What Radio has that an iPhone could never compete with

What is radio’s secret…  The answer is simple, writes Ray Kington in this USA RadioShow Trip entry.

Radio has been under attack for many years from changes occuring accross the media landscape, and yet, like a cockroach hiding under a rock after a nuclear mushroom cloud, it has lurched upwards. Radio continues to grow and continues to innovate.

Radio has survived for more than 80 years and I think it will keep on flourishing.
 
Purveyors of the next new media trend continue to write off radio time and time again. Radio is often seen as an old fashioned medium that cannot compete with new iOS and Android apps, or even the popularity of You Tube.

In the fifties, when radio first came under attack by television, a new style of radio began – Music radio. Sure some stations hung onto the radio serials but eventually those faded away and the music station became common place in society the world over.
 
Top Forty radio emerged and then, later in the sixties, Talkback came along. Suddenly announcers could talk live on air with listeners! They could talk directly to their audience and directly engage with them about issues of the day.

Cassette tapes and cds introduced new threats to radio along with portable music devices like walkmans, the iPod, smart phones, iTunes, new music apps and iTunes radio. All have come to the castle with swords pointed and yet listeners continue to listen, they continue to call in to radio stations, they still buy the products it spruiks and attract advertisers.

What is its secret? Is there some mystical power that it posesses?
 
The answer is simple. Empathy and Humaness.

A recent study in the US has showed that jobs most demanded by 2020 will be sports coaches, fitness trainers, massage therapists, registered nurses, school psychologists and music tutors among others. All these roles are about human interaction, about engaging, about empathy.

Radio announcers and radio stations are about people talking to people. We talk about emotions, good and bad, and share our lives. In today’s digital world more and more people are locked into the ecosystem of our digital profiles and devices, but despite our obsession with our smartphone and all things online we need people and we like people.

We like to rave about our favourite Barista, we love heroes and despise villains, and many feel very close to their favourite radio announcer.

Good radio delivers a slice of all of this every hour, every day. Sure devices can get your playlist just right but it won’t tell you what’s going on in the world and what the hold up is on the road ahead. You can’t call your device and have a whinge about the government of the day or participate in competition live on air to win something big and invest emotionally in a competition; no matter how good some people think Siri is.

Humaness and empathy are what drive successful radio. They are the keys to fending off every technological advance today and tomorrow. Programmers today and in the future need to always harness this and make the most of technology available to keep creating good radio, a medium that will potenitally last forever.

Do you think radio has the qualities to remain a force in our fast paced digital world?
      

 

raykington_163This article, written by Ray Kington, is an entry in our RadioShow USA Trip competition. If you like it and want to support Ray, tell your friends to click on and read it.