Video killed the radio star? No way.

Newspapers are going by the wayside, video rental stores are disappearing, and radio has nearly vanished in favor of MySpace and YouTube.

Or has it?

Even though radio is often seen as “old school” and “not with the times” or whatever, I completely beg to differ.  My favorite local station (105.7 The Point) is a great example of how radio has transformed itself into something that belongs in the Web 2.0 era.

They have a segment called Control Freak, where the listeners get to “text what’s next” by texting a letter corresponding to one of two choices that the DJ decides.  For example, text an L for Linkin Park or an M for Metallica.  Then, whichever band gets the most votes, that’s the song that gets played.

Throughout May, they have put together what they call the May Shuffle.  Listeners go to the website and build playlists of 5 songs.  Then, at the top of every waking hour, the DJs play one of the playlists.

Similarly, they also have segment called What’s The Point, where listeners put together a 5 song playlist that has some sort of point.  Such as, all the bands are from Illinois, or they all have a member whose last name starts with J, or all the songs have to do with the Sun, etc.  Then, after the playlist is played on the radio, listeners call in to guess what the point is to win cool stuff.

All these segments have pushed my local station from a boring music-only station to a hip, exciting, listener-oriented station.  They are keenly aware of the user-oriented, texting, Web 2.0 crowd and have adapted their style to fit that of their listeners.

However, a major point that I have yet to touch on is that of music discovery.  Radio has allowed me to discover new bands that I would not have normally heard of.  All too often, I come home after a particularly rocking drive and promptly buy 3 or 4 songs from iTunes.  All because the radio exposed me to new awesome music.  I do not think I would have found those bands/songs otherwise.

So, would I give up my FM tuner for XM radio, Pandora, and other so-called Web 2.0 improvements?  No way.