Who let Apple steal my radio?

Who let Apple steal my radio?
Or did we accidentally give it to them?

Thousands of people are employed in the business of radio, but they are scared, and they say an enemy lurks in the shadows.

Over a decade ago they accused the iPod of attempted murder.

Then Pandora and Spotify were pulled in front of a jury.

Today iTunes Radio stands trial, with screams from the accused that iTunes Radio will be the death of their beloved radio.

The crime here is not murder, if for no other reason that radio is not dead. The real crime is theft, brand theft. And radio has no case in court on that charge because they left the door wide open.

It wasn't break and enter.

The iPod, podcasts, Spotify, iTunes, they just walked in and took radio.

Strong brands don’t need defending.

There are thousands of replica iPhones, Rolex watches, and Louis Vuitton handbags that never gain any traction in the market place because the brand they are replicating is so strong that imitations cannot survive.

Radio in many countries has legislated it’s own protection. In Australia they radio frequencies are well guarded and no new players can just decide to start a radio station.

With good reason, it’s a valuable airspace, worth defending.

Weak brands deserve to be ravaged

Radio broadcasting is a magical medium.

At the radio station, staff decide what to broadcast with much deliberation, and eventually the audio signal is transmitted across a city and is easily and freely received by all.

The content of that broadcast changes from time to time, but it’s always been called the radio. And if the word radio can easily be taken from a curated media and slapped on a computer generated playlist, then someone’s socks need to be pulled up.

Content is king

The mantra at any good radio station is that content is king.

They’re right.

And this is where ‘radio’ was stolen.

The content we created stopped being amazing.

This point doesn't need explaining, everyone that has worked behind the microphone has berated themselves to death on this point.

Perhaps we should let radio for the blind read the newspaper live on air every morning, and instead, focus on creating original, compelling, exciting, local, relevant and entertaining content before Apple figures out how to get Siri to do it?

Read Josh's post on Medium here.

If you ever have an opinion piece you'd like to submit to Radio Today, on any topic, you are welcome to send it to us here.