Radio Vox Populi

Will it Become Obsolete or Retain a Nostalgic Charm?

It seems incredible to think that back in 1938, millions of people believed the world as they knew it was coming to an end. According to a now famous (or perhaps infamous) radio broadcast, the Martians were landing. And no one knew what to do – except panic.

This of course was the War of the Worlds broadcast, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s novel of the same name and told by Orson Welles. Although purely fictitious, it captured the imagination and fear of millions. While there may still be a few people around who remember it, most of us look back on the story with amazement. Could we be fooled like that today?

This is part of the charm of radio. While radio itself has had a long and amazing history, stories like this one still stand out.

But today radio as we know it is changing like never before. Today you can opt to listen to online radio channels instead of switching on the radio that’s gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. We might have the internet – a modern, worldwide phenomenon that’s growing at an incredible rate –band although you can get online in your car, at the office, and virtually everywhere else, it doesn’t replace the radio.

AM radio might be coming to an end but FM still stands strong in many places.In many cases, a good radio signal is much easier to find in remote places where broadband services is limited, not to mention good T.V. Although we live in an age where modern technology rules much of our lives, and radio may very well move online completely, but it won’t die out altogether.

The fact of the matter is still that radio itself is simple, accessible and free – and you can listen to it virtually anywhere, even through a tiny pocket sized device. You may have to pay for satellite radio for specialized programming, but the vast majority of radio channels are out there for everyone to enjoy.

It may develop in ways we cannot fathom as yet – maybe ending up online and nowhere else. But  the world wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have the radio to listen to.

World Wars

Living through any war is a horrific event. Radio was used by many countries to ensure that their troops were in the right places. In a sense the radio was an ally to many people, yet we don’t always realize its importance. World War I also saw many countries using radio to pass messages from place-to-place and person-to-person.

Encryption

The only problem with using the radio was that others could listen in on the messages being relayed back and forth. This led to the infamous cryptology machines, such as the American ECM Mark II or SIGABA model, that were designed by many countries to send out coded messages that could not be read by anyone else. For every coded message that went over the airwaves, a room of people in another country were listening in to try and decode it.

In the UK, the BBC had a radio station called the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This was created before World War II and didn’t become deactivated until the mid-1990s. The idea was that if a nuclear attack occurred, people could still listen in to the radio for announcements. Luckily this station never had to be used.

Propaganda

We shouldn’t forget that radio played a role as a propaganda tool as well. While the Nazis broadcast radio messages promoting the Nazi way of life, the Americans and various other countries promoted more positive messages. While these were seen on posters as well, the radio was also used as a method for getting the message across – whatever that message might be.

Voice of America is owned by the federal government and started life back in World War II. It provided a source of news and information for many people in many places. The station even broadcast to Germany as well.

Vietnam War

Different people did their bit for the effort to keep radio communications open and useful during the Vietnam War. Adrian Cronauer was once a sergeant in the US Air Force and was the man behind the story in the famous film Good Morning Vietnam. He had been interested in the radio since before he was a teenager, but no one could have predicted that he would make such a name for himself on the American Forces Network.

It is clear that in any future wars to come, the radio will very likely still be there as a key player in proceedings.

Howard Stern

We’re surrounded by an amazing choice of radio programs all day, every day. When you think about it, it’s incredibly difficult for any radio show to really capture the attention and the hearts of lots of people that could be listening.

But it does happen. In many cases a radio program can be perfectly entwined with its host, making it a perfect combination of talent and ideas. Of course different people are likely to have different ideas when it comes to what is influential.

Contemporary Radio

Rush Limbaugh - Image via Wikipedia

A current example of an influential radio show is The Rush Limbaugh Show. Whetehr you agree or disagree with his politics, being the highest rated radio talk show in the whole of the US definitely counts for something. Limbaugh’s monologues have the ability to shape conservative policy and public opinon in America, which certainly earns a place on the influential list.

Another of the most influential radio shows is The Howard Stern Radio Show. Even if you’ve never heard of it before, you’ll definitely have heard of Howard Stern. This host takes no prisoners – love him or hate him, his audience is devoted while his critics deem him too controversial and offensive. His successful radio show is just one essential part of his eye opening career, which began in the 1970s.

