Radio Sound Only Sign at KZSC (Photo: J. Waits)
Happy 2012.
Over the past few weeks, Matthew, Paul and I have written up our obligatory “year-end” pieces, summarizing some of the big radio trends from 2011.
I covered college radio in my article, 2011: The Year that College Radio Fought Back, Paul wrote about some of the technological changes in music in his piece, 2011: The Year Radio Entered the Cloud, and Matthew covered Internet radio and social networking in 2011: The Year that Internet Radio Went Social.
All three of these topics were covered throughout the year on Radio Survivor, but there were some additional stories that proved to be compelling for readers. The biggest radio story of the year in terms of traffic was about Family Radio and its founder Harold Camping. In fact, the majority of our top ten stories were about Harold Camping’s role in predicting Judgment Day and the end of the world (May 21 and October 21, respectively). Additionally, one of the top search terms bringing people to Radio Survivor was “Harold Camping.” Recent changes at KGO also drew in a lot of readers and even though these changes took place within the past few weeks of 2011, “KGO” jumped to 2nd place in terms of search terms bringing people to Radio Survivor. Others came to the site looking for information on the following topics: Pandora Alternative, Zune, KUSF, Spotify, Opie and Anthony salary, Lynn Samuels, and Randy Michaels.
Here are the Most Read Stories of 2011 on Radio Survivor:
1. Family Radio Counts Down to Judgment Day on May 21
2. Harold Camping to Issue Statement Today on Non-Rapture
3. Harold Camping Explains that Judgment Day was Spiritual
4. KGO Cuts Talk Shows, Angers Many San Francisco Listeners
5. Microsoft Cancels Zune HD, Leaving One Last Portable HD Radio on the Market
6. Family Radio’s Harold Camping Speaks, End of World “Probably” on October 21
7. Harold Camping Issues Vague Apology, Says World Will End Without Warning
8. My Kindle Fire is an Internet Radio
9. Behind the Scenes at Family Radio as May 21st Judgment Day Approaches
10. Talk Radio Lovers Facebook and Tweet Pain over KGO Host Bloodbath
