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Compared to what? Radio does convey a sense of locality and connection that nothing else quite replaces for me (including web radio). There's something unique
by lxgr 2y ago
Compared to what?
Radio does convey a sense of locality and connection that nothing else quite replaces for me (including web radio).
There's something unique about browsing the FM (or AM, where still available) in an unknown place, seeing whether you can still get the same station the next day on a road trip etc, and knowing that some people in the general area are listening to the exact same thing at the same time.
Long distance listening on shortwave can also be quite fun, although fewer and fewer countries are still active there. It's still fascinating to hear your home news an ocean away with just a small wire, a handheld radio, and no network whatsoever!
Obviously I wouldn't trade Spotify for it, but I'd still be sad to see it go.
- tptacek 2y ago"Obviously I wouldn't trade Spotify for it" pretty much sums the whole thing up.
- lxgr 2y agoSeems like a false dichotomy to me. Why wouldn't there be room for both? Personally, Spotify has replaced CDs and MP3s much more than radio, also.
- tptacek 2y agoI didn't pose a dichotomy. I said one thing is better than the other. If enough people disagree, the crappier thing will survive regardless. I don't think they do, though, which is why terrestrial radio is dying.
- lxgr 2y agoThe implied dichotomy being "for enough people, streaming is so much better than radio that they'll completely forego radio", or maybe "see, even you prefer Spotify over radio". But that's not how it works. Even I, a single person, can very frequently listen to Spotify and occasionally listen to radio. I don't have to trade one for the other completely! > If enough people disagree, the crappier thing will survive regardless. I don't think they do, though, which is why terrestrial radio is dying. Is it really dying, or stabilizing at a lower-than-before-Spotify-but-non-zero rate? Listening rates in Germany and Austria have been pretty stable over the last 20 years, for example.
- tptacek 2y agoWell, people who own terrestrial popular music stations are losing millions of dollars and shutting them down.
- hombre_fatal 2y ago> I wouldn't trade Spotify for it, but I'd still be sad to see it go. Compared to that. Or listening to any Youtube or podcast instead of listening to the radio station hosts prattle on instead of playing the next track. Nostalgia for radio is like nostalgia for the winter I worked at a cozy cafe at age 17: I have some good memories and every once in a while when I'm stressed at work I yearn for those simpler times... but there's a reason why I will never go back. No need to glorify it just because of some fading attachment to the yesteryears.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoI just think there is something liberating about radio. No subscription, free for anyone to tune into, and locality.
- lxgr 2y agoOf course you're free to listen to whatever you want, but I'm still happy to tune in to my old home town/country radio station every once in a while (when visiting or via streaming), and I still find their programming quite enjoyable. So it's not abstract nostalgia to me.