## 48 Did Video killed the Radio ? 

The Buggles said it in a song in the 80s. I'm sure some people said it when it was the beginning of television... and that was really the end of some types of programmes on radio, like theatre for example. Radio has moved on and we have moved on. I use it the same way I used it in the 80s. I listen to the radio when I'm driving (OK, in the 80s and part of the 90s it was my parents) and sometimes for some radio programmes at home. But these programmes are also broadcast via streaming and video streaming services like Youtube or self-hosted videos. Radio is now filmed and not really the radio we knew. When I was young, I didn't know the faces of the presenters. I could imagine them and often it was so different from reality. The radio stars were rare and they sometimes came on TV to become real stars. The famous house of today and also some actors started with radio. 

I use it like this because I'm old now...but also because I still have an old car (ahead of its time...18 years ago). It's not connected and I don't have Bluetooth to connect my smartphone to it. I don't want to transmit the sound of my smartphone to my radio. So I listen to the FM band and some of my favourite stations. I also have some CDs, but the radio is my favourite source of music in the car. It's also where I get the most information, and that's the difference with my youth. I listen to the most listened to radio station in France, the public network. But it was first of all because there was no advertising.... and because there were still left-wing people. There was .... before Macron put his friends in charge. I don't listen to that radio much now, and I'm back on an old rock station that I used to listen to in my youth. Some of the presenters are still there, so you can imagine that it's no longer a radio for young people. 

When I was young, there were two types of radio: music radio for young people and the rest for older people. It was the beginning of FM in France and everything was new. Some famous TV presenters started with radio programmes. Then a big network like NRJ was born and for 20 years it was one of the leading radio stations in France. But now it's very different with the internet, the use of streaming services and social networks in music. Even MTV is not as influential as it used to be for television. But marketing has also killed radio with panels to make playlists and marketing targets for advertising. Now, if you listen to the radio a few days a week, you know the whole playlist for the month. It's boring. You have to use Shazam to know the name of the artist you're listening to, because the presenter doesn't say it. And of course the presenter is not a DJ, just someone to talk and have some fun. Now, the radio is not on FM. It's podcasts, and you can make your own radio with streaming services.

I don't have a new car with that, so I don't use it. I don't use it on my smartphone because streaming services can drop an artist if they want to. A whole catalogue can disappear if there is no deal between the network and the record company. So I like to own some of my music sometimes and have a file on my smartphone because if I'm in a grey area I can still listen to my music. But if I only listen to 'my' music, I'm stuck in the past and I'm never going to be aware of new trends, new albums, etc... Radio is made for that, despite what I said before about marketing and panels. And sometimes RSS, social networks are useful. TV has never really replaced radio for this kind of use. Even music TV networks.

Radio is sometimes a local thing. I can listen to local radio stations to be aware of events and local information. Local newspapers are rare in France or not very interesting for me to read every day. I don't listen to a radio station based in my town... there aren't any. But for the region, or at least within 100km, it's OK. For very local information, the town has a website but mainly communicates via ....Facebook. I have an RSS feed for that, so I don't have to go to Facebook. With the new mayor, there were videos at the beginning of his mandate, but now there are very few videos and not with him as the star, ha ha... Video didn't kill the Facebook wall. But neither has radio. Radio is a forgotten medium for generations of people. I'm pretty sure I'd forget it myself if I didn't have it in my car. I'm listening to the radio with the Radiodroid app on my smartphone. My grandfather had a big radio (a complete cabinet, also for records, LPs...) and it was like a ceremony to listen to it. But with television
, that is a thing of the past. 

Now the radio is going to be digital with DAB+. I'm not sure that everyone will switch to a new set like they did with digital TV. And maybe it's digital that will kill radio, because DAB+ is not bankable like Spotify or Deezer in car and hi-fi advertising.

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