The radio isn't playing so loudly at Wired's luxuriously remodeled headquarters that we can't hear you. We copy, loud and clear, that you wish our "End of Radio" cover package had given Internet radio a shout-out (for the record, it seemed too obvious to mention). We get the message that a few broadcasters out there still play cool new music, and we'll be tuning in to KEXP in Seattle. But when you tell us that "the future is promising for worldwide digital shortwave," we reach for the dial. Speaking of switching channels: Some readers bristled at our selection of a stem cell researcher for a Rave Award; one pointed out our geeky inability to talk to girls. "Fifteen 'mavericks and dreamers' and only one woman? Good grief. Guess you guys went to Harvard." Come on - if we had gone to Harvard, our offices would be air-conditioned, and we'd be writing sitcoms.
A Trip Across the Dial
I enjoyed "The Resurrection of Indie Radio" (issue 13.03). Most articles of this type hysterically pronounce the end of the media form in question. But no new media in history has ever eliminated the older media type. Newspapers survived the invention of the radio, just as radio survived the advent of television. Cable TV has not eliminated network TV (unfortunately!), and the Internet still hasn't killed off all forms of print. All media is adaptive, and satellite radio will cause regular radio to change but not die off. Only radio companies that stick their heads in the sand and ignore satellite radio will be gone.
Scott Spears
Bothell, Washington
I am 61 and can remember the day, about 40 years ago, that I turned off the radio - when a DJ started to advertise the prices of produce at a local supermarket. Your articles piqued my interest. I may turn the radio back on to hear what's happening.
Lynn Ellsworth
Phoenix, Arizona
The articles attesting to a different paradigm for radio barely scratched the surface. It's not just about satellite radio, it's about the hundreds of stations all over the globe that are streaming over the Internet; KCRW in Santa Monica is but one example. Radio's future is bright, and new delivery technologies will certainly challenge today's model of how listeners pick and choose content, and from what sources.�
John O'Donnell
Raleigh, North Carolina
Stern Warning
Ana Marie Cox's "Howard Stern and the Satellite Wars" (issue 13.03) attributes Stern's success to the FCC's mid-1990s deregulation, which allowed the radio industry to consolidate around the most popular hosts. Saying that Stern owes his popularity to the government's refraining from controlling the free market is akin to attributing a pedestrian's health to the vehicles that don't run him over.
Despite the indecency laws that violate the First Amendment, the free market is ultimately the only judge capable of allocating broadcasting spectrum according to the needs of the public. Stern's success may have been jump-started by his verbal derring-do, but from now on he will be judged solely by the FCC-free entertainment he provides.
Isaac Bergman
Brooklyn, New York
The UnGoogle
You guys are bad: Comparing Yahoo! to Google ("Yahoo! The Invisible Giant Turns 10," issue 13.03) is like comparing Ford to Pepsi. Yahoo! is a destination site, and Google is a search engine. If you compared the traffic from the Yahoo! search engine to Google, that would be fair. Even your financial figures were deceptive; you didn't mention how much more efficiently Google is running. Consider revenue per employee. Google is $1.4 million compared with a mere $650,000 at Yahoo!. Profit per employee is improved for Yahoo!, but Google is still better.
Doug Atkins
Middleboro, Massachusetts
Thanks for the Yahoo! article. I'm weary of Google's darling status, given how little it does to combat click fraud and impression spam, and given that it does almost nothing to help the honest advertisers hurt by that fraud. Google's "who cares what you think" attitude about the new Autolink feature is the most recent example of obtuseness. Give me Yahoo! - it doesn't pretend to be altruistic and is far less evil.
__Rich Leino
Stafford, Virginia __
The Wikipedia Way
Daniel H. Pink's article on Wikipedia ("The Book Stops Here," issue 13.03) struck a reasonable balance. My only concern was the suggestion that "guardians of the knowledge cathedral - librarians, lexicographers, academics" object to Wikipedia's methods. I think the majority of librarians welcome Wikipedia and see it as a valuable resource: not perfect, but another tool in our arsenal.
Peter Schoenberg
Manager, virtual services, Edmonton Public Library
Edmonton, Alberta
I was disappointed that the article about Wikipedia did not mention the Oxford English Dictionary, which would not have been created without the help of hundreds of volunteers in England and the US. The OED was created using a collaborative model similar to the one Pink claims was brought forth by Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales. Wales should be praised for starting a great service, but those interested in Wikipedia should read Simon Winchester's books about how the OED was created almost 150 years ago.
Arlo Lyle
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Flush With Knowledge
I just finished the piece about the toilet of tomorrow ("The King of Thrones," issue 13.03) - which I read in the, um, "library" - and I just wanted to say, Holy crap! Daniel McGinn managed to make plumbing interesting. Consider this a fan letter - or perhaps a hits-the-fan letter.
Fawn Fitter
San Francisco, California
Embarrassingly Bad Broadband
Lawrence Lessig seems to want competitive service and pricing in broadband Internet access ("Why Your Broadband Sucks," View, issue 13.03). OK. But he has failed to learn the lesson of the Soviet Union - and that of cable TV. Before there was competition from satellites, cable companies enjoyed monopoly control of their markets. Would Lessig's solution of free municipal cable TV have improved service or pricing? Against free service, even the old cable outfits couldn't have competed, to say nothing of the untried satellite companies. More likely, we would have seen another monopoly, except that we would have had to pay for a service that we didn't want. With no competitive pressure, the price could grow uncontrollably.
Harvey Hartman
Santa Cruz, California
As embarrassed as Lessig is about the US ranking 13th in broadband, isn't it more embarrassing that US high school students ranked 24th in math literacy last year? Comparing city-provided water (a real necessity) to broadband access is ludicrous.
Rodney Foster
Maumelle, Arkansas
I grew up near Paris. Five years ago, only France Telecom could provide DSL access. For 50 you got 512 Kbps. Today, you can get 20-Mbps Internet access, unlimited national calls, and about 100 digital TV channels for less than 30. Anywhere you move, at least 20 DSL companies fight to have you as a customer. Now I live in LA, and I spend $45 a month for a 3-Mbps cable connection, because the only company offering DSL in my area stops at 386 Kbps. What's going on?
Nathan Hazout
Los Angeles, California
Get Your Knockoffs Here
Re: Bruce Sterling's "The Sham Economy" (View, issue 13.03). Since when is Serbia and Montenegro at the crest of the global wave of counterfeited goods? The country is poor, but none of the fakes are made domestically. Walk around Manhattan and there will be plenty of movies theatrically released yesterday available today on DVD. Wherever there's poverty, there'll be cheap goods.
Dejan Kovacevic
New York, New York
Undo
• The short story: A letter in Wired's March issue was cut off prematurely. Virginia Dato's rant about exit polling should have ended, "Americans deserve a voting system at least as good as the Australians have, and it's up to us to demand it of our government."
