RADIO AND YOUR LIFE

How many roles does radio play in your life?

Think about your own use of radio--what purposes does it serve for you, your family, and your friends? Do you use it for news? For entertainment? For background study music? Do you listen to the interaction on radio talk shows? Do you find yourself using the computer or other media for some of the same purposes you use the radio for?

Look at some of the radio listening roles listed below, and consider the different kinds of programming and media that seem to fit your patterns for each listening situation. Think about how your listening patterns fit into the changing forms of radio use that have developed and answer the following questions.

Radio News

 Commercial radio stations provide two forms of news. First, about two dozen all news stations, located in major markets, and about 200 commercial stations that mix news and talk provide news throughout the day. Typically, these stations have ongoing news packages that summarize important happenings around the world, nation, state, and local areas. The motto is "give us 22 minutes and we'll give you the world." The second form is a short news summary read by disc jockeys during entertainment programming. See page 223 in "The Media in Your Life."

Radio and entertainment

 The advent of television caused a rapid decline of comedy and drama shows on radio. As radio stars Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen moved to television, many predicted an end to radio as a mass medium. But radio reshaped itself and survived, becoming the music box of a new generation. Radio created a forum for ethnic music. And further, millions of young babyboomers found rock 'n' roll. It was their music. It had the beat they could dance to, and even better, their parents disliked it. See page 215 in "The Media in Your Life."

Music on radio

 Music programming provides background for people's daily lives. Students study, mechanics repair cars, and commuters drive--all to the sound of radio music. Music enables us to endure exercise, it helps us transcend boring tasks, and it bonds us with people who share common interests. It is the shared interest that results in consistency of demand that makes the format approach work. People who want to listen to country music share some common characteristics--characteristics that can be associated with certain buying habits that attract advertisers. Without correlations between demographics and music and demographics and buying habits, radio advertising would lose its effectiveness. See page 219 in "The Media in Your Life."

Radio talk/ interaction

 Between 1990 and 1995 the number of stations that devote the bulk of th eir programming to talk has almost tripled, from 405 to 1,130. With talk, radio stations have discovered a new way to boost the ratings and bring home the advertisers.

Talk radio provides new profits, but only a few stars earn huge sums, such as conservative political talk show host Rush Limbaugh and the outrageous Howard Stern. Limbaugh alone generates $30 million in revenue for his syndicator, EFM Media Inc. Rush Limbaugh attracts 20 million listeners each week on 660 stations. Talk radio trails only country music as the nation's most pervasive format; it commandeers more than 15% of radio's fragmented audience. See page 224 in "The Media in Your Life."


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