I found it ironic that I should be listening to the last few minutes of NU 107's broadcast on my cellphone, while watching and reading tweets of devotion and kudos on my laptop, via the internet. I suppose it's a symptom of the digital times, a far cry from the way radio was once experienced.
The "Home of NuRock" fashioned itself as an innovator on the FM band, differentiating itself from its counterparts by playing non-mainstream music, and featuring independent and obscure musicians in its playlists. Growing up in the 80s, I came to associate NU listeners as the cool ones, enigmatic schoolmates and friends who seemed to float on a different plane of musical preference. I remember, on many occasions, being asked what station I listened to -- this was usually the standard getting-to-know-you line it seemed. When I as much as mentioned NU, the station's avid listeners would raise their palms in a high-five, while the "others" would give out a soft, slightly impressed "aaaahhhhh." I guess we all knew the music was different, the artists almost unheard of, and the DJs spoke English with a near-perfect accent in that slightly detached, "I know you know I'm cool so why should I even bother articulating it" tone.
NU's fan/audience base was built in the late 80s to early 90s, catering to punk, indie and new wave music aficionados and "alternative" content. Outlasting its predecessor, 102 DWXB, NU provided became a platform for launching independent Filipino bands and artists, and a gateway to music genres removed from the mainstream, top 40 hits played by other radio stations. When the Pinoy Band scene erupted in the early 90s with the raw sounds of the Eraserheads, Rivermaya, Put3Ska, and Yano, NU became the launch pad of choice. This brought new and loyal listeners alike onto common ground, and seemed to create a market for these new Pinoy rock musicians. Moreover, younger generations of listeners were reintroduced to the classic Pinoy rock sounds of The Jerks and Juan de la Cruz Band.
Tuning in and actually waiting for your favorite song to be played was the traditional way of patronizing the content. And because music licenses and physical recordings then were difficult (and expensive) to come by (obscure = rare = costly, the law of supply and demand), purchasing channels were limited and focused on NU. However as technology improved, and digital rendering of music became ubiquitous, acquiring the CDs became easier and cheaper. Soon it wasn't only NU that had access to the music; other radio stations could afford to invest in it too, if it meant being able to grab a share of NUs audiences . As the technology became massively available to listeners in portable form, music lovers spent close to nothing in acquiring the music they wanted. No more waiting for hours on the radio, no more spending thousands of pesos on CDs. Peer to peer technology allowed the audiences to collect their songs and make their own playlists.
I don't know for sure if the DJs or artists themselves ever considered this a threat. But for sure the businessmen and financial investors were concerned. What was a scarce resource no longer seemed in short supply on the web. Suddenly, the audiences themselves were the businessmen's biggest competition.
Definitely one cannot discount the changing business landscape of the mass media in the Philippines, and the world because of the internet, and the speed with which it assimilated itself into our lives. New business models and profit strategies emerged in the wake of digital connectivity and two great financial crises in the last two decades alone. The goal of earning revenue and partaking of the thinning financial resources forced like-business outfits to merge and be bought out by one financial entity. With more stations to carry ad content, the more clients will feel they're getting their investments' worth. The more stations acquired, the more audiences the are able to reach and "collect". But for the plan to be viable, the acquired entities need a homogenous flavor, to appeal to as wide a mass audience as possible,
What a lot of those in the old paradigm miss is that audiences who are part of the spread of music is a formidable ally in pushing the integrity and credibility of a product or movement. The audience just has to believe in it to pass it on. Old marketing models that are hinged on the cost-benefit ratio of the material, tangible form/structures are slowly growing obsolete. What strategists need to embrace is the realization that they no longer dictate what the hits are; their audiences now have the ability to join in on the discussion; not in the conference room, but through their mobile and internet devices. If any of the businessmen need proof of this, one just has to take a look at the videos that captured the final moments of NU 107's broadcast. Through word of mouth, people gathered outside the station to see it sign off. No incentives offered, no recognition promised. In fact it was they who spent on their transportation fare, gas, and time to be there. It was something they believed in, and they saw it through to its Huling El Bimbo. The lights and sounds have been captured on a portable camera/video phone and uploaded on the web, passed around via social networking sites. This is proof that though NU 107 as an entity, a physical space, is no more, it will live on in many forms, relived through just as many gadgets,immortalized and brought to life every time songs are played on individual playlists and their final video is viewed online.
I should send a tweet out to my friend that the video is up.
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