Re: [Swprograms] What Your Home Page or Starting Portal (Is It a Radio Page)?

[Ricky Leong <rleong@xxxxxxx>]

c Copeland wrote:

> What "Homepage" or Portal Page do you Usually log onto? (ie what page 
> does your browser open when you 1st go on line?)

Mine is http://ca.my.yahoo.com/
It allows you to customize what you want in it. (Specific news topics and 
"survival" features, like the weather, stock markets, Yahoo! maps, etc...)
Of course, Yahoo! News includes reports from all media.

> (snip) What got me thinking about all this this was a recent speech to 
> editors Washington by newspaper (The Times & Sun in the U.K. & other 
> media) mogul Rupert Murdock.  
> He uses the distinction between 'digital immigrants' (the over 40 crowd) 
> & 'digital natives.' [Whether digital natives will ever embrace shortwave (short of the 
> internet infrastruce being destroyed) is a frequent topic in the SW 
> hobby--including SW Programs). 
> Murdoch suggests (not new but signifucant coming from him) that 
> newspapers need to fight to become their readers' Hiome Page or Portal. (...)

This is not a relevant competition. Why the importance of being the first page 
to appear on someone's Web browser? I regularly visit about six news sites every 
day, and a drop in on a few more when it pleases me or when I have the time. 
Obviously, not all of them can be my home page.
If Murdoch really means newspapers need to fight to get young eyeball off their 
computer screens and onto paper, why not offer "electronic editions" where the 
whole paper is sold online in a PDF file or in some other kind of graphical 
format? Many newspapers now offer that service, with newsprint-haters, 
expatriates and other out-of-town subscribers in mind.
I also think any comparison to international shortwave is inappropriate here: 
most newspapers in the Western world are commercial organizations whose sole 
motive (journalism aside) is to generate a profit. These organizations are free 
to choose the most efficient mode of delivery to generate said profit. (Here's 
the shocker: paperless newspapers within the next century, anyone?) In contrast, 
public-service international broadcasters should use an many modes of delivery 
as feasible to deliver their service -- unlike private entities, they should not 
be driven by demographic or commercial imperatives.
Will shortwave ever be embraced by the under 40 crowd? Forget the mode of 
delivery debate (analog vs. DRM vs. Internet streaming). Also forget the 
demographic debate. Give people something they want to hear and they might 
actively SEEKING it, no matter how old they are.
If I had begun my SWL hobby now rather than in the mid 1990s, I might not have 
stuck around. The vast majority of what you hear on the dial now, in English, is 
coming from Bible-thumping private U.S. outlets, something I wouldn't normally 
tune into, no matter how you deliver it to me.

Ricky Leong
Calgary, Alta.

-- 
The whistle shrill still lingers on
In the hearts of everyone
Every day from dusk till dawn
- Orangedale Whistle, Jimmy Rankin/Rankin Family
_______________________________________________
Swprograms mailing list
Swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms

To unsubscribe:  Send an E-mail to  swprograms-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.