The Radio
As far as inventions go, the Radio has to be one of the most important inventions of all time. Since Christmas Eve of 1906, (The first radio broadcast) the Radio has revolutionized the way we live our lives. Providing families with a constant feed of entertainment and information, enabling long distance communication; this was vital during both world wars, radio was truly a milestone in human advancement.
During the early 1920s, an era know as the ‘Golden Age of Radio’, the radio was an essential part of family life. People would tune in to listen to their favorite programs, get the daily news and of course listen to music! It opened many new doors for the music industry and gave the many entertainers a new way to reach their audiences. In America during this time, a survey revealed, 82 out of 100 people were radio listeners. During the golden age, there was something for everyone on the radio. Different genres of programs; from action to romance, news broadcast, sports information, interviews with the latest stars. One of the more famous shows is the 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' sci-fi novel ‘The War of the Worlds’. The broadcast of which sent many viewers into mass hysteria, some leaving there homes. They believed the show to be a real news broadcast and became terrified of an alien invasion. The reason that radio show was so brilliant, and still continues to be, is that fact the possibilities are endless, the lack of visuals opens up the door to the imagination. Anything can be made possible using the limitations of the radio, as there is nothing to see that will tell the mind to disagree. But, since the invention of the television and it taking over as the dominant home entertainment medium the Radio has took a back seat.
Today there are many other ways to get the things people used to get from their radios. TV broadcasts everything that the radio used to and a lot more, and obviously people now have visual stimulation as well as audio. The internet has infinite amounts of music, news, programs and anything else that may spark the common publics’ interest. So it would seem that the radio had become obsolete. Yet, the radio is still pulling in the listeners due to its variety and integrity. The BBC has seven stations specific to different tastes due to the fact that it is a PSB company, it must cater for the many different tastes of the British public, as we pay for it! Also, in addition to the previous limitations of analogue, we now have digital radio this gives us the technology to broadcast as many radio stations as we like, anywhere we like. Even on digital television there is a channel for nearly every radio station. The radio is also taking advantage of one of its biggest enemies, the internet. Anyone can type in the name of their favorite radio stations and listen to it live, as they would do on a radio. One other thing that the internet has done for radio is the fact we can now go back and listen to last night’s radio, or last week’s!
So it would seem that the radio has been made into an obsolete piece of ancient technology, it has in fact kept up with the times by taking advantage of the new technology available and using it to keep the radio alive!
Radio Industries Presentation
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