iPod blamed for Chicago radio demise
updated 02:15 pm EDT, Fri July 7, 2006
iPods replace radio
Apple's iPod has played a major role in the death of one Chicago radio station. WBEZ, Chicago's National Public Radio (NPR) member station and one of the oldest public radio outlets in the U.S. has elected to scrap scheduled music programming, which was mostly jazz, in favor of a 24-hour news and public affairs format, according to Reuters. A major contributing factor proved to be the growing popularity of Apple's iPod, as the portable device generated a culture of listeners who dictate their own musical selections. Loyal jazz fans are crying out in response to the change, while WBEZ and other public stations say they haven't kept pace with the changing U.S. population. "Local news has simply been abandoned by the commercial broadcasters and sometimes even the commercial newspapers," said Ken Stern, vice president of National Public Radio. "What you see as a trend is stations like WBEZ investing heavily in local news and information," Stern said.
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2000
i am from
chicago. the only thing that killed chicago radio was the people running it. It is some of the worst in the country!! (A bit off topic) when you have 3 companies that own ALL the stations and half the stations being in spanish format where else are you going to go? thats one reason i got XM (and oh my... i WORK in radio! -just not in chicago)
maybe if the 'full service local' format would come back to chicago it would improve! but again, 3 main companies owning the stations, guess what... they are all gonna be the same!