Obviously, radio no longer plays the role that was assigned to it back in the “noughties”. The Internet gave users everything: any songs, information, breaking news, book and movie announcements, forums for communicating with experts, and a platform for speeches. Everything for which the audience turned on the radio, migrated to the network. Now, in order to survive (not taking into account the high percentage of motorists who still listen to the radio), it is necessary to attract an audience in new ways.
First, the task of attracting the audience is solved by unique content (at one time, when the competition on the radio grew and the Internet was not yet so popular, there were programs that “blew up” the audience: “Model for Assembly” or “Frankie Show” – these things are still on their lips). Second, putting some of the information on the Internet and over the airwaves. If a radio station doesn’t live off the air, you can bury it.
Radio stations create web-communities and, in addition to audio material, post photos, videos, interesting texts, links and Instagram pages, all just to keep listeners interested. Every self-respecting station has off-air events.
Nevertheless, constant radio streaming is being replaced by (and in the West has already been replaced by) podcasts. Internet radio is another phenomenon that is predicted to defeat FM stations. Today, anyone can open an Internet station – it does not need to be officially registered, buy a license and expensive equipment.
For the simplest online broadcasting, you need hosting for the site, a broadcasting service (such as IceCast or ShoutCast), through which audio streams will pass, and software for broadcast automation, which we wrote about above (there are also free options). After setting up all these elements, you can start live broadcasts, any music or talk programs, the only question is the choice of the audience.
In a sense, we can watch the decline of classical FM broadcasting – sooner or later, evolution will take its course. Unprofitable FM stations are likely to curtail broadcasting, and there is a chance that technology will allow “catch-up” Internet radio, and the listener will accustom himself to podcasting. Audio information is still considered the most unobtrusive and comfortable to listen to in the background.