While tuning into the all-sports radio station in
New York City, 660 AM The Fan, I wondered why we have a 24-hour station
dedicated to games. Of course I understand
that sports have become a major part of our culture, but I still question why
valuable air time should be designated to adults who play ball for money. But more importantly, I wondered of the
viability of a 24-hour radio network dedicated to all things books.
Maybe we don’t need 24-hour anything. If a station dedicates every minute to the
same subject area, several things will happen:
1. Repetition
– either the same show gets re-aired in the course of a day or the same topics
are getting discussed throughout the day with just slight alterations to the
content.
2. Too
much weight is given to something because it’s discussed ad nauseum and out of
proportion to its level of newsworthiness.
3. Too
much time is spent on analysis, opinion-sharing, and personality-mongering
rather than reporting the news or carrying coverage of a significant event.
4. Listeners
don’t get a mixture of information and ideas on subjects other than but the
singular-focused station, whether it be all sports, all business, or all
weather.
On the other hand, a 24-hour station is great for
those who love a specific area, such as politics, gardening, or health, where
they know they can always find a home friendly towards their passion and
interest. The key is to not listen for
too long. If you tune in for 15-minute
clips and digest something new, it’s great.
If you lazily listen for two hours straight, you likely heard the same
rhetoric over and over.
Okay, so back to my question about an all-book radio
station or network. Can it be done?
There are some online channels that tackle books all
the time. AudioBookRadio.net is
one. So is BlogTalkRadio.com/books and
RadioBookChannel.com. Sirius XM had a
Book Radio Channel but it closed down in 2013.
A station dedicated to different aspects of the book
industry could be done without a lack of content or talent. The industry has tens of thousands of
employees, millions of authors, and many experts in related areas. Here could be a lineup of shows coming soon
to the airwaves:
·
Free speech, censorship, and book bans
·
Literacy and encouraging others to read
·
Trends in the book industry
·
Hot new authors
·
What’s on the bestseller list
·
Book reviews
·
Featured authors – profiles
·
Latest book to go Hollywood
·
The craft of writing
·
The voice of the poet
·
Books that make a difference
·
Publishing workshop: How to get
published
The list could go on and on. You could have genre-specific shows. You can have parents and teachers do book
readings. You can debate the subject
matter featured in a book. You can have editors debate over something. You can have a book publicists panel
discussing the media. And on and on and
on.
Radio should welcome 24-hours of books. Are books not more important than other
subjects that get 24-hour treatment? The
advertising would come from book publishers, bookstores, Amazon, and
organizations involved in literacy, free speech, and education. It could be
profitable, but more importantly, it is necessary.
NPR and PBS serve the cultural needs of society to a
degree, but books by themselves need a champion, a voice, and a
repository. Will you tune into the
24-hour Book Radio Network? I know
you’ll be listening to all-music, all-sports, and all-news. It’s time books got their due.
DON’T MISS: ALL NEW RESOURCE OF THE YEAR
2015 Book PR & Marketing Toolkit: All New
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas
expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person.
This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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