Radio and Mass Communications: Matt

How is radio a form of mass communications? Simple. It's a tool that people communicate through. And even though the Internet and iPods dominate our lives, the radio is still prevalent in our everyday use.

The History of Radio
The potential for radio came when radio waves were first discovered. Radio waves can transmit music and speech through the air, similar to other wave-using devices, like your microwave or cellphone. Discoveries were made, and the first breakthrough in radio was in 1895, when Guglielmo Marconi sent and received the first radio wave signal in Italy. He also sent the first wireless signal across the English Channel, and radiotelegraphed the letter "S" from England to Newfoundland in 1902. Another important man in the history of radio was Lee DeForest - he provided a detector for electromagnetic radiation, making it possible to "amplify the radio frequency signal picked up by the antenna before application to the receiver detector." The result of DeForest's work was AM (amplitude-modulated) Radio, something we still listen to today.
The first speech transmitted by radio was in 1915, and five years later, the Harding-Cox election returns were broadcast over the radio. In 1933, FM (frequency-modulated) Radio was invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong. The static in the noise from the earth's atmosphere was improved, which is why FM has better quality sounds than AM radio.
(Note: Information comes from this website)

Radio Today
All of the playing around with radio waves in the early 1900s made it possible to communicate through the radio today. Radio plays a large part in mass communications, even in the 21st century. But what exactly does radio communicate?

• Music. Every time you get in someone's car, the radio is probably on. Music is a form of entertainment, and the music industry dominates FM Radio. Some music stations on the radio today include 92.9 FM and Kiss 108.
  
• Entertainment/Talk Shows. While not as popular, there are plenty of talk shows on the radio. A good example is The Sports Hub, Boston's main sports radio station (98.5 FM).

• News. Most news stations are on AM Radio, but they are just as easy to access as the FM stations. While you won't be able to hear AM stations in a tunnel, they provide useful information, like traffic and weather reports. A helpful AM station is 1030 AM, owned by WBZ.

Radio can be very helpful for us. While driving to work, someone can hear a piece of news on the radio, get updated traffic reports on how to get to work on time, and listen to his or her favorite music to make the morning commute pleasant. Radio may fly under the radar (pun intended), but it is an important part of mass communications, and has been for a long time.

Modern Radio
There are many other forms of radio that have sprouted in the last 20-30 years. There are three main advancements in radio - Internet radio, satellite radio, and HD radio.

Around since the 1990s, Internet radio is simply that - radio that you can listen to on the Internet. There is no geographical limit for internet radio, according to this article. So those radio stations in California that you can't get in your car? You can hear them on the Internet! There are also micro-communities of listeners focused on specific genres of music, making Internet radio all that more convenient. One example of Internet Radio is the well-known Pandora Radio, an audio streamer that plays genre-specific music to your liking.

Satellite radio is similar to Internet radio. While the range is not as unlimited, and the stability of the main satellite radio company, Sirius XM Radio, has been in jeopardy for over a year now, satellite radio is promising. Think of it like Cable TV. With the standard hookup, you can get your basic stations - ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. Same goes with radio - you have your Kiss 108 and your Jam'n 94.5, the stations you most frequently listen to. But with cable, you get more channels with better TV shows. Similarly, with satellite radio, you get genre-specific channels, with CD quality sound! It's like radio on steroids!

The third form of advanced, modern radio is HD radio. HD is the simplest to understand - it's better quality radio, just like your TV! FM stations have CD-quality sounds, and AM stations have FM-quality sounds - it's quite an improvement! There are new genres and new artists, and more of what you're already listening to. This website lists all the perks of HD radio. Boston stations like 93.7 Mike FM, 100.7 WZLX, and Oldies 103.3 are all HD stations, just to name a few.

So, there you have it. Radio old and new, historical and modern. But how is it a form of mass communications? Anyone can be a part of radio - callers voicing their opinion during a talk show, teenagers wanting to listen to their favorite songs on a Sunday afternoon, the elderly couple looking to get back to the music of the past, or the single mom falling asleep to bedtime music. Listening to the radio can spread - over half of people surveyed said that they buy CDs because they heard a song by that artist on the radio (Source: This website). Whether it be news, traffic or weather reports, talk shows, or musical entertainment, radio is perpetually communicating with the rest of the world.