Insider Perceptions on the Transmutation of Terrestrial Radio in Canada
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“Beyond the Clouds”: Insider Perceptions on The Transmutation of Terrestrial Radio In Canada Geoffrey Manchester Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Communications Department of Communication Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Geoffrey Manchester, Ottawa, Canada, 2012 Transmutation of Radio In Canada ii Contents Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Review of Literature .................................................................................................... 6 2.1. Defining Radio in a Turbulent Canadian Media Environment ............................................ 6 2.2. Medium Specificity: Uses of Personalized Streaming Services .......................................... 9 2.3. Diffusion of Personalized Streaming Services .................................................................. 10 2.4. The Social Shaping of Technology .................................................................................... 15 2.5. Applying The SST Model to DAB Radio in Europe and Canada ..................................... 17 2.6. The Social Shaping of Pandora In Canada ........................................................................ 19 2.7. Remediation of Personalized Streaming Services ............................................................. 21 2.9. Personalized Audio Streaming Services and Terrestrial Radio ......................................... 24 2.10. The Mechanics of Personalized Recommendation .......................................................... 25 2.11. Popularity and Growth of Personalized Streaming Services ........................................... 26 2.12. Canada’s Commercial Radio Industry ............................................................................. 28 2.13. Astral Media: History and Present Day ........................................................................... 29 2.14. Satellite Radio .................................................................................................................. 31 2.15. Streaming Services in Canada: Trial and Error ............................................................... 32 2.16. Rationale for the Study .................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3: Methodology .............................................................................................................. 36 3.1. Overview of Procedures ..................................................................................................... 36 3.2. Qualitative Interviews ........................................................................................................ 37 3.3. Choosing Interviews as the Primary Data Collection Method ........................................... 39 3.4. Semi-Structured Interviews ............................................................................................... 40 3.5. Why Interviews? – Rationale ............................................................................................. 44 3.6. Sample Selection ................................................................................................................ 45 3.7. Overview of experts ........................................................................................................... 46 3.8. Data Analysis Strategy: Grounded Theory ........................................................................ 49 3.9. Applying Grounded Theory to the Present Study .............................................................. 50 Chapter 4: Results ........................................................................................................................ 53 4.1. Personalized Streaming Services in North America (Q1) (Q2) (Q3) ................................ 53 4.2. Digital Dream-world .......................................................................................................... 57 4.3. Streaming Services in Canada ........................................................................................... 59 4.4. Royalty Structures (Q4) ..................................................................................................... 61 Transmutation of Radio In Canada iii 4.5. Piracy and Population ........................................................................................................ 63 4.6. Past Experiments ................................................................................................................ 64 4.7. Radio’s Place in a Multimedia Market (Q5) (Q6) ............................................................. 65 4.8. Future Scenarios for Terrestrial Radio (Q7) (Q8) .............................................................. 70 Chapter 5: Discussion .................................................................................................................. 75 5.1. Overview of Findings ........................................................................................................ 75 5.2. SST and Personalized Streaming Services ........................................................................ 78 5.3. Economical Shaping: High Licensing Fees ....................................................................... 79 5.4. Political: Overcoming Perceptions of Piracy ..................................................................... 80 5.5. Social: Low Population, Data Caps ................................................................................... 81 5.6. How Perceptions of the Conceptualized Listener May Affect Adoption .......................... 83 5.7. Mixed Media Market: ........................................................................................................ 87 5.8. Business as Usual: .............................................................................................................. 87 5.9. FM like AM ....................................................................................................................... 88 5.10 Concluding Notions on Experts ........................................................................................ 88 Chapter 6: Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 90 6.1. Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 90 6.2. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 91 6.2.1. A Case For Registration Gates ........................................................................................ 93 6.2.2. Radio as an Entertainment Experience; Not just a Radio Experience ............................ 96 6.2.3. Radio Must Embrace its “Average-ness” ....................................................................... 99 6.3. Significance of the Research ............................................................................................ 101 6.4. Final Remarks .................................................................................................................. 102 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 103 Appendix A: Letter To Prospective Participants ........................................................................ 118 Appendix B: Standard Consent Form ......................................................................................... 119 Appendix C: Interview Protocol ................................................................................................. 122 Transmutation of Radio In Canada iv Acknowledgement “Basically, radio hasn't changed over the years” - Casey Kasem The idea of writing an accessible and practical paper about the effects of music streaming services on terrestrial radio first came from a conversation I had with Professor Pierre C Bélanger. He convinced me that I had some interesting things to say on the topic and that I should put my ideas on paper for an academic audience – one much bigger than I usually write for! These conversations took place at a time when I was part of a focus group reviewing content on Astral Radio’s latest batch of FM station websites. As I sat through the various sessions, I wondered what Astral and others were doing about music services I’d read a great deal about in the United States. This was late 2010, when Internet Radio companies like Pandora and Spotify were plotting their dominance in the United States and Europe respectively. It was then that I realized it wouldn’t be long before these, and other companies, would attempt to penetrate the Canadian market -- forcing conventional media to adapt. The agreement to partner with Professor Bélanger started the engine on what would be an exciting two-year research process involving the interviewing of radio experts in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. In formulating my thesis, I benefitted tremendously from the counsel