I recently spent some time looking at a service available to subscribers to Talk Talk TV called V:MX.
Talk Talk TV is like Virgin TV, except it comes down the BT telephone line. Of course, it might no longer be ‘BT’ by name since you can be billed by Talk Talk or any number of other ‘service providers’ for what actually still remains a ‘BT’ line. Anyway. By using broadband capacity, the Talk Talk Plus box plugs into into any standard router and provides TV programmes directly to the TV, just as Sky Plus or indeed Virgin boxes do.
Exclusive to Talk Talk are a set of music video channels generically called V:MX. In truth there is just a single server streaming on demand any one of over 8,000 music videos. The ‘secret’ is to playlist them under music genres and so as far as the general public are concerned there are 6 ‘different’ actual music channels, V:MX Alt, V:MX The Pit, V:MX Urban, V:MX Pop, V:MX Dance or V:MX Retro.
There’s also a ‘main’ V:MX channel from which a comprehensive search through the music-video library can be made regardless of the genre.
The ‘themed’ channels also have ‘sub-themes’. For example, switching to V:MX Dance you might want to then pick ‘Good Times’, and that will start a playlist within a playlist with all the ‘Dance’ tracks being, erm, ‘Good Times’ type tracks.
So, the viewer can, should they want to, just leave the ‘channel’ of their choice on to allow the server to select and supply the videos just as they would expect from any normal one-way only MTV style channel.
But here’s the most important part: If they get bored with a particular song they can just press a key on their TV remote and move on to the next one. Likewise, if they really like a song, they can ‘rewind’ and play it all over again again. They can also tag songs and create their own playlists from what they’ve just heard and liked.
In other words, unlike when watching a typical one-way music TV channel over which there is no control, with V:MX they have identical control to any iPod or mp3 player.
This, to me, is the future. People don’t want to have to sit through things they don’t want to hear at that moment. Likewise, when they hear something that’s good, they want to be able to play it again, Sam.
Music radio cannot and will never be able to do this, and so this is why it will continue to die and has less and less of a place in society. And why should it? There was a time when radio was really the only efficient way to ‘stream’ music to an eager listener. Those days have passed and so a radio station with nothing much more than sequenced music playing from a server that the end user has no control over, really has no place.
This is why radio has to re-invent itself and be the provider of ‘stuff’ that isn’t provided by other superior means. Radio needs to get away from playing back-to-back songs desperately trying emulate an iPod. Radio can never be an iPod, so why is it trying to be? Sure, if radio wants to, it can supply music, but just seguing it like an iPod isn’t going to work is it? Radio is one-way only, so it can’t be an iPod. It has to do something else alongside the music to compete with the iPod.
With the inconvenience of listeners not being able to ‘control’ radio like an iPod can be controlled, fresh thoughts have to be applied to music radio’s future or it really is going to be completely dead and buried within a generation.
England's England 
When I do my show online it is always the listener that dictates what is played, if I don't have the track available to me then I go to Amazon and get it nine time out of ten.
I agree that not all stations operate like that R2 being one of them apart from Drive time which Simon Mayo does the rest stick to a playlist and yes I can accept your argument in that case.
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Real radio with real presenters can never be replaced by a computer or a jukebox
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@TobyDurkin69er – I think that's exactly how mainstream radio needs to respond, although you still have the issue that should a person not like a song that's currently playing all they can do is wait for it to stop. With an iPod they just skip to the next song.
@pp – If a listener isn't listening for the 'radio' aspect of a radio station, but is just listening for the songs (research shows this to be 87% of the 'normal' radio station listeners) then a computer or jukebox (or iPod) in their control will win every time over the output of a radio station which interrupts the songs with commercials and speaking. Plus, of course, radio offers no controls to skip to the next song.
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Without Radio how do you hear new music (either newly produced or “new to me” music)? Who recommends it to you? Before you add it to yer iPod, how do you find out about it?
87% of folks may be listening for the tunes rather than the presentation, but if the presentation is good, surely they will stay with the station?
Surely one of the beauties of radio is that it does not require your full attention. You can be doing other things while the radio gently alters your brain in the background. Much better than music TV, where you have to sit and watch developing a lardy a*se.
No, radio rules. we just need to shoot the current programmers and money men that run the output for advertisers rather than listeners.
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Radio listening is much more diverse than it was, doesn't mean its dead.
With added choice, yes there is, it means audience numbers will remain lower per station than years ago.
The debate is one that has gone on for years and I'll add another aspect.
When most folks get old, “They don't write songs like that anymore” dribbles from the lips.
Actually I’m pleased they don't.
Whilst I would like bigger playlists, they do make sense to the audience. I mean what would happen if Capital London were to play tracks normally played by stations where they claim to air alternative tracks – alternative meaning not popular? Simple the audience would leave en mass.
As it goes I think Capital does a good job as does Europa 2 in Slovakia.
Real radio, as some would call it, can be enhanced by computers. If the presenter was allowed to simply focus on speaking then why would they need to screw around cuing up music.
As to requests, we tried it in Slovakia one evening and I won every bet. Even the DJs said it sounded rubbish and we had so many complaints from the majority that don't normal communicate with the station(s). I knew we would be asked for old fart music and we were, that was the thrust of my bet.
Needless to say we dumped the idea and suck with dedications.
So maybe the new audiences do know what they want – it’s just older folks don’t understand that
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