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.