The Journal

Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Jennifer Wenger From left to right, Annette Bevel, general manage of KMOX 1120 AM Radio, Dave Ervin, vice president and general manager KMOX, Bernie Hayes, communications professor and author of Death of Black Radio, and Frank Absher, St. Louis University journalism professor and St. Louis radio historian, discuss "The State of Radio Today" in Webster's Library Conference Room March 30.

Radio's existence may be at a crossroads. A panel March 30 discussed "The State of Radio Today." The forum tackled topics including the emergence of satellite radio, civic duty, advertising and black radio.

St. Louis University journalism professor and St. Louis Journalism Review columnist, Frank Absher, event mediator, began by asking what each of the four panelists thought of today's radio.

Webster communications professor and author of "The Death of Black Radio" Bernie Hayes was the first to give broadcasting a poor rating.

"There is too much emphasis on the bottom line and not enough emphasis on community activity," Hayes said.

Dave Ervin, vice president and General Manager of KMOX 1120 AM, had an optimistic answer.

"HD (high definition) radio will be there to hold its own with satellite radio," Ervin said. "From my perspective, radio is very exciting right now. People are hanging on the edge of their seat, wondering what the next chapter is."

The editor and publisher of http://www.stlmedia.net and former radio personality Mike Anderson presented himself in stark contrast to Ervin's views from the beginning.

"Dave Ervin is a glass-half-full kind of guy," Anderson said. "I'm not. Radio is desperately in a crisis and HD radio isn't going to have anything to do with it. The problem is that AM radio survived FM, and broadcast radio survived every other technological advance that the whole combined, conspiracy of the world's electronic companies have thrown at it. Mp3 players, iPods - Satellite isn't going to make a dent."

Anderson's fear is that radio will eventually lose touch with its listeners, and lead to its down-fall. He and Hayes shared the view that if radio fails to serve that community it will die.

Continued...

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