In modern media, we are drowning in a million ways to entertain ourselves. Whether it is binge-watching Netflix, streaming Spotify, tidal, YouTube or keeping up to date with every film on Amazon Prime, modern technology gives us the opportunity to always be amused. But where does this leave radio? Is there space for radio among all of this? And why would we even listen to radio when we have the option to have a full visual display or complete control over what we listen too?

 

Primarily, we need to identify what radio gives us that these other platforms fail to. By listening to music, conversation, novels, interviews we are given the opportunity to imagine and become absorbed without the distractions of visual marvels and without the stress of selecting the next song.  Radio essentially gives us a way in which we can become totally absorbed, lost in our own thoughts and taken completely into a world of our imagination. While this may appear to be self-absorbent, that shouldn’t be seen as a negative thing. Radio gives the unique opportunity for contemplation, something we are deprived as we are fed with thoughts, facts and opinions that we don’t generally have space to consider yet this is something radio provides.

Radio seems to have a personable level as it isn’t decorated with unnecessary production but rather it transports you into someone’s conversation almost as if you could be chatting around a kitchen table. This certainly can’t be said for masses of television and film, which is bombarded with production and over dramatized, to an unrealistic level, which excludes the viewer.

It is understandable that people can find radio frustrating, as they have no power over what is played. We have become accustomed to constantly being in control over what we watch or listen to via other platforms, if you want to listen to a certain song, you can listen at the touch of a button rather than having to tune into the radio and hope for the best. Yet unlike Netflix, Spotify, amazon prime or anything else, radio is fully accessible, there is no sign up nor any fee so everyone can enjoy it whether in a car, café, online or even on the traditional wireless without the necessity of good internet (something rural Britain can’t always provide).

 

When discussing this issue with my brother, he argued that radio is primarily targeted at ‘old people’, something we only listen to when in the car with grandparents or in the kitchen with parents on Sunday morning listening to The Archers, yet I beg to differ. While there is a sense of nostalgia associated with radio that makes us want to tune in when we crave home comforts, it isn’t only that drawing us to radio. Not many medias can intertwine interviews, news, music and fiction so effortlessly in the way that radio does and it is this variety in content that makes it so captivating.  This natural ease is what brings a certain enjoyment; it is having a continuous stream of entertainment that you don’t have to change or fiddle with that makes radio so relaxing.

 

And while I could argue for hours about how radio will always have relevance, statistics also reinforce my thoughts. Forbes reported 245 Million people listening to radio daily, which equates to 91% of Americans over the age of 12 tuning in while in the UK, 9.70 Million people tune in daily to Radio 1’s breakfast show. While this seems like a monumental crowd, there has been a steady decline in numbers so maybe people need to detach themselves from constant amusement and rather than overloading their senses, I suggest we embrace the serendipity of radio.

 

Flora Rowe