Radio Vision

A local weatherman asked me a question the other day and he was dead serious: "Where do you see local television and radio in the next 10 years?"

Good question.

Now, while I don't have a crystal ball, I do know how a crystal radio works. Radio and television are two ways to transmit emotion. Both provide a vehicle to stimulate the mind.

Before there was television, there was radio. Before that, the telegraph and the telephone blazed the communication trail. All are vehicles and given the progress of technology, the just Internet is the latest of these vehicles.

So, how will we communicate in the future? With faster and cooler "vehicles" and it doesn't take a Mensa member to observe that all media is morphing into one. Nothing shouts this louder that the iPhone.

It even provides a modern day telegraph: Instant Messaging.

Now, here's the exciting part of the this whole equation: While technology is ever changing, our human needs remain the same. We still, laugh, cry, speak, and communicate as best we can. In other words, the audience is still using Adam and Eve technology to receive the latest media. That means we still need human input to provide human output.

Getting back to my friend's question: I believe that more and more, we'll be able to use radio like television and vice-versa. Web cams already let us see radio and we certainly have the ability to listen to television, even in our car. Through the web, listeners can now be heard and seen.

Radio programs become TV productions and new multi-media personalities will have more than their allotted 15 minutes of fame. This is not unlike what happened to the radio stars of the 40's who brought their audio wares to television.

The square root of communication follows the circle of life.