Will Newspapers Make the Cut?

In its early days, when television took hold and began to expand across the country, many people thought that the days of radio broadcasting were numbered. Confounding many experts, though, broadcast radio did not disappear, but gradually changed its programming and prospered.

Who would have predicted that decades after the rollout of TV, today’s old-fashioned, analog airwaves would still be filled with over-the-air broadcast stations pumping out talk radio, sports and music? Would anyone have dreamed that Sirius and XM would be delivering specialized radio programming via satellite and getting customers to pay for it? Or that existing radio stations are now upgrading their broadcasting systems to carry superior quality HD (high definition) digital channels for free?

New Jersey already has 9 such radio stations broadcasting 12 HD radio channels, with more coming. From Central Jersey, we can already pick up HD radio from neighboring states as well.

Today, the print newspaper industry faces a challenge similar to that of early TV, as it grew to become a major competitor to radio. This time, it’s the Internet and cell phone technology which have both reared up to spar with print media. However, just as radio did not die out with the growth of TV, print newspapers will not go away. As they are already doing, newspapers will adapt and use the Internet as a complimentary delivery medium to their print operations.

No one now knows just how far the transformation of the newspaper industry will go, because the answer is bound up in two factors: 1) The inability to forecast with any great accuracy the unpredictable, long-term behavior of the buying public and, 2) The lack of information about how new technological innovations and marketing techniques will affect consumer behavior 5 to 20 years out.

Not all newspapers will make it, but those who are nimbly adaptable should thrive in an information and entertainment market in which their delivery systems will be a combination of newsprint, Internet and other, yet-to-be-discovered formats.

Note: 1. For specific information about the location and call signs of broadcast HD radio stations, see http://www.hdradio.com/find_an_hd_digital_radio_station.php 2. Traditional AM/FM radio receivers cannot pick up the new HD radio channels; a new receiver is required.