Like radio, print not likely to become a dinosaur Publisher’s Notebook By Bob Strasser After spending over three decades of my life working in print media, I have had the opportunity to answer a milieu of questions about print. The question asked of me most frequently is, “How much longer will newspapers and magazines continue in print vs. being available only online.” It’s a good and legitimate question. I presume the reason people ask this question so often is there is a common perception print will share the same fate as the dinosaur, that is, eminent extinction. The answer isn’t as simply put as the question. Perhaps a look back in American history will help in understanding the answer. Americans, for better or worse, have very short memories. We forget important facts or events that have taken place over time and consequently tend to repeat the same mistakes or harbor misconceptions a better memory might have prevented. To better make my point, let’s consider a few past examples of changing technology. By looking at the past, we may get our answer about the future of print. Back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when television was first introduced and marketed commercially, most Americans believed radio was destined to be a thing of the past. Americans could not understand why would anyone want to just hear a voice when they could hear a voice and actually see the speaker on a TV set. American media prognosticators believed that radio would be passé within just a few quick years. We know that this didn’t occur, so what happened? Well, for one thing, the FM radio frequency was introduced. Music could be broadcast with very little static or interference. FM grew quickly in popularity and soon most American automobiles were outfitted with an AM-FM radio. Stereo FM radios next came on the scene and the number of FM radio stations soared. A whole new media was created at the same time TV was enjoying huge increases in viewership. Traditional AM music radio stations switched to news and talk show formats and the new FM stations were devoted to playing music. Within the past two decades, the old analog signal has been replaced by a newer technology. With the advent of satellite radio signal transmission and other new technologies, radio is once again “brand new.” The satellite signal beamed digitally is crystal clear with virtually no static. Anyone with a Sirius XM Radio now has the ability to listen to any programs on any road, anywhere in the entire U.S. Sirius XM is a paid subscriber service that transmits digital radio signals from satellites orbiting in space rather than using an analog radio signal. Consumers can select virtually any type of music, talk show, traffic report or weather report from anywhere in the country. As a result of the Internet, radio has evolved even further. With the advent of digital transmission of phone signals, listeners can go onto Web sites such as Pandora.com via cell phone or computer and play virtually any type of music they desire through their car stereo, computer or stereo system. The signal is 100 percent digital, and as an added bonus, there are no commercials. If radio inventor Marconi were alive today he would marvel at the improvements made to his original discovery. You may ask yourself: “What in the world does all this stuff about radio have to do with magazines and newspapers like The Business Ledger?”  Well, for one thing many Americans see the Internet as a technology “bullet” that will prove lethal for print media. Just as TV was perceived to be the end of radio, the Internet is viewed by many to be the ultimate demise of print newspapers and magazines. Whoa, not so fast, did you forget the radio story already?   Let’s drill down deeper to better understand where media is headed. As the number of Internet sites explodes exponentially, Americans are bombarded with unlimited information. Unlike newspapers and magazines, there isn’t a great deal of loyalty to single Web sites on the Internet. Because of the ever-expanding online choices, Internet users have become a very fickle bunch.    Favorite sites change continually. MySpace users have moved on to Facebook and LinkedIn. Former Yahoo! search engine users now use Google. Microsoft has just developed its own search engine, Bing, to compete for Internet users. If successful, what will come next?  Surely, something else will be developed and ultimately replace the current technology. With print and with the Internet, there needs to be a sticking point to keep readers or Web viewers more deeply involved. The tie that binds is providing news content that readers want, and most importantly, in the news format they prefer. Business Ledger loyalists view the Ledger’s Web site for breaking stories and read the print version to get the full, in-depth perspective on business issues that only a printed newspaper can deliver.   Print as a media form offers information without the clutter. Print readers don’t face the constant distraction of thousands of choices every time they open a newspaper or magazine. Most loyal print readers also enjoy the tactile comfort that only a page of crisp newsprint paper can provide. But the most important reason that print will continue to flourish is because there is a reality to the printed word on paper that transcends mere physical attributes. Words created from ink on paper make a statement to the reader the same way that a stack of freshly minted $50 dollar bills makes a stronger statement than an IOU. People desire certainty in an uncertain world. Print media provides a sense of reality and certainty that a “virtual world” simply can’t deliver. Don’t get me wrong, an Internet site for a news company like The Business Ledger is a must. However, the printed word on paper still is capable of conveying the same powerful message to readers for which it is known and respected. And a final point about the rumored demise of radio: Today there are over 10,000 commercial radio stations and 2,500 non-commercial radio stations in the U.S. alone. Bob Strasser is publisher of The Business Ledger. Contact him at 630-428-8788 or at bstrasser@thebusinessledger.com.

Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (Archive on Wednesday, November 18, 2009) Posted by jstoltz  Contributed by jstoltz

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