RU 20/2006 - RADIO-SILENCE


- FRANCE: Catholics at the forefront of technique? And of top of that "traditionalists" who are said to be centuries behind? Yes, for once! It's RADIO-SILENCE (www.radio-silence.org), a radio exclusively audible on Internet, which will celebrate on June 18th its 6th anniversary. Its broadcasts (in French) are, from the beginning, not in "streaming", nor in "live", nor in "blog", and no more realized in a "studio", nor are they on "hertzian waves", nor "terrestrian" ones. You can't guess, it's much more modern! Radio-Silence achieves already since 6 years, with a team of 20 courageous "tradi-reac-oldtimers", what one calls today the PODCASTING and what is presented in the media like the last achievement of the technique. What is it all about? The media market requires always more miniaturization, availability and, at the same time, liberty of choice for the consumers. The tendency of miniaturization: it's necessary that the whole technique be installed into the space of a walnut, if possible. In one word, a multimedia computer of key-holder type. The tendency of availability: it's necessary that all the technique is everywhere accessible, at the same time, and instantaneously. And liberty: the consumer doesn't want any more prefixed programs on the waves, he is disgusted about it, which makes that he becomes a desperate tv and radio zapper, continually in research of a better program, what makes him mad. And RADIO-SILENCE, "the only free Catholic radio on Internet", brought the solution: a media upon demand. All broadcasts of this radio station are in the module size of 5 to 20 minutes, continuously available by Internet, downloadable, audible where and when the consumer wants it. Thus, in the morning, the consumer of the future - or the one of Radio-Silence today - becomes himself producer of his own radio: he composes freely his menu for the day while selecting such or such broadcast - the daily news, the sermon of the last Sunday, the rosary of the week, the up-to-day chronicle of such or such country, the catechism for Moslems, the Gregorian song of the next Sunday etc. -, downloads them by a "click" within some seconds towards his door-key type numerical "key" and leaves his house... listening the freely chosen broadcasts where and when he wants it during the day, by means of two minuscule earphones: in the subway, in the street, in the coffeeshop, while driving his car... Of course, it's necessary tat the broadcasts are captable in small portions, called modules "mp3", or today "podcasts". Radio-silence anticipated this development since its start-up in the year 2000, and it was at the time the alone radio station to do so. Its program is simply a vast mosaic of stored-up broadcasts, with deliveries of news broadcasts every day, particularly the polical or religious news. Its only concern: the quality of the content. It's the end of broadcasts "in direct", soon out of date, because the listener doesn't want anymore to undergo contents which he didn't choose. The result is that the peripheral radios and televisions have to find a way to conform themselves to the new necessities; they must transform their vast broadcasts into minuscule downloadable portions of mp3 or similar types, a battle on which the victory is not granted. Since the end of 2005, many top stations try to conform, willingly or not: Europe 1, Radio France, RTL, Arte-radio, and even LCI (TF1 tv) and Radio-Vatican... It's the sword of Damocles, the hour of the truth: if one gives the whole liberty of choice to the listener, which broadcasts will he choose? And what will happen with the advertisements, if nobody downloads them? This immense advertisement market for radio and television might collapse, and with it the radio and televsion stations themselves? Except for Radio-Silence which had understood the tendency already 6 years ago and which doesn't include any advertisement, a radio of which all broadcasts are downloadable in podcast (mp3), perfectly capable to be reassembled by the listener for his own daily program: this radio has the bright future in front of her. Studies showed that the podcasts listeners will reach 9 millions in 2007, and 63 millions in 2010. The Catholics at the forefront of the technique? "For once!", may say our Belgian friends, while waiting for better ones. Go, procure yourself a numeric walkman-key (prices between 30 and 100 E, according to the capacity between 50 Mo and 1 Go), and become producer of your own radio - Christian by preference, with Radio-Silence, evidently, which is the Catholic radio pioneer. You won't find there unconsumable stones or other nonsense, but sound Catholic spirit wrapped up into mp3. - (ru; cf. JDD 7.5.)

 

 

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