BCE Inc. is selling off 45 of its 103 regional radio stations as it cuts nine per cent of its workforce, including journalists and other workers at its Bell Media subsidiary.
The radio company playbook:
- Realize that radio is not profitable because nobody is listening to it
- Run more ads in order to get more revenue
- More people stop listening to radio since there are too many ads
- Return to step 1. repeat until the business is viable.
Invisible airwaves crackle with life, bright antenna bristle with the energy. Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength. Bearing a gift beyond price almost free.
- Rush, The Spirit of Radio
How did we take such an amazing thing as having music beamed into the air around us for free and enshittify it to the point that nobody believes it has value?
Thank God there’s still the CBC. For now at least
When I go to France, I’m amazed at how many clear TV channels you can get over the air for free. Same with radio stations. And every region has their local little thing going on alongside the big players like Virgin or whatever. I never met anyone there that had a cable subscription.
To me, this is one sign of a healthy democracy because information and entertainment isn’t blocked behind paid subscriptions and not all sources are manipulated by mega media corporations to provide biased information and opinions.
Are you sure the tv channels are free? I’m only familiar with Germany: you can get a ton of channels as well but you have to essentially pay a tax for having a tv.
Well it’s “free” in the same sense that healthcare is “free”. Everybody contributes a little bit.
Yes in France they have the same kind of tax.
Fuck man you are right and the scary thing is, are we going to say the same thing about the internet in 10 years?
As someone who’s been using the internet for decades, I’m saying this about the internet now.
It’s almost as if we shouldnt of allowed Bell to consolidate everything.
On one hand, the impact on the communities would be lower than it would have been 10 or 20 years ago. The Internet fills a lot of gaps. On the other hand the Internet today is Facebook for many folks so that’s probably worse. 🥹
All society’s big money has learned is to compartmentalize and maximize profit.
