With the revolution in how we interact with cars via their dashboards, which are becoming increasingly tech-rich, the way we listen to music and the radio will also change.
Gordon Borrell, a specialist in the field of media history, for instance, believes that half of all terrestrial radio stations will have gone extinct within the next 10 years.
The shift to digital is natural, and in the case of in-car audio, it’s been brought about by the proliferation of USB and audio jack inputs, as well as digital and satellite radios too. Check out the CNET video below to see how many people still use which one to listen to music.
Back to Gordon Borrell’s prediction, he bases his argument on previous examples in history. He told RaIn News “I think that’s exactly what happened to radio. Radio saw that the primetime audience, listening to serials in the evening, had disappeared in the period between 1948 and 1962. They didn’t curl up and die. Realizing they lost their nighttime audience, hey decided to develop a different audience during the day.”
He argues that at this very moment, “the industry is undergoing another significant change. The dashboard is similar to the television competition that ripped away the primetime audience.”
In regards to half of all radio stations dying out, he explains that the really big corporation-backed ones will remain, as will the very small ones (like local church or community radios). It’s whatever is in between that will have trouble staying relevant.
H/T to Jalopnik!