Today is World Radio Day, if you remember.
I definitely remember it because I still work as an anchor at a news station, thus refuting the idea that this type of media is dead. To be honest, for me the existence of radio is still a mystery and mystery, magic and magic.
A long time ago, when I entered the journalism department of Moscow State University, I chose the direction of education: print media, television or radio, as it was then. And of course the choice was between the first two positions, because it seemed: who needs this, this radio? Music stations are one thing: background noise, morning shows, giggles and giggles. But in a serious conversation, do you listen to some boring guys without even discussing their costumes? You are laughing!
Of course we laugh. As they say, to make God laugh, you must tell him your plans. Apparently I spoke so loudly that I started working in radio in my first year and stayed for 15 years.
It seems to me that these 15 years have passed with prosperity and decline. There were real stars in radio broadcasting – people who turned on not in the background, but on purpose, woke up early for themselves, followed their programs. In the 2000s, there was a special Internet resource that collected all broadcasts of all stations so that you could find the song you liked or listen to the sound of your favorite DJ with eyeliner. However, most of the time it was used to listen to someone important’s broadcast if they suddenly missed it.
The way they communicated with the audience was changing before my eyes. At one time, these were rare calls on the air and were made strictly with pre-moderation – so that no one could desecrate the broadcast with an obscene word (it did not help at all, listeners began to swear at such calls on the radio almost from the first day they started). Later it became possible to send SMS (I write specifically in Latin to immerse you in the atmosphere of those years). I remember how some stations added the right to comment on the broadcast, which was then Twitter, while others tried WhatsApp and Viber. Today they mostly use Telegram.
The development of social networks has also changed the concept of radio broadcasting. It’s no longer enough for people to listen to you in the car on the way to work – they want to watch, as many stations broadcast video on the Internet, but also communicate with the presenters off-air. By the way, there is much less of this on television. The presenters there still seem to be ethereal, so people only jump into their direct messages when they’re incredibly famous, so purely mathematically there are a lot of daredevils. What about radio operators; What about radio operators? In their program, they contact people by phone every day, so they will respond on social networks.
There’s a certain appealing duality here: Radio hosts are both more approachable and more reserved. Radio, on the other hand, is both more popular and more elitist. There has always been less censorship and self-censorship than in television and print media. And since mistakes did not remain on newspaper pages for centuries, they were more easily forgiven.
What’s happening on the radio today and who needs it? There seems to be no one. And it looks like it will continue to be the most reliable means of communication in case of apocalypse. Take any disaster plot: the characters will definitely use the radio. So, at least from this perspective, it’s not going anywhere.
But there is another development. Today’s radio has evolved into podcasts. Remember when a service for live audio broadcasts appeared a few years ago? It was called the Clubhouse. It bombed for a few weeks, then deflated like a tired balloon, leaving only a hundred memes about how zoomers invented the radio. Why did this happen? Because live broadcasting is a troublesome thing for both organizers and viewers. We no longer have the opportunity to sit in front of the receiver or smartphone and listen to every word. Therefore, a word spoken without writing has no meaning. This is where podcasts enter the arena; the same radio, but with the possibility of pausing and then continuing at any convenient moment and without losing its meaning.
It’s like a movie on videotape (old people here?) and on television. One thing is entirely yours, the other you have to chase or follow in pieces. But the meaning is the same.
And yet there is suddenly a kind of magic in these sounds. So, our radio operator friends, we won’t be unemployed anytime soon. As a last resort, let’s go to the editors of reputable newspapers.
And happy holiday to both those who speak and those who listen!
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.