Early Radio

Amos 'n' Andy - Image via Wikipedia

But maybe we should go a little further back in time to the earliest days of radio too. After all many shows then were feeling their way through this new medium. Some of them failed to catch on, but others lasted for an incredibly long time and influenced many shows that came after them.

When Amos ‘n’ Andy began back in 1928 on the radio, no one could have foreseen the incredible run it would have. It was one of the very first comedy programs on radio, and carried on right through into the 1950s, eventually even made a big splash on television. As its popularity endured, it would even be carried on in syndication until the 1960s.

Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden were the two men in charge, and the show actually underwent some major changes during its lifetime. It started out as a serial but then switched to be a situation comedy.

Thousands of programs that have graced the radio waves since the birth of radio. But what makes an influential show? It isn’t always the viewership. A show can be hugely popular in its time and still not be remembered years later. No, clearly something else is at work here – and sometimes it is the very fact that a show blazes a trail, going where no one has gone before, or appealing to an audience that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Irna Phillips; Image via Wikipedia

Okay so we all know who shot J.R. But if you normally spend your time glued to your television watching the latest episode of your favorite soap, you should think about gluing your ear to the radio instead.

No, this isn’t some weird pastime we’re about to introduce you to. Instead it’s the simple act of listening to a soap opera instead of watching one. After all, the radio is where this most humble of programs first came to life – and it’s still going strong right now.

Origins

These programs owe their very nickname to the fact that soap companies sponsored them back in those very early days of the 1930s. Ironically, the idea of a soap opera back then was to create a program that could be listened to while women did their housework!

The creators couldn’t have known just how popular the concept would become, and how it would develop when television came along. Viewers tuning in to see soap operas regularly stretch into the millions, and even today there are popular soaps on the radio as well.

The very first soap opera to grace the airwaves was a program called Painted Dreams. It premiered on the radio way back in October 1930 and proved a big success, airing until July 1943.

The Brains

We have Irna Phillips, an actress with WGN radio station back then, to thank for the birth of the soap opera. While the original idea for a 15 minute show to air on a daily basis came from WGN, Irna took it and ran with it. In the end she actually created 4 successful radio soap operas, all of which made the leap to television as well. One of her most successful efforts, Guiding Light, only finished back in 2009. As the World Turns finished the year after (although this was never on radio in the first place) and Days of Our Lives, which similarly became a TV only affair.

But while many of Irna’s creations ran for decades, you have to look to British shores to find the longest running radio soap opera of all. The Archers has broadcast over 16,000 episodes. The show was piloted on BBC Radio in 1950 and commenced regular broadcasting on New Year’s Day the following year. The Archers celebrated its 60th anniversary in January 2011.

Modern Radio Soaps

Radio soap operas have survived into modern times and even The Archers shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. While both television and the internet could both have spelled the end for radio soaps, this hasn’t been the case. They continue to attract a solid audience who are hooked on the twists and turns of these dramas.

In fact even the internet has gotten in on the act, as a show called Scripts and Scruples has proved. This podcast soap opera is already on its 881st episode, which just goes to show how well it is doing. Available as an MP3 file, this takes  radio soap dramas into a new era.

So even in this modern era of broadband internet and high definition television, the simplicity of listening in to a radio soap opera still has that same quality it did back in 1930 when it all got going.

Image via Wikipedia

Every now and then you hear a story that just begs to be researched more and more. This one sounds like something out of the hit TV show Lost, but in fact what you’re about to read is completely true.

There is a radio station known as UVB-76. Not too catchy admittedly, although conspiracy theorists usually call it The Buzzer.

That’s because this radio station doesn’t broadcast music, or even people talking about various things. All it features is a buzz tone. This plays throughout the day and night, and has done so since approximately 1982.

So for nearly 30 years all it’s been broadcasting is this weird buzzing sound. It shows no signs of stopping, and the mystery of what the signal is for or why it is broadcast shows no signs of being resolved either.

