Video Killed the Radio Star?

“Video killed the radio star”. A rather bold statement made into a pop culture piece by the British group the Buggles in the 1979. This happy tune sends out a deeper message about today than most people catch. When TV first hit the big time, many thought that that was the end of the world for radio stations everywhere. Although many radio programs did come to an end, some stations are still thriving today such as hometown music stations and the super power that is NPR and all the local branches they have from state to state. The changing time of TV did not eliminate radio, so why do Internet news sources have to be the death of traditional newspapers?

There is no doubt in my mind that newspapers are going to be becoming smaller and more concentrated than they are today. We live in a technological age, so of coarse new types of media will be growing in popularity. Although, I disagree with those who say newspapers are dying and by extent, so is journalism. Journalism is not bound to newspapers, but is bound to people and interest. As long as there are people, there will always be news and there will always be journalism.

If TV and radio can coexist, why can’t newspapers and news websites do the same? One of my fellow correspondents made an excellent point during our session with keynote speaker Brian Lamb, and that is that newspapers will not die, but become more organized into one main institute that goes nationwide with local pieces depending on where you live. This model is the same idea as what National Public Radio does for our country.

Its true that as aspiring journalists we’re dealing with a whole new era of media out put. This is as much of a gift as it is a challenge. We are the generation that gets to re-create and pioneer the new journalistic age.

Maybe the Buggles took it a bit too far in saying that video killed the radio star. Maybe it was more of a hit-and-run or maiming of the radio star. At best, all it did was make radio bind together and focus on one common goal: to broadcast a message out to the people. I believe that the growing popularity in web-based news will challenge newspapers in the same way. How and when will we see these results? Difficult to say. Although I think we will know for sure that we have arrived when we hear it in a song.