AMITY SCHOOL OF

COMMUNICATION,

AMITY UNIVERSITY,
NOIDA
UTTAR PRADESH
TERM PAPER:
UNDERSTANDING RADIO
AS A MASS MEDIUM

TITLE:
ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RADIO

Under the Guidance of:Compiled by:

Capt. Divya SharmaPriyanshi Pathak

Asst. Professor BA (J&MC)-3C
Amity School of Communication Enrolment number: A2072415012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe a debt of gratitude to Amity School of

Communication and my mentor and guide Capt. Divya
Sharma for the vision and foresight they had in me, which
inspired me to complete this term paper.

I would like to thank my family and friends for believing

in me and supporting me throughout the entire process of
the completion of the research paper.

This has been a great learning experience for me and I

would once again thank all those who were involved in
making this research project a success.
INDEX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(A)- Radio- A cyclical progress
(B)-Historical aspects of Radio:
B1. Invention of Radio by Gulielmo Marconi
B2. Broadcasting arrives- (building of Radio transmitter and receiver)
B3. World War 1- (Regulations were put in 1912)
B4. Commercialization in Radio
B5. Radio Act 1947
B6. Golden age of Radio
B7. Impact of television on Radio

(C)- Difference between AM and FM

(D)-Radio: A mobile medium
(E)-Changes in last few decades:
E1. Different Radio shows:
a) Phone ins
b) Radio story telling
c) Radio commentaries
d) Radio documentaries
e) Radio dramas
f) News
E2. Change in technologies-
a) Internet Radio
b) Radio bridge

(F)-Popularity crash of Radio

F1. Decline in popularity
F2. Radio restricted to remote and rural areas
F3. Masses addicted to multimedia
F4. Radio becoming an obsolete antique mode of communication

(G)-Resurgence: Regaining its lost gleam!

(H)-Bibliography
OBJECTIVES
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS TO LEARN:
1. Knowing Radio- A medium of mass communication
2. History of Radio
3. Techniques used in Radio
4. Advantages of Radio
5. Changes in Radio
6. Popularity of Radio
(A)RADIO: A CYCLICAL
PROGRESS

INTRODUCTION

What is Radio?
Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of magnetism waves
with frequencies below those of light. In natural philosophy, modulation is
the method of variable one or additional properties of high frequency
periodicwave shape, referred to as the carrier signal, with relation to a
modulating signal. This can be explained as an analogousfashion as a
musician modulates the tone from a device by varying its volume, temporal
order and pitch. The 3 key parameters of a periodic wave shape square
measure its amplitude ("volume"), its part ("timing") and its frequency
("pitch"), all of which might be changed in accordance with an
occasional frequency signal to get the modulated signal.

Radio Broadcasting is the distribution of audio content to

a spread audience via a medium known as radio.

Every industry, organisation, person and society in this world comes across
progress in its lifetime. Same is with radio.
Now, the question comes that what is progress?

Progress means a forward movement towards the goals a person sets. It is

achieved with a constraint of time and development in technology. It’s a
slow and steady process which makes someone achieve heights. Progress
is usually a linear process. Which means moving from one stage to another
in a single series of steps. Usually people, organisations and society
progresses in a linear process, where they keep achieving one target and
then starts to thrive another in a linear and a straight format.

But in case of radio as an industry, in India it has shown a cyclical progress

or a cycle like progress. We see that radio was very popular in India when it
entered in the year 1923 as it was the only source of information present
with the public then. People were totally dependent on radio to entertain,
educate and inform them. In the beginning its popularity was sky rocketing
but as soon as television came in competition with it in the year 1959
providing the viewers with the video along with audio, radio’s popularity
started to decline slowly. People became more attracted towards television
and started avoiding radio.

But now we see that our honourable Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi in
the year 2014 started to develop the need and importance of radio through
running his show MANN KI BAAT, which he himself hosts. It is aired each
month on a Sunday on All India Radio in which he addresses the general
public about his plans and new ideas to improve India.

This initiative of Prime Minister has again helped Radio to achieve

popularity.
(B)HISTORICAL ASPECTS
OF RADIO

B1.Invention of Radio by Gulielmo Marconi

An early version of wireless radio was invented by Guglielmo Marconi.
He's typically authorized for his contribution in developing
radio. Marconi once scanned an account of Hienrich Hertz within which he
mentioned the experiments he did onthe first styles of wireless
transmission. Marconi then duplicated Hertz experiment in his house and
was palmy in implementing them. He saw the potential for the technology
and approached the Italian government for support. Once the govt. showed
no interest in his ideas, Marconi took out a patent on his device.Instead
of inventing radio from scratch, however, Marconi basically combined
the ideas and experiments of others to create them into
a helpful communication tool.