Every now and then there’s a brief voice message in Russian that butts in between the buzzing sounds. These messages make little if any sense to anyone who happens to be listening in on the station at the time of broadcast. Only a handful of these kinds of messages have ever been intercepted and heard, since they are sporadic at best. Needless to say conspiracy theorists have had a field day trying to figure out the messages.

In August of 2010 some changes were noted that were occurrring fairly frequently. Two clear messages were announced in Russian, both of which were repeated. The second one was the clearer of the two, but still no one could make sense of it, even when it was translated. Try this for size: “UVB-76, UVB-76. 93 882 NAIMINA 74 14 35 74.” Listen to the audio here - does that make any sense to you?

Today, 30 years on, it’s anyone’s guess. Whenever a new voice message breaks into the buzzing, the internet is awash with more conspiracies and thoughts as to what it could all mean.

To confirm that radio operators at other stations are alert?

Secret codes to Russian secret agents?

Nuclear missile warnings?

Military coordinates?

A way to contact with life in outer space?

The number station’s purpose and location have never been confirmed by officials. Well someone, somewhere knows … the truth is out there.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Traditional radio was a major part of many lives, back in the days when there was no TV to rely on for news or entertainment. As the television became more popular, so the radio became less so.

But you probably still listen to the radio when you’re out driving or walking somewhere. Plenty of modern MP3 players have radios built in, so you’re never far away from a radio channel.

But now we’re well and truly in the internet age. It has made the world smaller and the possibilities for listening to the radio even larger. You can now listen to the radio from your computer or phone – wherever there’s an internet connection!

But will the traditional airwaves fall silent due to online radio’s dominance?

Traditional radio is here to stay, and it still has a strong audience worldwide. At the end of the day, traditional radio is still practical. Not in the big hulking sets that families used to gather around for nightly programming. But these devices can be tucked into your pocket nowadays – something you couldn’t have done when radios first entered the market decades ago.

Even though you can have live radio streaming through your internet connection it doesn’t always do you any good. After all, if you happen to be in an out of the way area that doesn’t have an internet signal, your laptop and online radio aren’t going to do you a lot of good are they? So we’re still reliant on that technology to work.

While some old style technologies may now be coming to an end (think of video recorders for instance) others are still going strong. The radio is a classic example. It has changed subtly over the years but even in the 21st century it has managed to remain an independent entity, as well as merging with it to create something new.

So while you may enjoy listening to online radio while you’re working, checking emails or updating your Facebook status, you can still enjoy radio in your car or while you are out and about, thanks to small pocket-sized radios and headphones.

“War of the Worlds”

This is simultaneously the most famous and most infamous radio broadcast of all time. Broadcast on October 30th 1938, it produced widespread outrage and panic as many took the events being described as real.

Over the course of 60 riveting minutes, listeners were presented with mock new bulletins relaying that a Martian invasion was currently in progress. Based on the H.G. Well’s’ novel, this broadcast also launched Orson Welles’ career.

But what other programs are there which have achieved huge audiences and scores of listeners over the years?

Contemporary

A lot depends on what areas of radio you look into. Syndicated radio programs can reach millions of listeners on a regular basis. Take the country music Back Porch Show for example, which reaches 6 million listeners every single week.

But the American Top 40 can do even better than that. This weekly show gets around 20 million listeners, not all of them in the US either.

In the realm of talk radio, The Rush Limbaugh Show brings in 22 million listeners a week.

Old-Time Radio

You can find plenty of huge shows back in the early days of radio too. If you head back into the 1930s before the Second World War broke out, you’ll find a show called Maxwell House Show Boat. This was the top broadcasted show to hit the airwaves between 1933 and 1935.

Fast forward some 20 years and you’ll find another program regularly getting the biggest audiences for radio shows – The Jack Benny Show. Jack may have gone on to achieve success on television as well, but he is arguably best remembered for those golden years on the radio.

Worldwide

A lot depends on the scope of the program to go beyond the country it’s produced in. For instance Armin van Buuren gets a massive 30 million listeners every single week right across the world. His show A State of Trance is broadcast over several dozen channels worldwide and focuses on trance music.

If you’re looking for the biggest number of listeners, look no further than the BBC World Service, with approximately 188 million listeners around the globe.