- Just today, mighty, mighty Clear Channel Radio...the world's largest owner of commercial radio stations and the licensee of almost a thousand radio stations in the USA announced that they are taking the word "radio" out of their name. HUH? "As part of the ongoing digital and multimedia makeover of the company, Clear Channel Radio is erasing the word 'radio' from its masthead. It will now be known as Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. The company says the core business will remain its 850 radio stations, but the rebranding signals its continued expansion into new areas such as digital, satellite, dashboards and live events," says the news story at INSIDE RADIO. This comes right on the heels of...
- ...a story in USA TODAY that says, " Beginning this month, YouTube is gambling $100 million that by seeding professional production firms such as Young Hollywood — whose slate of YouTube-only programming premieres Monday — it will draw more eyeballs for longer viewing sessions.
The story goes on to say: Put simply, the word “television” is being redefined. What once was something produced by a network or cable channel for a screen in the living room is fast becoming anything cobbled together by nearly anyone for a range of devices. This is the culturally revolutionary, highly interactive future YouTube is banking on.
But none of this should surprise us, considering how the consumer nowadays expects to, well, consume media, as per... - ...this story on "Marketplace," which ran yesterday on my local NPR affiliate. It's short, but if you are too busy to listen to it, the gist is that a typical teenager has multiple choices of media in his or her bedroom, and little of it is tied to a radio-frequency transmitter on a mountain...except, of course, that little radio transmitter that offers wifi access from some router somewhere.
We curmudgeons remember when our parents finally relented and allowed us to have a transistor radio in our rooms so we could listen to that evil rock-and-roll. My kids had TVs and an extension telephone. Now my grandkids have the world at their fingertips, not just in their rooms but wherever their sweet little selves happen to be. That transistor in the shirt pocket has become a truly stunning device that not only allows them to experience a wide of range of media easily and cheaply...oftentimes free...but to create it, too.
Wonder how any homework ever gets done.
And along those lines, did you ever wonder what literary figures from the past would tweet if they had had Twitter accounts and smart phones? Here is a web site that makes some suggestions.
Enjoy. And if your kids know who Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn are, they may get a kick out of this, too. You KNOW they know what Twitter is!
Don Keith N4KC
http://www.n4kc.com/
http://www.donkeith.com/
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