Radio tends to be not only the oldest broadcast medium but also the first mode of wireless communication to ever exist in the world. Let’s start off with a brief historical overview of how exactly radio came into being. In 1895, Gugliemo Marconi discovered the “Wireless Telegraph” in the attic of his parent’s house. His experiments with the transmission of the Morse code by using the radio waves eventually led to the invention of an instrument which later came to be known as “the radio”. For his contributions, he was also awarded the Nobel Prize Award for Physics in 1906 that he shared with Ferdinand Braun.
The radio played an immensely important role in the lives of the people in the early 20th century. It had more than 500 channels associated with it that broadcasted news, sports, music, etc. As the 1930s approached, the majority of the houses in the US and Europe owned at least one radio. It would not be an exaggeration to say that by the late 1930s, radio had successfully crossed all the levels of reach that newspaper ever had. This was mainly because of its mere ability to emotionally draw people to itself. However, the golden period did not last for too long and the importance that the radio once had was stolen by the invention of television.
Is Radio really the most accessed form of audio entertainment?
As surprising as it might sound, recent history suggests that upon the arrival of new and developed technologies all around the globe, radio, rather than being adversely affected, is further strengthened. It has emerged as the lone survivor in the present times when both television and the internet are available to almost everyone. Voice-activated speakers have been a major contributor towards encouraging people to listen to more audio entertainment.
What further increases the reach of radio is its echo. It encourages people to resort to audio entertainment and to prove this, statistics have shown how a total of 90% of the adults residing in the UK tune in to the radio channels at least 3 hours per day. This makes radio to be the second most consumed medium as far as entertainment is concerned. Now, a common question that arises here is that what, if any, opportunities arise after the rise in the reach of radio? The answer to this is that every day new opportunities are introduced to the general public in the shape of digital audio advertising. These are placed in the streamed or downloaded audio content.
People often stuck up on the question of how to start a radio station after observing its trends throughout the years. However, it is relatively easier to start a radio station than a TV channel or Newspaper publication. You only need a few essentials to cover your basics. Radio provides a particularly great platform for all the aspiring artists and struggling entertainers also. Due to the vast reach that radio tends to enjoy, it can be a great starting point to the career of a potential artist. It can help them branch out and eventually attract better opportunities to use as a base of their career.
Is Radio Relevant in the 21st century or later?
In the 1940s and the 1950s, the media watchers were super confident regarding the timely death of radio. But radio has emerged to be even more successful ever since. However, many believe this time to be the final phase of radio supremacy.
The Internet being so widely accessible to people of all classes is seen as a medium that will soon replace radio and all other forms of audio entertainment that are associated with it. The comparison between the two entertainment mediums does not even make sense solely because the interactive potential of the internet is far more than radio. Gone are the days when the entire family would sit close to one another, turn on the transistor and listen to their favorite show. It is pretty obvious for everyone to prefer watching their favorite show to just listen to it and imagine stuff.
Radio has lost the dominant position it once held but it can always be worked on. For this, it needs to align itself with modern technologies to successfully compete with other forms of entertainment and bring back its days of glory that it enjoyed in the early 1900s.
