Story: The Triumph of Media

The manager of a rock music radio station was no longer content with previewing hit singles before they were released. Instead he got a major jump on his competition by playing songs before they were recorded. This was not easy for him to do, but it was worth the effort. His radio station became wildly successful, and dominated the market playing songs that had never been sung. Rock groups became famous before the musicians had even met each other. The station eventually became famous for "pre nostalgia" and its audience pined for good old days that never existed.

The songs themselves were not very good, but that did not matter. People were too excited at hearing songs that seemed to be new.

Emboldened, and needing to keep his play list fresh, the station manager then started to play songs performed by artists who had yet not been born. Golden Oldies were aired years before the musical instruments on the songs were invented. Soon the station became famous for "non-nostalgia". Virtually everyone listened to it, which was unfortunately bad news because the audience became so involved in songs that never existed that the listeners ceased to exist themselves.

Victor Schwartzman