Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mom loved music, so much so she named me after one of her favorite songs. She then proceeded to sing it to me until, sadly, she forgot the words; and then I sang it to her. I would come home from school and she would turn the TV on to the dance party show or whatever was relevant to my taste, not hers. Then on Saturday nights, we all had to watch The Lawrence Welk Show.
A weekly ritual with my best friend Sara was to visit Ted’s Record Shop. There we would anxiously await the delivery of the radio station surveys and the ‘new’ songs. We would spend endless days in the summer hanging out, listening to our transistor radios … the MP3 players of my youth. Everything back then was a ‘single’; albums didn’t happen until a band had multiple hit singles. Several of our friends had garage bands, so we spent a lot of time in school basements, coffee houses and any other place they could play.
I really started my career in radio. I was fortunate to land a job with ABC radio in Chicago and was able to get a real inside view into the world of music. I was even more fortunate to meet my husband there, and while I moved on, he has stayed in the business. I’ve watched the change from spinning actual records, to tape, to eight-track carts and now to digital, from terrestrial to Internet, all of it now enabled by technology. It used to take multiple people to do a radio show—now it’s all downloaded and runs by itself, without any human intervention; scary.
Technology has enabled us to create our own playlists, sample new music on a variety of Internet outlets, post our own cover videos on YouTube, listen to the many options on Pandora, or create our own. Walkman® is no longer—iPods and other MP3 players rule.
I have tried over time to give my kids the same respect and interest my mom gave me. She wasn’t thrilled with all of the music we listened to, but she gave it all a chance and we talked about it. She helped me appreciate lots of different genres, and I tried to do the same with my kids. Maybe that’s why the eight CDs loaded in my car right now range from Coldplay to the soundtrack from West Side Story. I think the Glee Christmas CD is still in there also.
So much has changed. I doubt many of you even know what 33 1/3, 45 or 78 mean. Or even eight-track. The day MTV launched with the Buggles’ one hit wonder, Video Killed the Radio Star, everyone predicted the end. Now, looking at MTV, you’re hard pressed to find any music videos. There have been many articles lately about ‘music’ and the ‘record industry’ dying again; I hope they are all wrong. What is clear is that the business model for the artists and their labels needs to change to match up with the way audiences want to receive, sample and store their tunes.
Have you noticed how many TV commercials lately have used old favorites or are soliciting viewers to create the next jingle? What about the latest influx of American Idol type music shows like Platinum Hit and The Voice? Doesn’t sound like an industry that is dying. So how do you like your music? On CD? Downloaded so you can just select the tracks you want? Or on your favorite radio station? Whatever your preference, keep doing it! Whether you’re running, working out or just hanging out, I think it’s a lot more fun if you’ve got some tunes to keep you company.
