How the way we listen to radio has changed

The first radio stations as we know them today first appeared over 90 years ago after developments in radio signals allowed voices, as opposed to just signals to be broadcast. Quickly after sales of radio receiver equipment rocketed becoming the centrepiece in the living room of millions of households. Today radio is still commonplace in our lives, just maybe not as much in the forefront as in the middle of the 20th century.


Today the way we listen to radio has changed substantially from the early days; we can listen through digital radio, on our computers and with the change over to digital TV we can tune into national stations through our television. Possibly the most common method of listening to radio is on car journeys. This is one place where the radio star is as strong as ever. Easing the sometimes-tedious car journeys home, all those hours spent in traffic jams are made just that little bit easier.

Despite all these new ways of listening to radio traditional AM/FM radio stations continue to be the ones reaching the most people. In the UK over 90% of adults listen to analogue stations on a weekly basis, this is in contrast to only 10% who listen to internet radio*.

Internet radio in general is more reliable; as long as you have an internet connection then receiving internet radio is easy. When it comes to tuning in there is an endless choice of radio stations. Whatever your taste in music there is a station that will match your taste. Furthermore online radio allows you to receive radio from anywhere in the world as well as your local radio station.

Internet radio has also seen changes in the last few years with services such as last.fm, we7 and Spotify all offering personalised ‘stations’. Working in a completely different way to traditional radio, the choice of tracks is determined by a software program.

Reliant on information held on databases this method plays tracks that are of a similar nature to what is chosen by the user. I believe however this way of listening to music has a long way to go before it really is a suitable match for the quality of radio. It’s like going to see a gig without any real instruments.

The radio is often the background soundtrack to our lives; rarely do people now sit down and exclusively listen to the radio without doing something else at the same time. The future of radio I think is looking strong, the way we listen to radio may change but the medium itself will continue to live on for eternity.

* Stats from http://www.rajar.co.uk/