Arthur C. Clarke predicted the future when he invented satellite-delivered radio.  The visionary author of 2001: A Space Odyssey also wrote a short story called “I Remember Babylon,” published in 1945, depicting a futuristic society that used satellites to deliver radio programming to people’s receivers on the ground. It was then considered science fiction.

In the early 1980s, some of what was previously unfathomable from a business perspective became reality.  Technology changed in the radio business so that even small radio market stations could sound more professional by becoming part of a satellite delivered syndicated radio programming network.  But, there was a price to pay.  And it has nothing to do with the price of syndicated programming.

I wrote an article about satellite delivered syndicated radio programming in the 1980s and in the process of my research, I interviewed Steve Stagnaro, then vice president and general manager of a Santa Maria, California FM station, KXFM, which served parts of both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.

“My first reaction to satellite-delivered radio,” Stagnaro told me, “as a programmer and business manager of a station was, ‘what a great idea!’ We could get a national, good-sounding DJ on the air and save some money. Then, I began to think it has a problem. I discovered that problem by this station once being fully automated.”

Fast forward: Radio programming of today is generating multiple millions of dollars with national on-air talent such as Howard Stern, whose programming reaches listeners because of satellite technology. My guess would be that Stern has ever not yet small towns in Central California where people live who likely have heard Stern at one time or another even though he originates from back east.

And that’s the whole point. A February 25, 2002 page one Wall Street Journal analysis of local radio under the control of megacorporation Clear Channel, for instance, quoted its then radio CEO, Randy Michaels: “I don’t think it’s at all wrong or deceptive to put together terrific programs that reflect local communities and sometimes use talent who may physically be somewhere else.” Randy Michaels compared the radio shows to films, which wouldn’t be “nearly as much fun if the camera kept turning around to show you it was just a set. I don’t know that the radio experience would be as good if we said every five minutes, ‘By the way, I’m not really here and I taped this 20 minutes ago.’ But that’s all part of the magic of creating entertainment.”

Advertiser-Supported Radio Threatened

It also may be significant that in June 1980 National Public Radio became the first American radio network to use satellite distribution on a full-time basis. Then, as now, advertiser support is not what keeps NPR on the air.  Perhaps it had to be radio broadcasters who do not rely upon advertiser support to take chances to get satellite technology to cook. NPR began distributing radio programming by satellite in 1979, well ahead of much of commercial radio.

In the years that followed, NPR satellite delivered multichannel programming such as opera, jazz, and fine arts along with public affairs and news programming. That multichannel programming paradigm apparently belongs to the future if Sirius Radio and XM Satellite Radio are any indication of things to come. 

But, what does the future hold for localization? And what about radio jobs? Let’s go back to the past to seek an answer.

Sam Kopper started a company called Starfleet in the late 1970s to produce and distribute live-by-satellite radio concerts. Emphasizing the national, built-in excitement of a live-by-satellite concert (as compared to a broadcast of a concert taped live), Starfleet dawned as a shining moment in the earliest efforts of satellite-delivered radio.

Any self-respecting Star Trek follower knows that the original “Starfleet,” of which the starship Enterprise attracts most of the limelight, personifies intergalactic command and distribution of wealth. Kopper’s Starfleet consistently commanded more kudos than wealth with concerts featuring a wide variety of artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, Hall & Oates, the Charlie Daniels Band, Blondie, Tammy Wynette, and even the Boston Pops.

Threats to Localization and Jobs in Radio

Kopper sold his network to John Blair and Company, and there was a switch from being a network to being a producer of programming for networks. He admitted to me that he was concerned satellite radio networks operating on a 24-hour basis would likely jeopardize localization and hurt people’s chances of getting into radio careers. “One of radio’s great attributes is that it can be local and serve the people right around the radio station,” he said. Kopper typified the view in the 1980s that the round-the-clock satellite radio would be the doomsday machine for many who seek local employment in radio. “I think it would be bad for radio--having radio be less localized. I’d hate to see a significant number of people get blown out of chances to get into radio.”

Stagnaro explained the essential problem: “KXFM really died when it had no localization, when it was a voice from Dallas, Texas, and music picked from Dallas, Texas, from their view of the United States musically, with no idea that the coast of California and the beach, and our lifestyle here affects the music we like, and the way we like it presented.”

“I was forced to take KXFM from a full-automated station to doing our own music in-house,” Stagnaro commented, “and get live air talent again on the station in order to compete locally. I began to wonder ability the ability of a network radio station sitting in some city far away feeding programming to us. I wonder how they could relate to my listeners, for example, sitting out there in Nipomo, California, growing oranges.”

If you’re thinking about doing this in the US, you do not have to pay any license/copyright fees to prepare programs for radio broadcast. Radio stations pay annual fees to permit them to broadcast copyrighted music and this will cover the music that you record in your syndicated programming.
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