Patty's words of wisdom!

[shipping troll] 11:11 am: I think the people in the media should just rebel and take
back the airwaves
[Cashman] 11:11 am: this business will implode and then from the remains left will
radio rise from the ashes and become relevant again
[Pattycake] 11:11 am: yep
[Pattycake] 11:11 am: like the phoenix ... like everything
[Cashman] 11:11 am: big business is the reason it's so bad
[shipping troll] 11:11 am: It got too big and now it needs to get small again
[Pattycake] 11:12 am: big business is why EVERYTHING is so bad
[Pattycake] 11:12 am: the PEOPLE lost the power!

These were the last words in the Wease chat room today (Thursday May 6). The reason I am reposting them here is that they underline a recurring theme along the airwaves this week. As is my habit, I pick up on the cultural buzz in blogs, via Twitter, around the office coffee pot, on television and RSS feeds, and the buzz reveals that people are just plain frustrated, either with the status quo or what they percieve to be a threat to Life as We Know It. In usual fashion, during my passive listening to radio programming on my long commute, I was listening to the Diane Rehm show (WXXI 1370 AM). Her guest, author Joshua Cooper Ramo, was discussing his new book The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Order Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It and something he said caught my attention. In essence, and I quote Publisher's Weekly on this because they said it best: "(Ramo) argues that there must be some audacity in thinking before there can be any audacity of hope." He stated in the interview that it is not only enough to be audacious in our thinking, there must be action also.

The spirit of this morning's conversation prompted me to recall this because there are more than a few folks who visit the chat room who are feeling the effects of an imploding economy and wondering what to do. The above discussion attempts to head in the direction of a solution and it got me to thinking that we MUST think of alternative ways of facing the future or we will not survive. This does not mean rejecting any of the old ways; on the contrary, we need to figure out what has worked in the past and combine it with innovative NEW thought and action if we are to insure a future for ourselves and the generations to come. Not to mention that innovative thought and action is a gift to the next generation, especially those who are graduating from high school and college right now and facing a bleak employment future. Big business has laid this at their feet. It is almost as if audacity of hope, on the part of recent graduates, is in hoping that they can find a way to make their place in the world. Big business is in trouble right now and perhaps entrepreneurship is going to be the next big wave. I could be wrong, but judging from the number of chatters wanting to do work independently, this may be the best we can hope for. Since loyalty to one's employees went out the window in the 1970s, we can no longer rely on the corporation, especially since the advent of outsourcing. Now, with unemployment at record highs, the fact remains that people must earn a living, so I predict we will see more audacious thinking when it comes to people eking out an existence.

How this ties in to radio has everything to do with the collapse of the media as we know it. Just two days ago the Boston "Globe" fended off closure with concessions from the unions but their days are numbered and we know that Gannett is in its own death spiral. Paper news is rapidly disappearing and so the nature of journalism must change. This is a job for Audacity of Thought Man! Even radio is not immune: since the FCC tied the hands of broadcasters everywhere, the corpration has insured that a career in radio is no longer enjoyable. Ask any one of the chatters who has ties in the business. We remember when radio was fun and when the threat of a six-figure fine did not hover over every live minute like a black cloud because someone out there might be offended. Tom Petty was right. The Last D.J. is an appropriate message about the state of radio broadcasting. Digital media might only be yet another way to regulate the airwaves.

The last time people felt constrained by bodies that govern public media, they created Pirate radio. Granted, the rules back then were loose and rarely enforced, especially by the FCC in the United States but the Europeans were once the rulers of the airwaves when it came to piracy. I see this happening again but in what fashion? That remains fuzzy on my horizon and this is where audacity of thought, innovation in action, a rethinking of the status quo, seem timely and appropriate right now.