From the blasting sound to the updates, the process of hearing unclear sounds when switching channels, the music, and the life conversations you get to hear on the radio make it an experience. Radio would have been a good confidant if it were human. Radio is a blind man's media and doesn't need any face attached to the voice as it were. However, in this era where social media has come to stay, many radio personalities now connect with their audience there. Some even go live on various platform showing themselves while in the studio in that the audience can put a face to that voice that serenade them and can even listen directly to them, not via a receiving set but via social media platforms.
The major advantage radio has over every other media is its audio transmission and the fact that it reaches the grassroots level.
Radio keeps your mind busy while you get busy doing other stuff, unlike TV or other forms of new media, where you give it your full attention, especially if sight and hearing are needed.
Since audio works with the ear, you can go ahead working and listening to your favorite song, presenter, and newscaster while engaging in other activities. For instance, the last three weekends, I had some Braid Wigs to complete for my client's order, time wasn't on my side, so I had to stay up late into the night. While I was awake working, the radio kept me alert. It felt like I had someone conversing with me and also playing me music. More interesting for me was, it was in the night so there were practically no commercials to distort my flow of enjoyment.
While there are so many media options today to get connected with, radio will never lose its grassroots essence. If you meet an "illiterate" or one who stays in the village, they are also in the know of what's happening cos they always listen to the radio, and the language barrier has been bridged. Many radio houses inculcate the indigenous lifestyle and language in their programs so that those at the grassroots level can easily connect. In the part Of my country where I reside, Yoruba is the indigenous language, and it is used to cast news, air commercials, and even present programs and music in that language so that the people easily relate to the information disseminated. When you board a tricycle popularly called keke or a taxi, especially in the morning, the radio keeps you company as you journey, and sometimes even gives you something to debate about.
Radio does function as the mass media to entertain, educate, and inform, but also more is that it also keeps you company.
The kind of programs aired are usually human interest topics that will catch and lock your interest in them. They also make stars. Musicians go on tour, writers, doctors, businessmen, and other professionals put their content on air and put themselves out there. Get a radio receiving set today kr use the one on your phone.
PS: I am Listening to "Pretty Day" by Limoblaze and Madison Ryan Ward
You can take a listen.
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/vintage-retro-radio-antique-museum-1216720/
