New items on the menu.

In the beginning of Radio, the only two things being broadcast were phonograph recordings and readings from the newspaper; the man behind it was Frank Conrad, the year was 1920; ninety-two years later, we should ask ourselves, what changes have taken place in broadcasting over the years? For the most part, we still hear music and news on the radio. The music of course does not come from a phonograph playing a vinyl record and the news is not being read directly from a newspaper. So, what has “really” changed? Well… In reality not much has changed and a lot has changed since the beginning of broadcasting. In 1922, the number of stations broadcasting went from 28 to 570. Going from one single amateur station in Pittsburgh to 578 across the country in only two years was a clear indicator that radio was coming strong at us. And of course with such huge and fast development of a new media, a lot of people wanted their own piece of the cake. And that’s how the big guys made their way into this way of communication. AT&T invented advertising in radio and as a means of sustaining it. Today it still the way radio makes its money. Again, the only thing that changed is the form in which advertising is being presented to us. The same could be said about the music we still hear on the radio; it might not come from a phonograph but it is still music nonetheless. The music also has changed, but we don’t want to go into that right now. Today a computer plays the music in most radio stations, and you do not get to choose what songs to play, they have been pre-programed for you. Not only that, the playlist or log gets triggered by a computer on AUTO mode, which also releases the radio Dee jay from the responsibility to play the song that’s coming after the commercial brake. Again, we still hear music coming out from our radio, but how is that been played on the other end has changed significantly. I used to listen to a radio program that a really liked on an AM station, after a while, the program went off the air. A few months later I found it on the Internet. Now I can listen to that program and other shows that I really enjoy; and I can listen to them at any time anywhere thanks to the Internet and new devices that allow me have access to these and other programs on the web Even though radio will never disappear, it has to compete now with the Internet. I will conclude that the biggest thing that has changed in broadcasting might no be what’s been broadcast, but rather how, when and where we listen to what’s being broadcast. Today we can choose a la carte when we are hungry for content… Bon appétit