Radio Killed the Video Star

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein.

Well, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I once again lost a post in draft mode when I decided to use the spell checker. So, shame on me. I guess I have to tie a string around my finger to remind myself that I can't spell check a posting without losing it.

My late, great father was an historian who was accused of never leaving a stone unturned when he took on a research project. When I heard that, I learned where it came from for me. I also have history in my blood.

Radio, once again, can teach those who are willing to learn what the future of television on the Internet is. As developers at RealAudio and other places perfected compression techniques for digital and live, streaming audio, radio stations were put into an awkward position: was Internet audio a threat or an opportunity? (Personally and professionally, I believe all established media should look at new media as presenting opportunities because the technology genie cannot be put back into the bottle.) Just as many radio stations initially tried to fight off Internet distribution, television providers are in the same position. Today, radio has embraced digital transmission via the Internet through a multitude of program aggregators if nor their own origination (e.g., via their own web sites). Copyright was thought to be a possibly insurmountable obstacle to radio on the Internet, but those issues were solved.

Therefore, history teaches us that there will be Internet television and that today's television program providers will be online (and does anyone really think that Hollywood doesn't want a new revenue stream?). Don't believe me? "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."