B2.Broadcasting arrives-
The technique to develop radio transmitter and receiver was quite simple
hence the public made it. In a due course of time there were a lot of
amateur radio operators who crowded the airwaves. Then in 1912
government incurred regulatory measures which required licenses and
limited broadcast range for the broadcasters. This regulation gave
President the right to shut down the stations.In 1917 this power was used
by the President of the United States during World War 1 to keep the radio
operators away from interfering with military use of airwaves.Radio became
the domain of other technologies as it was the first electric device used to
convey messages.

B3.World War 1- (Regulations were put in 1912)

Radio Act of 1912 gave the power to US government to licence all the radio
stations in the country. Likewise, as commanded
that seafaring vessels incessantly monitor distress frequencies.The first bill
was initiated throughout the investigations following the sinking of
the titanic ship. The act set a precedent for international and federal
legislation of wireless communications. It had been followed by the Radio
Act of 1927.

B4.Commercialization in Radio
As soon as the World War 1 radio ban lifted in 1919 many small stations
started operating using the technologies invented in the war. These
stations developed regular programming that included religious sermons,
sports, and news.

Department stores at that time owned the radio stations and had put radio’s
commercial application to use. But these stations did not advertise as it is
done these days. Early radio advertisements consisted only of a “genteel
sales message broadcast during business hours, with no hard sell or
mention of price. In fact, radio advertising was considered an uncommon
invasion of privacy, because—unlike newspapers which are bought from
the newsstands, radios were kept at the home and were listened by all the
family members. Due to the high impact of radio on society, advertising on
radio was accepted by public in the radio programs. To gain the interest of
the customers or listeners the advertisers started producing their own
programs named after their product. At first, ads ran only during the day,
but as economic pressure hiked at the time of great depression in 1930,
local stations began looking for new sources of revenue, and advertising
became a normal part of the radio soundscape.

B5.Radio Act 1947

In the mid-1920s, several profit creating firms reminiscent
of division stores closely-held the broadcast stations for the profit of their
own company. Non-commercial teams reminiscent of churches
and faculties operated another third of the stations. Because of a rise within
the variety of radio stations there occurred a retardant of
interference then the govtstepped into the fray.
The Radio Act of 1927 established the Federal Radio Commission (FRC)
to manage regulation of the airwaves. A yearwhen its creation, the FRC
reallocated station bandwidths to correct interference issues. The
organization reserved fortyhigh-powered channels, setting aside thirty-
seven of those for network affiliates. The remaining 600 lower-powered
bandwidths visited stations that had to share the frequencies; this meant
that together station went off the air at a delegated time, another one began
broadcasting in its place.

B6.Golden age of Radio

The Golden Age of Radio occurred between 1930 and therefore the mid-
1950s. several associate the Nineteen Thirtieswith the struggles of the
nice Depression, it looks contradictory that such a fruitful
cultural incidence arose throughoutthis decade. However, radio lent itself
to the time. With the initial purchase of a receiver, radio was
free andprovided a reasonable supply of recreation that replaced a lot of
expensive past times likes going out for a movie.
Radio additionally bestowed associate simply accessible type of media that
existed on its own schedule. In contrast toreading newspapers or
books, calibration in to a favourite program at a particular time became an
area of listeners’ daily routine as a result it forced them to arrange their
lives around the dial.

B7.Impact of television on Radio

Radio was the single player in the field of entertaining public during 1920’s
and 1930’s. Radio eventually lost its popularity as soon as television came
in the market. A 1949 poll of people who had seen television found that
almost half of them believed that radio was doomed.Television sets had
come on the market by the late 1940s, and by 1951, many Americans were
watching prime time shows than ever.

Television had a lot of attractions attached to it for its consumers. Unlike

radio, television provides its viewers with the running pictorial images which
makes easy for the consumers to comprehend the messages. Television
shows audience the exact image of the location which it is talking about so
that there is no room for confusion for the audiences in understanding the
messages.

All these benefits of television has declined the craze and popularity of
radio among the audience.
(C)Difference between AM
and FM
Radio communication is a process of combination of message signal wave
to carrier signal wave. In this combination few carrier waves are varied from
the message waves. This variation is termed as modulation. It is required to
transmit messages over long distances without any disturbance.
Modulation is of 3 types, amplitude modulation, frequency modulation and
phase modulation. Out of these 3, amplitude modulation and frequency
modulation are widely in use because of its commercial applicability. The
difference between AM and FM are discussed below.

1. Evolution:

AM was invented in the year 1870’s and is relatively older

than FM. Whereas, FM was founded in the year 1930’s by Edwin
Armstrong.

