Audio is such an intimate medium.

I was lucky enough to catch the final half hour of Laurel, Gary & Mark’s final breakfast show on Brisbane’s 4KQ. A station with 75 years of history, and a breakfast show that’s been on air for 16 years, and one of the hosts has been there for 31 years. It was beautiful hearing the stories and the way the show has impacted lives.

In a world so heavily motivated to move to short-form video the intimacy of audio won’t be long forgotten.

AM and FM radio might have to change business model, but the beauty of audio being freely broadcast across the airwaves will find a new home.

I would posit that one day in the near future someone is going to reinvent audio and it’ll be a game-changer. Podcasts aren’t the final solution - they’re fine but they’re a transition medium not the next medium, nor is Spotify or whatever Apple has at any time. Maybe radio has a hand in it, but some smart person is going to blow our mind with audio in a similar way that TikTok and Reels and YouTube have made impressive gains in video.

And I am here for it.

The audio is dead, long live the audio!