Why Does This Matter? Why Should We Care?
Once upon a time, radio was one of the most marvelous technologies on Earth, used by militaries and governments for navigation, distribution of news and information, and more. Radio made news and music more widely available and brought us closer together as a nation. Today we depend more on the Internet and television for the information and entertainment that we used to receive from radio broadcasts, but radio is far from dead and increasingly valued for its outstanding content.
A Little History About National Radio Day…
The invention of the radio has been largely credited to Guglielmo Marconi in the 1890s, but Nikola Tesla was reportedly first to demonstrate radio in 1893. Nevertheless, the development of radio spanned decades, with many scientists and inventors making small but significant contributions to the understanding of electromagnetic induction, electric conduction, and radio waves.
Please read our article on the Heroes and History of Radio on our Broadcast Radio page.
Radio became monumental for music and news and announcers could quickly get on air to deliver the events of the day to an enormous audience. The first radio news program was broadcast on August 31, 1920, out of Detroit at a station that still airs today as WWJ News Radio 950 AM.
In the early 20th century, radio also began to be used for broadcasting sports, assisting with telephone services, and even aviation navigation. With the digital revolution and the wireless era, radio changed, diversified and adapted.
Today, even though radio is still used for a variety of purposes, it no longer holds its former top slot in entertainment and news media. As mentioned, with TV and the Internet, it’s difficult for radio to compete, but people still love it, and it doesn’t look like radio is going the way of the Edsel anytime soon. As a matter of fact, we cherish radio even more these days for its old-school charm.
If you want to take advantage of radio’s power to advertise, give us a call.