Doc Searls notes some financial pain from UK based radio, and draws the obvious conclusion:

Meanwhile, PORS (my new initialism for Plain Old Radio Service: AM/MW, FM, shortwave) is growing ever more anachronistic and so are efforts either to A) give it with a digital gloss (as do the IBOC digital enhancements to AM and FM, which have made listening worse on old radios while reaching too damn few new ones), or B) replace it with something new developed decades ago (such as DAB), while still sounding like regular old radio stations (while listeners are moving by the millions to iPods and other alternatives over which they are the ones in control).

The key is control - time shifting, mostly, but also enjoyment. There's a talk show I listen to on my iPod - I enjoy many of te segments this particular guy does (but not all). His radio show is 3 hours daily, but the podcasts are cut into 3 segments (one for each hour). The ads are eliminated from the podcasts, which makes each "hour" of radio into 33 minutes of podcast.

Now, I don't expect these to remain ad-free forever, but - compare the ligtweight ads on TWiT - which also create their own conversation - to the mind numbing repetition of AM and FM radio. I almost never listen to radio anymore, but that's something that could be reversed - if the broadcasters cared to make the experience not suck.

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