I read an article over the weekend and it’s taken a few days to sink in. Radio Ink Magazine has reported on three automotive industry representatives who appeared at a conference last week. One of their statements attracted immediate attention, followed by shock waves throughout the broadcasting industry:
“AM and FM are being eliminated from the dash of two car companies within two years and will be eliminated from the dash of all cars within five years.”
Think about this for a minute: the car radio…that faithful friend, essential to every ride most of us have ever owned, is being DISCONTINUED. Eliminated from the dashboard. No longer available. Extinct. No longer relevant. There really isn’t any “nice” way to put this. Radio as we know it will not be offered in new vehicles, beginning in just two years.
In fairness, you can’t really blame the car companies. Their research has shown that younger people just don’t use radio anymore. If they want to hear music, they have Pandora and Spotify. “Radio” to them means online streaming services such as iHeart Radio or TuneIn. There’s an app for that. We’re not just talking about misguided kids here. The harsh reality is this: most people under 40 no longer consider radio to be a primary entertainment or information source.
This is a big deal, friends. Many consider in-car listening to be radio’s last stand for dominance. Once it’s gone, then what? Does the industry survive, or does analog terrestrial radio go the way of the telegraph keys and spark-gap transmitters that came before it?
Your thoughts?