Radio Is Dead: Halloran No Longer On Air

2010 begins with sad radio news. Shakeups at morning shows all across the country, and radio legend Mike Halloran no longer on air at San Diego's 94.9 (where he had been for seven years). It is a sad and sorry day for terrestrial radio. If it wasn't dead before, it surely is now.

But what of the future? Wither radio?

Here's what I really wish: that these amazing radio talents (Halloran, Sovel, TK, Kurt St. Thomas, Angie C., the FNX crew, etc.) that are no longer appreciated by terrestrial as we know it, just take the bull by the horns and forge a REAL radio in the Internet space.

Suck it up about the salaries (yep, you're gonna make less initially), and just do Internet radio we can be passionate about. The money may not be there now, but it will be.

Do radio the way you always wanted to. Not crap dictated to you by consultants, where playlists rule the day; but music that makes you feel alive, music you are inspired by.

Like terrestrial Indie 103.1 was, but even freer and moreso. There has not YET been a station like that online. One with personalities that we love to listen to, and hear commentary from; one that is REALLY about the music, with a vast lack of bullshit.

Even Indie 103.1 dot com is too playlist oriented (for reasons that boggle my mind). Give us people talking, and music we love. How hard is that? Why hasn't anyone done this yet?

Like how Huffington Post reinvented newspapers for the web, and now it's the gold standard. We need that for radio on the Web. And boy, would I love Halloran to be masterminding something like that. Or the ones we loved at Indie. Or the ones we loved at FNX. Or all of the above.

Because otherwise, radio is going to die. I'm a hardcore radio addict, and I could honestly never listen to radio again, now that most of the folks from Indie and Halloran are no longer on air. What is the point?

Breaking bands? I get my new music online, in any of various sources.

The bands fan pages on MySpace or their own websites are more reliable sources of new music anyway, and you can interact with the bands you love there. All of that used to be the bastion of radio. No more.

What I wanted from my radio station was this: music I could just turn on, and listen to. Whatever was played. Listen because I enjoyed what the jocks had to say, because I liked the music, because interviews and banter was informative. I would still do that if there was a viable alternative. But, sadly, there isn't.

GIVE US ONE, OH GREAT RADIO GODS. Forge a real radio station on the Internet. One that everyone hears about and has to listen to. One that isn't constrained by ratings malarky. Or corporation dictatorship. One that bands love and come to (like they did to Indie 103). One that truly remembers and honors the music that matters.

Really? Is this so hard?