Coming soon - the age of ‘My Radio’

by Lional Wijesiri

It was a dull rainy Saturday in the late 1940s. I was a young boy living with my parents. To break the monotony of the day, my father said, “Let’s make a crystal radio set.” He had the items needed for the job, which included (as I remember) some enamel coated magnet wire, a Germanium diode, an old telephone handset, a set of alligator jumpers and stranded insulated wire for an antenna. For three hours, he guided me to complete the DIY job and finally my first crystal radio came into existence. From that day onwards, my love for radio sets and its technology never waned but grew up with my age.

I have witnessed how the world began to change and the improved radio receiver becoming a standard household fixture in most homes. I saw how subsequent research gave rise to countless technical improvements and how they changed radio programming drastically.

With the advent of TV, I saw how the migration of the most popular programs from radio to television took place. Radio programming became mostly music and news and, to a lesser extent, talk shows.

Today radio is no more the King. Movies, TV, internet and mobile content are competing for our attention. Fewer are listening to broadcast stations. Online radio stations abound and podcasts seem to be here to stay. When virtually anyone can create content and make it available to the world, what is the long term prognosis for terrestrial radio stations? Will they have a place in the future or will they be essentially superfluous?

A little bit of a history lesson on broadcast radio, does prove the misconception of previous threats as being the final nail in Radio’s coffin. With the birth of television, many predicted radio's demise –but it never happened. Then came tape recorders, eight-track tapes, and CDs, yet radio still survived.

However, many of those new choices did tap into the huge audiences that radio enjoyed in its heyday, but no nail was found. When FM radio began turning the tide of listeners from AM, once again many predicted the death of AM radio. But it didn’t happen. So, even though the audience is shrinking, radio still remains an important and reliable medium.

One of the recent challenges to take on the radio broadcast business in most countries is satellite radio. Satellite radio did begin to take a bite out of broadcast radio as the new technical gadgets became a must for audio savvy users.

Radio revolution

However, in the shadows of the satellite radio revolution, broadcast radio was preparing to comeback on an even digital platform, with the arrival of HD Radio.

In HD Radio, (where Sri Lanka is yet to experience), your favourite local station remains in the same place on the radio dial, but when you have a new digital HD Radio receiver, your AM sounds like FM and FM sounds like CDs. In addition, the wireless data feature enables text information – titles, artistes, local weather or local traffic alerts – to be broadcast directly to your receivers display screen. HD Radio even gives consumers access to other media platforms, such as iTunes tagging, where you can download an on-air song to your iPod.

As we move forward into the technologies of the 21st century, we must not overlook the Wi-Fi revolution, which has quietly spread across the globe providing wireless internet, mobile, and broadcasting to a whole new level. New Wi-Fi units are now providing thousands of online radio stations, which include broadcast and internet-only channels. In the new landscape, you can listen to your local radio station on-air, via internet and mobile phone devices.

Challenges

The challenges for radio broadcasters in the 21st century is huge. Broadcasters are looking for new perspectives to make the business profitable and face digital media competition.

Radio research has reached a two way perspective, with researchers understanding radio both as sound broadcasting and other forms of media, as well as questioning radio as a social institution.

Radio has advantages over the other mass media like television and newspapers in terms of being handy, portable, easily accessible and cheap. It is the most easily portable of the broadcast media, being accessible at home, in the paddy field or the farm, in the office, in the car, on the street or beach, virtually everywhere at any time.

Radio is effective not only in informing the people but also in creating awareness regarding many social issues and need for social reformation, developing interest and initiating action. For example, in creating awareness regarding new policies, developmental projects and programs, new ideas etc.

It can help in creating a positive climate for growth and development. Radio is a fine medium for education when it is followed up with group discussion and question- answer session. Moreover, radio serves small highly targeted audiences, which makes it an excellent advertising medium for many kinds of specialised products and services.

Mobility

As far as audience is concerned radio does not hamper person’s mobility. As a vehicle of information for masses it is still the fastest. For instance, it would take less time for a news reporter for radio to arrive on the spot with a microphone and recorder than the same for TV along with a shooting team and equipment.

Another important feature of radio as mass medium is that it caters to a large rural population which has no access to TV and where there is no power supply. In such places, Radio's programs continue to be the only source of information and entertainment.

We don't know exactly what radio will look like in 20 years (or if we'll even still call it that), but its safe bet that it would it be utterly unrecognisable by the likes today’s FM Radios.

We'll always have audio, but transmission via radio waves will be augmented by wireless Internet standards like 4G mobile broadband and Wi-Fi.

Those networks will carry much more interactive and smarter audio content, which will likely push traditional broadcasters toward a more personalised experience.

By the next decade, radio will be the world’s social audio network, inviting the audience to share and create content.

Stations in USA already launch free apps that listeners use to record, edit, and submit audio, video and picture to the station, which it may use on-air and online.

Mobile apps involve people in your radio station 24/7 – especially when you have a young audience you can create a mobile social community to interact and crowd source.

Choice

The audience will have more choice than ever, as a huge amount of stations will emerge through the unlimited capacity of IP-based channels. It’s an opportunity to serve exactly defined audience demographics through personalised niche radio stations. The age of ‘My Radio’ is here.

Production and distribution techniques will also change, but radio will still be a friend that keeps you company.

Engaging radio personalities will tell interesting stories and offer a mixture of information and entertainment. Radio will continue to have the unique selling proposition and this X-factor of emotion will be the heart of radio that people will always love.