Radio History
Here is a compilation of the historical elements that pertain to all of the demos seen on this website.
History 1: Podcasts & The Internet
With the advent of the Internet, radio underwent the biggest transformation since the rise of FM. While the Internet provided everyone with a much greater choice in content, its real advantage over terrestrial broadcasting was giving listeners more choice in where and when they listened, via podcasts and portable mp3 players. The question is whether or not the Internet is capable of supplanting radio as the ultimate democratic medium.
History 2: Call-in Radio
Due to the public’s increasing distrust of television’s ability to report news and information objectively, people turned to public and talk radio to fill that void. Public radio offered a style of news and storytelling that network television hadn’t provided since the 60’s, while the cell phone gave many listeners the feeling that they were contributing to public discourse in a meaningful way through call-in talk shows across the country. Talk radio provided a new type of public sphere that many thought was lost.
History 3: FM & The Counterculture
The rise of FM broadcasting provided Americans with a level of excitement that had not been seen in radio since its very beginning. FM provided an alternative means of broadcasting technology, and more importantly content, to AM radio. Those being ignored by the networks and AM radio found a way to get their voices heard and make the radio about the community again — something they felt had been lost since commercial radio began over 40 years earlier.
History 4: A Democratizing Medium
The initial broadcast of KDKA in Pittsburgh on November 2nd, 1920, is often thought of as the birth of commercial radio in the U.S. Prior to that, amateurs across the country were experimenting with the medium, creating a small subculture that cultivated the nation’s first craving for instantaneous forms of communication, entertainment, and dispersal of information.