2. Technology:

AM means amplitude modulation. In this amplitude of

the carrier is modulated with the message signal. Other
aspects of the carrier waveremain constant.

While, FM means frequency modulation and in it only

frequency of the carrier wave changes and otherremains
constant.
 3. Frequency range of working:

AM works between 540-1650 KHz.

FM works at 88-108MHz.

4. Power Consumption:

FM consumes a higher amount of power

AM consumes comparatively less.

5. AM vs FM: Signal Quality:

Signal quality of FM is much better compared to AM. As AM

signals are much susceptible to noise. Moreover, it is difficult
to filter out the noise signals in AM.
Whereas, FM easily filters out the noise.

6. Wavelength Difference between AM and FM:

AM works on KHz which makes it cover a larger area as the

size of the wavelength increases. While, FM works on MHz which
makes it cover a shorter distance as the size of the wavelength
decreases.

7. Bandwidth consumption:

AM consumes a bandwidth of 30 KHz while FM consumes 80

KHz for each signal. Hence in limited area of bandwidth AM
carries a larger number of signals compared to FM.
(D)Radio: A mobile medium

Radio is a mobile medium. One can enjoy it at home, take it while going to
the picnic or a resort, listen to it while driving, and use it on land or under
the water, in public or in private places. Hence, it is a convenient medium. It
can accompany you and entertain you anywhere as a never-failing
companion. It does not follow the three unities of time, place and action as
prescribed by Aristotle, more than two thousand years ago,’ for dramatic
communication. Stage drama may, even now, respect these unities
because of the obvious limitations of the stage medium. But radio drama,
which is drama of the mind, may hop from any period or place to any other
period or place. Because the radio player performs on the canvas of the
listener's mind and the mind, truthfully sparked off by the player, can
construct any period, any place. The subjects that the stage can never
dream of dramatizing (for example, going centuries back and, then,
suddenly switching over to the present, tasting the atmosphere of, say, hell
or heaven, going under the ground or the sea or to remote corners of the
globe etc.) can be very well dramatized on the radio.

(E)Changes in last few decades

Change is a process which everyone appreciates in this world. If there was
no change in the world, world would have been a difficult place to live in. It
would eventually become monotonous and boring for people to live their
lives.

It is same in the case of radio. It has seen a drastic change from the time it
was first launched till today. All the changes are appreciable. Radio has
become a source of entertainment and education from a mere source of
information. We see different types of programs running on radio to
different techniques of access to it.

E1. Different Radio shows:

a) Phone ins- Phone in is a new kind of interactive program where the
listener and the interactor talk to each other. The
conversation instantly goes on air. Phone in programs
make the conversation all the more exciting. It gives the
listener a satisfaction to him that his voice is being heard
by others. Other listeners listen to the voice of others.
These program were initially introduced for playing the
songs that were requested by the listeners. Now it is
being used for health related programs, rural broadcast,
etc.

b) Radio story telling- Radio story telling is the program where the
radio jockey narrates a story to the listeners.
He makes sure that the listener imagines the
scenario he talking about. Radio jockey makes
sure that the listener goes with the flow of the
story. It entertains the listeners a lot as he
relates the story with someone.
c) Radio commentaries- If one can’t go to see the football match or
the cricket match he can easily listen to

commentaries running on the radio. It

feels as if the listener is himself sitting

in the stadium and enjoying the match live.

These commentaries are done by a radio

jockey who has got an in depth knowledge

of the game and has got a good spoken

skill.

d) Radio documentaries- Radio documentaries also known as

radio feature is a program where the
radio jockey tells the listeners about a
real incident on someone. For this the
radio jockey should have a good voice
modulation and should add good sound
effects and song to add a good effect and
impact on the listeners.

e) Radio dramas- Radio drama is like any other staged drama with
actors androle plays. The difference is only that the
actors can’t be seen and only heard. It tells the
story of the drama in a dramatic way. Usage of
effects of sound, voice, songs makes it much more
interesting.
 f) NEWS- In India only AIR has the right to broadcast news. It informs
the general public about the latest update that goes around
them and in the world. It keeps the general public updated
with the important information. It generally runs for 5 minutes
to 30 minutes in a day.

E2. Change in technologies-

a) Internet Radio- Internet radio is a practice where people can tune
in to radio while working on the computers. This
practice became possible with the introduction of
radio on the internet. People in any part of the
world can have access to radio through internet.

b)Radio bridge- Radio bridge is a format of connecting different

stations throughout the country. In this format a
person sitting in the studio in Mumbai can easily
be connected to the person sitting in the studio in
Chennai. It makes the access quite simple and
easy. Anyone can converse with a person sitting
far off from him.

