Ascertain the Level of Use and Awareness of Online Radio in Anambra State Broadcasting Service and Among Undergraduate Students.
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
From its beginnings in the 1920s, radio as a mass communications medium has weathered the incursion of competing technological innovations. Radiotelephony was first employed as a means for naval ships to communicate between themselves.
It spread to the general population as manufacturers, looking to sell radio receivers, created land-based “broadcasts” to demonstrate how the medium worked (Dimmick, Feaster & Hoplamazian, 2011). The public responded strongly in the positive, leading to widespread sales of radio sets.
A major “domain” of radio was in the living room. Large radio receivers were purchased and positioned centrally as essential furniture. Additionally, tabletop radio sets found their way into the kitchen, bedroom and workshop.
With the advent of television, radio faced its first threat of being replaced by newer technology. Families had been sitting around the radio, listening to broadcast news, entertainment, and serial dramas and comedies. Now, with TV, they could do that while engaging their eyes and watching the action as well.
By the early 1950s, many predicted that television – “radio with pictures” – would simply replace radio. That did not happen. Instead, radio broadcasters and manufacturers looked for and found ways that radio was different, and in fact, superior to television and exploited those differences (Dimmick, Kline & Stafford, 2000).
In arguing that television engaged both senses – seeing and hearing – proponents of television actually exposed a potential shortcoming of this new medium: it required more focus, and thus limited how and where the audience could use it. Radio programming could be consumed while the listener performed other tasks.
So radio became portable. Radio receiver manufacturers moved the focus from building furniture to building small, portable receivers. With the advent of transistorized circuitry, small pocket-sized transistor radios gained popularity. Radio receivers were installed in automobiles. Alarm clocks combined with radio sets to wake people up in the morning.
Now the listening public could keep listening to news, weather, sports and music while they got ready for work, as they drove to work, at the beach, at the park, wherever they went, they could keep their radio with them. As radio adapted to the public’s busier lifestyle, it also adapted its programming format.
Where the living room set focused on serial dramas and comedies, as well as long-form music and variety programming, the advent of portable radio also coincided with the development of shorter-form music programming (Cox, 2009).
As a music-based medium, radio’s next potential threat was from car stereos. With the invention of four-track, and ultimately eight-track tapes in the early 1960s, drivers could listen to their favorite music when they wanted, and in better fidelity than broadcast.
REFERENCES
Albarran, A., Anderson, T., Bejar, L. G., Bussart, A., Daggett, E., Gibson, S., . . . Way, H. (2007). “What Happened to our Audience?” Radio and New Technology Uses and Gratifications Among Young Adult Users. Journal of Radio Studies, 14(2), p. 92-101.
Albarran, A. B., & Dimmick, J. W. (1993). An assessment of utility and competitive superiority in the video entertainment industries. Journal of Media Economics, 6(2).
Arceneaux, N. (2009). A Sales Floor in the Sky: Philadelphia Department Stores and the Radio Boom of the 1920s. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(1), 76-89. doi:10.1080/08838150802643720
Armstrong, E. H. (1926). Edwin H. Armstrong Papers, 1886-1982. Edwin H. Armstrong papers, (1, 1). Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.
Armstrong, E. H. (1930). Edwin H. Armstrong Papers, 1886-1982. Edwin H. Armstrong papers, (4, 9). Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.
Barboutis, C. (2013). The birth of radio broadcasting: The matrix of science, technology and communication in the western world. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 11(2), 155-168. doi:10.1386/rjao.11.2.155_1
Be the first to comment