In our time, not finding the music you are interested in is more difficult than finding it. There seems to be everything in the countless heap of streaming services. Even groups that few people have heard of are still in one playlist or another. We can say that this is a truly new way of listening to music, which simply did not exist before. We bought each song separately or downloaded them in not entirely legal ways. Against the backdrop of such a media paradise, why use radio? There is not even a way to choose what you like. Nevertheless, the industry is alive and not even going to die. Why it happens?
There is a subtle warmth in this picture.
Why do people listen to the radio?
Now it makes no sense to remember that radio for many categories of residents of any country can be the only source of information and entertainment. For example, for elderly people who are not used to receiving information otherwise. There are those who cannot find out the news or weather forecast for tomorrow in any other way. For example, people who have vision problems. And just the villagers do not always have the opportunity to watch TV, and the radio is almost everywhere. Sometimes, in remote areas, it is precisely this that is the only means of entertainment and communication with the outside world.
Much more often radio is used in cars. When you spend hours in a traffic jam, any music, even the most beloved, gets bored. There are many radio applications in the modern world. I will try to explain my love for this content source, and at the end I will arrange a small survey. I am interested to know how you feel about radio.
Why do I still listen to the radio
Recently, as a classic rock lover, I decided to go through the main cult works of different years. Besides that, I don't just listen to old songs, but also study entire albums. So you can once again plunge into the history of the musical genre, listen not only to legendary songs, but also understand how the performers performed at that time. It's like coming to an unfamiliar city and not only seeing massive sights, but also walking along ordinary streets. After all, whatever one may say, any music carries a part of the soul of its author and performer. The exception, of course, is when music is created by marketers who know what needs to be written to make it popular. That is why it is interesting to go through his creative path with your favorite performer and in an hour and a half to live a year or two of his touring studio life.
This approach to music requires thoughtfulness. Willy-nilly, you think about it, listen to the sound of the instruments, the emotional coloring and think about why this particular song is in this place in this album. Otherwise, it simply does not work. But sometimes you want to listen to something on the road or just distract yourself from everything as much as possible so that the sound becomes the background. To do this, I often turn on my playlist of about 600-700 songs at random. But sometimes it gets boring. Then the radio comes to the rescue.
You can always find something interesting on the radio.
In addition to music, which can also get bored when it comes in a continuous stream, there are voices of living people. They somehow dilute the situation and make the significance of each song higher. Other than that, you don't know what's next. You only know that this song will be in the genre that you like, since radio is usually tied to a certain style of music. There is something about it from childhood, when you knew that there was a surprise for you, but did not know what it would be.
Sometimes on the radio I discover something new for myself. Of course, there are selections and recommendations in music services, but songs of really novice artists do not always fall into them. In my case, the radio gave me more new names in the playlist than selections.
From time to time on the radio, I like to listen to programs and thematic broadcasts. It is full of programs about hobbies, cars, sports and more. The main thing is that they are as far as possible from politics and disputes about the differences between black and white and good from evil. We can say that these “shows and episodes” are on YouTube or in podcasts. I'm not even going to argue with that. Moreover, I often listen to them there. But unlike what was originally created for the site and carries only the opinion of the author or presenter, there is a dialogue with the audience in the recordings of the radio broadcast, which are posted on podcasts. Someone calls and gives their opinion. This also has a certain charm. In addition, such content is simply made better. Of course, there is an exception, but the quality control on radio is, on average, significantly higher than just podcasts or YouTube videos.
Good equipment is used to record broadcasts on the radio and the presenters are carefully prepared.
Once again, I repeat that I don't only listen to radio or podcast recordings, but they play a big role in my life. I even often notice how I ask Alice to turn on not some music, but just a specific radio. With the advent of the ability to listen to radio on the Internet, this has become much easier.
Offer for advertisers
Another factor in the development of radio is that on this platform the listener and the advertiser do not conflict as actively as on television or on the Internet.
If you sat down to read an article, watch a video on YouTube or something on TV, advertising distracts you from this activity and prevents you from perceiving the content. People tend to listen to radio in the background and therefore treat advertising much easier. In turn, advertisers are very interested in this source, since it has been proven that what they hear is perceived better than what they read.
This zone of reconciliation is beneficial to everyone, and this is also one of the secrets of the success of broadcasting.
The radio brought the listener and advertiser together and allowed both to relax.
Who is listening to the radio?
Above I have already said that radio can now be listened to via the Internet. By the way, the quality in this case will be significantly higher than in the usual FM range. This method can be used while walking the dog, on the way to work, or just sitting in a cafe. There are, of course, smartphones with built-in radio, but with the current level of development of the mobile Internet, it is easier to use it. You just need to download the applications of your favorite radio station or a common player, of which there are countless.
At the end of the article, as I promised, I want to ask a counter question. How often do you personally use radio and where do you do it? I think the results will be interesting.