Tuesday, May 30, 2006

It's Just A Fad And Not Going Anywhere

In 1970, I was working at some little chickenpoop AM radio station which, previously, also had an FM side. One of the owners (previous or present) had sent the FM license back and I asked the current Operations Director why they didn't keep it. "FM is just a passing fad," he said. (Remember, this is 1970 and FM had already established itself as a growing radio service.) "After the FM's get rid of this music stuff, they will use it to send newspapers over the air so people can print them out at home."

He was, and probably continues to be, at idiot. That spot on the dial is worth lot of $$ and whoever picked up the license is doing well for themselves.

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Talking movies were the wrong way to go. Someone, at the time, said you get more emotion and transmit more of what is going on without the distraction of the words. Talkies will never work.

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Television won't work. Why watch movies on a tiny screen (if and when the studios allow them to be broadcast), when you can go to a regular theater and see them on a large screen, as they were meant?

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Women broadcasting the news? Nobody will believe them; they don't have the credibility.

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Beware the nay-sayers. Try it out; see how it works. Give the new idea a chance, work out the kinks and fine-tune the operation. Maybe it's no good and maybe it's got a future. But if the negative folks have an investment in the past, watch out; we'd still be buying buggy whips.

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