From Slashdot comes the sad news that the Dr. Demento radio show is leaving the airwaves, at least for those outside the Greater Amarillo Area (it will continue there through the end of the summer). If you’re like me, you probably listened to a fair amount of Dr. Demento (real name: Barret Eugene Hansen) in high school, and occasionally thereafter, though the show has become impossible to find in most areas recently. The doctor’s own announcement only lists six radio stations that were still carrying it.
Happily for the true Dr. Demento fanatic (a description that excludes myself), you can continue to listen to his show on the Internet. That is, if you’re willing to pony $2 a show for low-quality MP3s, or $14.95 a month to join the Demento Online Club.
As a businessman, the good doctor seems to be a fine radio personality. Maybe the Dr. Demento Show has a sufficiently large and fanatic fanbase willing to pony up $15 to keep Mr. Hansen off the breadline (and after 40 years on the air, I’m sure he’s drawing Social Security), but that price point seems pretty aggressive. Given that there are more free podcasts floating around than anyone could listen to in a lifetime, and that for the $180 a yearly membership would run, I could buy pretty much every novelty tune I enjoy off iTunes and have plenty left over, it’s hard to see it as a good deal. Put another way: That’s three times the cost of TotalFark, and Drew seems to do pretty well with that model.
Methinks the good doctor should rethink his pricing structure…