How has radio changed through out the 20th century?

Question

How has radio changed through out the 20th century?

Answer 1

It went from being the main means of information and entertainment to being a distant third after TV and internet.

Answer 2

Well, we're currently in the 21st Century, so I'm going to assume you want to include the past 8 years.

And your talking about almost the entire lifespan of the medium - with the exception of its death. Radio, though being experimented with prior to the turn of the 20th Century, really didn't become a commercial operation until the teens and twenties of last century.

So Radio has gone from experimental applications, to the blooming of it's commercial success, a hard fight when television came on the scene, a return to prominence with the dumping of the old national network 1/4 hour talk, sit coms and dramas, to predominately LOCAL music-based programming.

Then the advent and moving of those music formats to FM and the adaptation of AM to more full-service, talk and local brokered-programming during the late fifties through the eighties. Localism is the key for radio.

Now we're in the deep battle with the internet, which really didn't become a hard competitor for radio until the last several years (which is why I opened this answer the way I did). I think when radio operators realize they can best work WITH the internet and mobile devices, the medium will stage another come back. We're also dealing with satellite, but I think most radio operators are worrying too much about XM & Sirius and should concern themselves with fixing their own problems. Satellite shouldn't be a problem for a well-run local AM/FM radio cluster.

In any case, though in trouble right now, we're talking relative trouble. The medium is no where near its end. Operators must become accustomed to lower revenues, but they'll figure it out and radio will still have a fairly bright (if not quite as rewarding) future.

-a guy named duh

Answer 3

The radio was the television of the 1930s and 40s and even into the 50s. There were dramas, comedies, sci-fi, mysteries, soap operas, game shows, etc. on the radio before television made its way into the home.

The radio was the only way that the typical family had to be entertained by the best performers of that day too. The Kansas farm family, the Mississippi cotton growers, and the Texas ranchers were, for the first time, able to enjoy entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Milton Berle, and others without travelling to a big city to see them.

Today, television and the internet have pretty much totally replaced radio in that type of entertainment. That's a very major change.

Answer 4

The marketing has improved 100%. They run much more than local used car spots.