(F)Popularity crash of Radio

F1.Decline in popularity
Radio was once considered to be the only source of entertainment to

public. But the entry of television diminished or declined its popularity

severely. As it is rightly said that seeing is believing. Television embraced
this proverb and provided public with the picture and video along with
sound and voices. In this case people automatically got attracted to this
and television eventually gained popularity leaving radio behind. But due
the high cost of television only the elite class could afford it, rest all were
still dependent on radio.

With the due course of time the technology grew abundantly. With the
introduction of internet as a medium of entertainment, radio was left behind.
Youngsters were addicted more to the internet and television compared to
radio. The attractive features that internet and television provided was
something that can easily evoke anyone towards it.

Radio couldn’t cope up with the same pace of advancement in technology

as others could. This led to the declining of popularity of radio.

F2.Radio restricted to remote and rural areas

Living in an urban area is a task in itself. One has to maintain the standards
of the society in which he is living. The requirements and needs grow
accordingly. Whether it is having a latest mobile phone or the latest
television set in the race of competition people buy things which they can’t
afford. Having a radio set at home defines that you are too old fashioned.

Due to this reason radio lost its presence in the urban areas. Now it mostly
caters to the people living in rural or the remote areas as they can’t afford a
television set. In rural and remote areas radio is still the only source of
entertainment and information. People are dependent on it for everything
that goes around in the world and in their country.
One of the major reasons behind this is that these areas are still deprived
of the technology that can transmit television signals to these areas. And
the other reason is that people can’t afford it. Hence, people in rural and
remote areas restraints from using these new technologies and are
dependent on the radio sets.

F3.Masses addicted to multimedia

From nothing to newspaper, then radio and television and eventually
internet people have got a lot many sources of entertainment. Internet in
today’s world has a lot of importance. People are addicted to it. They can’t
survive without it. We see people of all age groups depending on it. Social
media has connected people who are far from each other. They watch the
videos and news on their handsets. No one is now in a hurry to go back
home early to watch their favorite shows. They can now watch them online
anywhere and anytime. They can talk to the people who are far away just
by using some social websites. All the updates from and around the world
is present on the finger tips.

These things have declined the urge of usage of other sources of

entertainment specially radio. Its popularity earlier got declined due to the
introduction of television. Now as the internet came in competition it is left
far behind.

F4. Radio becoming an obsolete antique mode of

communication
Radio was once a very popular device. Everyone was dependent on it.
People treated it like a savior. Before radio messages were delivered by
the messenger in the form of letters and post cards. Radio flourished like
never before.
 But the entry of television created a fuss among the public. People were
allured by the features it provided. People could get the same scenario
which actually happened. While radio provided them only with the verbal or
spoken news. Television on the other hand imparted a relief to their
imagination by showing the pictures and the videos. Then in the year 1991
came the LIVE feature which showed the news along with the video at the
same time of happening. People got attracted with the instant news
delivery by the television.

Then came internet which provided written, spoken and visual aspect to
news all at once. People earlier use to sit together around the radio and
listen to it. With the access of television and internet everyone sits alone
and enjoy their own self. With the access to internet people could listen to
their favorite songs whenever they please instead of scanning through
different radio channels to listen a single song.

The cars are now well equipped with the system of synchronization of
multimedia devices into them. People now simply download a song and
save it in their multimedia devices and attach it to the multimedia player
present in the car. They skip the radio and listen to the songs they have
downloaded.

All these new advancing technologies have made radio an obsolete and
antique mode of communication and entertainment.

(G)Resurgence: Regaining its

lost gleam!
As we now know that radio has become an antique and obsolete means
and communication and has declined its popularity. But it is still present
with us. People are still dependent on it. While travelling in cars people can
listen to the downloaded songs but they cannot download the latest news
and listen to it.

Radio has maintained a safe ground for itself to function. This is the reason
it has survived till now and has not diminished fully. People are still
dependent on it in the rural areas and some people in the urban areas have
a habit of listening to it. So their morning starts with listening to the radio.

Our honorable Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi made us realize the
importance and need of radio in our lives. To sustain radio in India as soon
as his government came in power he started a program on radio called
MANN KI BAAT, which he himself hosts. It is aired each month on a
Sunday on All India Radio in which he addresses the general public about
his plans and new ideas to improve India.

Radio is a medium that attaches us to our roots. We cannot afford its

absence from our lives. It’s an evergreen medium of communication. It can
progress or may be as it is or stagnant but it will never get diminished fully.
(H)Bibliography

Books: Report on the progress of radio in India.

Mass Communication in India.

https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_understanding-media-and-culture-an-introduction-to-mass-
communication/s10-01-evolution-of-radio-broadcastin.html