h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As a broadcaster and producer of my own radio programme, I'm continually re-evaluating the program, its content and the resulting relevance of the show. I'm continually evaluating the music I play and refining the mix.

Material for the show is selected from a short list generated by a database. The short list is generated by a query which uses parameters such as the frequency with which I want to play the song, the last time the song was played and the last time the artist was played. Recently, I got sick of the appearance of a whole bunch of "low rotation" stuff and, being an alternative music show, I suddenly thought, "most of these songs are too commercial and I don't really want to play them on the show any more" so I effectively killed them. This is an example of the way I'm continually fine-tuning the show to produce the best possible product.

Last night, I had a conversation with the President of Valley FM where I present one of my weekly programmes. We were talking about how the popular music of today is much less "durable" than that of 10 or 20 years ago. By that, I mean that it loses its appeal quickly. He also made mention that a good song used to stay at the top of the charts for a long time, perhaps half a year, whereby today, a song would stay at the top, typically for only a few weeks.

I think this is a comment about not only how we consume music but how we consume. Years ago, people had less money to spend on music so it may have taken weeks or even months before they would go out and buy that much desired "45" (a 7" or 185mm vinyl record that were in vogue before the record companies (at least in Australia) decided to force the new technology of the '90s upon us and make our record collections obselete). But in the 21st century we live in a world where we **MUST** have the latest consumer products (including the latest CDs) and we must have them NOW. Television (and for that matter radio) advertising tell us that we "NEED" the latest stuff. We don't have to save for goods because "finance can be approved on the spot!"

The music is also more mass produced. An essential part of the packaging is the video clip featuring lots of glamerous people. The music however is shallow and lacks quality. This isn't true of all modern music; some if it IS good quality but that tends to be heard only in the realm of alternative music. Mass-produced, chart-making music is generally low on quality and high on marketing and that's what makes "successful" music when you measure success by the amount of revenue the song generates.

One of my fellow broadcasters said to me "gee, that mobile phone is big, and its SO HEAVY". Admittedly that phone was given to me by a friend and its old technology; about 12 months old. But why do we all have to have the latest thing? I love old stuff because you can pick it up cheap second hand and it (usually) still works perfectly. But we live in a consumer society where if you don't have the latest stuff, you're not "with it" and you are programmed by the media to develop an inferiority complex. With this attitude, we trivialise the use of valuable resources and compromise recource security for future generations.

I recall a story I heard about a tribe of American Indians who, before making an important decision, would reflect on the last seven generations of their forefathers before thinking of the next seven generations to come...