While technology has continued to grow and increase its presence in our daily lives, radio remains one of the oldest forms of mass media present in everyday use. Offering the ability to provide news, opinions, and current music, it appears that radio has survived the onslaught of technological advancement that is supposed to make analog technologies less relevant. Radio remains relevant for a variety of not-so-obvious reasons, and through the unique space that it occupies, radio as a medium continues to engage with listeners in a fundamentally different way.
In recent years, television and media streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go have dominated the television industry. Essentially, cable television has been rendered more obsolete as TV streaming giants gain access to a larger catalogue of movies, shows, and documentaries than ever before. A similar trend can be observed when examining the way we consume music. From vinyl, cassettes, and CD’s, to iPods and cellphones, the latter is consistently viewed as more appropriate for contemporary culture—and if you are seen with any of those older forms of technology, you might be perceived as lagging behind or being deluded by nostalgia.
While there are a tremendous amount of benefits in using and becoming familiar with newer technologies that are available to the public, it is important to recognize that there is an inherent bias and assumption surrounding these digital forms of new media—that newer is always better. As with cable television and cassettes, a lingering thought is present in the back of our minds that something more technologically-advanced, easier to use, and cooler will be on its way to relieve us of our reliance on the old regime of gadgetry. This prevalent assumption boils down to the idea that, essentially, digital will always surpass analog.
But, what about radio?
With a large increase in popularity among music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora, analog radio has still managed to remain a popular decision for many consumers. Specifically, the accessibility of live radio and its ability to form a connective narrative with the listener ultimately contribute to radio’s longevity and prolonged survival.
The Ontarion spoke with Andrea Patehviri, outreach coordinator at CFRU, a campus and community radio station in Guelph. We asked about the importance of radio remaining relevant in the digital age.
“Radio is one of the few media forms that you don’t have to pay for, and you can access it anywhere—people are listening to the radio while they are driving to work,” said Patehviri. “Campus and community radio specifically highlight things in the community that people otherwise wouldn’t hear about. Community radio also provides the opportunity for people to speak about something they are excited about—you don’t really get that opportunity for television or other forms of media.”
In a way, a large portion of radio’s success can be attributed to the unique space it occupies in modern media—a space where the listener can interact and engage with what they are hearing in a meaningful way. With streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, a lot of the accessibility and relatability gets lost among the thousands of songs in their sometimes exhaustive catalogues.
“Radio is a place for people to bring their passions and talk about them on air,” continued Patehviri. “With Guelph being such a passionate city, which is something I really admire about it, I love that people have a platform where they can talk about what they are interested in.”
In defense of online music streaming services, there are undoubtedly various benefits of listening to Spotify on your daily commute, as opposed to the radio. Most importantly, perhaps, as the listener, you are able to curate and moderate your own playlists and ultimately dictate what music you listen and are exposed to. After all, Spotify excels thanks to its ability to provide listeners with the music they want—when they want it.
For Christopher Currie, the program coordinator at CFRU, the ability to curate your own playlist may not necessarily be an overwhelmingly positive experience for the typical music listener.
“Music streaming services like Spotify allow people to listen to their safe and predictable music—the stuff that they’ve always listened to, whereas radio comes in many flavours, and you’d come across things you wouldn’t hear about if you were merely recycling the same old stuff you’ve always listened to,” said Currie. “On Spotify, you’re just making a playlist yourself for yourself. As for the people who work to create radio programming—you’re working on a team, and have access to all the skills and resources that entail.”
A fundamental difference between radio and online music streaming comes from the ability of the listener to curate and design their own listening experience, as opposed to having new exposure to a variety of new content that could potentially remain under the musicradar or altogether neglected.
“For radio shows, you never know what to expect every single week but it will still be fascinating,” concluded Patehviri. “They could talk about a topic that I knew completely nothing about—and even though I had no say in personally picking what I would be exploring.”
Through connecting listeners to the community and by offering a medium for people looking to explore and shake things up, it becomes increasingly apparent that radio provides a multitude of unique experiences for the listener. With radio being easily accessed and integrated within the daily lives of many people, we can only hope that radio continues to survive the constant attempts of digital media and technology to overtake it.