Radio have influenced the culture, literacy and education. This form of communication can send us the news quicker than newspapers, it can change the way we think about certain topics like for example politics. Radio can be listened from anywhere, it forms a world where all you need to enter is to switch on the machine.
I always had a positive relationship with radio. It was always ”there” since I was a kid. In the kitchen my grandma listening to the radio while cooking, neighbours playing radio loudly on summer weekends, when my dad was driving me to school or when driving to the beach with family. I still remember the songs that were played often, they bring so many memories, remembering how little I was… MC Hammer “can’t touch this”, “killing me softly” – what a tune, I was always a fan or “Barbie” by Aqua – yeah my dad didnt mind this in the car.
I have listened to the radio many times when going to sleep- it helped me sleep better for some reason, sometimes when I woke up I didn’t realise that radio was on – I simply didn’t hear it until I started listening after sleeping. I guess radio gave me a sense of ‘company’, I’m a morning person and feeling lonely or having an urge to talk to someone late night was replaced by the radio. Since the radio is live, it just made me feel like there is someone with me. A different feeling than listening to pre-recorded podcast.
Radio nowadays is used by a countless amount of people, but I feel like its slowly dying. Young generation is choosing digital streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud etc. Those platforms create playlist with new releases for artist to have a chance to be discovered. But radio offers much more in my opinion. We are more open to different genres- on streaming platforms we are used to choosing our favourite ones. We learn about artist, we may hear an interview and get interested. Streaming platforms will share less information, so we stick to listening our favourite songs which can limit us from discovering and learning more. Radio has music, interviews, podcasts, news and much more. It’s entertaining and educational, it’s complete.