
        
             | hombre_fatal wrote:
             | > I wouldn't trade Spotify for it, but I'd still be sad to
             | see it go.
             | 
             | Compared to that. Or listening to any Youtube or podcast
             | instead of listening to the radio station hosts prattle on
             | instead of playing the next track.
             | 
             | Nostalgia for radio is like nostalgia for the winter I
             | worked at a cozy cafe at age 17: I have some good memories
             | and every once in a while when I'm stressed at work I yearn
             | for those simpler times... but there's a reason why I will
             | never go back. No need to glorify it just because of some
             | fading attachment to the yesteryears.
        
               | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
               | I just think there is something liberating about radio.
               | No subscription, free for anyone to tune into, and
               | locality.
        
               | lxgr wrote:
               | Of course you're free to listen to whatever you want, but
               | I'm still happy to tune in to my old home town/country
               | radio station every once in a while (when visiting or via
               | streaming), and I still find their programming quite
               | enjoyable. So it's not abstract nostalgia to me.
        
           | alecco wrote:
           | All the TOP XX lists were completely made up by the music
           | industry. And even many pirate radios were promoting their
           | friends mostly.
           | 
           | But to be honest, now they got the grips on Spotify. And all
           | the fake views on YT (like the making of "Despacito"). The
           | music moguls are ruthless.
        
         | latentcall wrote:
         | It's not dead. Lots of good stations around. I recommend KYGT-
         | LP out of Clear Creek Colorado. Lots of good stations also
         | broadcast online it's amazing.
        
         | criddell wrote:
         | I think so too but I'm conflicted. I wouldn't want to give up
         | my infinite jukebox that I have on my phone, but at the same
         | time I think the loss of shared culture is real.
         | 
         | American Graffiti is the movie that first made me think about
         | it. The DJ (Wolfman Jack) is a central character in that movie.
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ9Gp6Qc8LQ
        
         | snakeyjake wrote:
         | No FM radio station outside of a college campus has ever
         | succeeded without ads and any form of media that I cannot pay
         | for and receive ad-free is trash to me.
         | 
         | And as far as college radio goes, I'm don't need a new pothead
         | to tell me how revolutionary Kind of Blue is every time the old
         | one graduates.
         | 
         | Even public radio has ads. They use a fancy word instead of
         | "ads" though back when I dumped any form of media from which I
         | could not banish ads Archer Daniels Midland was one of public
         | radio's largest sponsors... for... reasons.
        
           | seszett wrote:
           | > _No FM radio station outside of a college campus has ever
           | succeeded without ads and any form of media that I cannot pay
           | for and receive ad-free is trash to me._
           | 
           | Quite a few public radio stations in Europe don't have ads.
           | They're paid by taxes and you receive them ad-free.
        
       | billconan wrote:
       | maybe running a youtube channel is a better/cost effective
       | option,
        
         | this_user wrote:
         | This was never about the money, he just wanted to control over
         | the programming at his local station that he was listening to.
        
         | jprjr_ wrote:
         | I think licensing becomes a bigger issue if you try to run a
         | radio station on YouTube with any commercial music. Even if
         | you're OK from all copyright perspectives and fully-licensed,
         | YouTube's copyright system is really easy to abuse.
         | 
         | What should be a good deal more cost-effective is an old-
         | fashioned, Icecast/Shoutcast/Azuracast-based internet radio
         | station.
        
       | readyplayernull wrote:
       | Imagine a radio experience where listeners are not just passive
       | consumers but active participants. This groundbreaking concept
       | will transform traditional listening into an engaging,
       | interactive platform. An interactive radio that allows users to
       | express their opinions in real-time by pressing one of three
       | buttons. Whether it's a song choice, a controversial topic, or a
       | poll about the day's news, listeners can instantly share their
       | views. This immediate feedback loop will create a dynamic
       | dialogue between the host and the audience.
        
         | galleywest200 wrote:
         | This sounds like the live-streaming we already have but with
         | extra steps.
        
           | jprjr_ wrote:
           | Honestly there aren't even extra steps. It's just live-
           | streaming, maybe with a chatbot.
        
         | throwaway0665 wrote:
         | Are you not describing the current talkback radio experience?
        
         | jprete wrote:
         | Broadcast radio stations typically had phone lines for
         | listeners to call. Music stations would take song requests and
         | run contests where the Nth caller would win a prize. Talk radio
         | would put callers on the air to chat with the host.
         | 
         | Maybe you already knew this, but anyone who remembers broadcast
         | radio would also know it. If you're making a joke, I don't
         | quite get the punchline.
        
           | readyplayernull wrote:
           | It's a retro-invention, something that could have been
           | pitched in the golden days of radio. Inner joke I guess, I
           | laugh at re-reading it. Normal people do poetry, I hate
           | poetry.
        
       | ortusdux wrote:
       | I wonder if he called in requests Howard Hughes style -
       | https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/howard-hughes-bought-tv-st...
        
         | slyall wrote:
         | Remember this from the TV show Cheers. Robin is Robin Colcord
         | who is a billionaire who is a love intest of the character
         | Rebecca....
         | 
         | Rebecca Howe: [about Robin] I told him the biggest secret of my
         | life.
         | 
         | Carla LeBec: What?
         | 
         | Rebecca Howe: I told him about You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling
         | by The Righteous Brothers and what that song does to me. Right?
         | Do you know what he did?
         | 
         | Carla LeBec: What?
         | 
         | Rebecca Howe: He called this radio station he owns and he had
         | them play it all night.
         | 
         | Woody Boyd: I heard that. I thought that was the long version
        
           | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
           | Of all the characters, I can't believe that Woody Harrelson
           | would turn out to be the most talented :-)
        
         | defrost wrote:
         | He'd _hopefully_ make a better Maine themed Sven from Swiss
         | Cottage.
        
       | rnl wrote:
       | This page has 4 popups waiting to be closed overlapping the
       | content
        
       | allturtles wrote:
       | > All we hear is radio ga ga       Radio blah, blah        Radio,
       | what's new?       Radio, someone still loves you            >
       | Invisible airwaves crackle with life       Bright antennas
       | bristle with the energy       Emotional feedback on a timeless
       | wavelength       Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
        
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