|
|
|
|
|
|
Lesson#31
|
EFFECTS OF RADIO ON SOCIETY
|
|
|
|
EFFECTS OF RADIO ON SOCIETY
Radio proved far more effective in mass communication as
compared to the print media. The
property of radio which did not require transportation of the
message drew immense attention of common
people and investors in the field of mass media. Once the radio
technology was recognized as an effective
mean of communication, there was a race among companies and
individuals to have their own radio facility.
In the last chapter we had a detailed view of the growth of
radio in the 20th
century. In this chapter we will
see how radio programs and its other uses changed the lifestyle
of people around the world.
Peace time
Entertainment
As already mentioned, radio brought a unique entertainment
opportunities to people, especially for
those who could not afford the luxury of visiting places where
entertainment was available only to the rich.
With a radio set by their side, common people could also enjoy
music and stayed informed about events as
ordinary as a street robbery to change of governments and tug of
war among political rivals to availability of
commodities in the market. But it was the entertainment which
made the radio popular on first instance.
Very soon the entertainment started moving in other areas than
music. Comedy shows, gossip chat and
answering letters from listeners made people crazy about radio
enjoyments.
Information
Radio served hugely the human instinct to know about events
taking place around him and at
distant lands. No fairy tales, but the radio brought news from
across the oceans and from inland without
distinction. A regular listener of radio news would get an
impression as the whole world has shrunk – a
feeling which print media would never had thought in around 400
years before the invention of the radio.
The news aired regularly from different stations were followed
by views and a much spicy discussion among
experts to generate more interest in events from social and
political life. The announcements about weather,
and trains/flights schedule has been an added advantage to radio
listeners.
Education
As radio continued to have its impression on the cultural
outlook of the societies by pouring in
more opinions of experts in different fields of social life, it
started special services to educate people on
scores of issues foremost among those have been the healthcare
matters. No other source would have been
proved handier than radio programs to educate mothers in
particular on providing primary health points for
babies and school going children.
Jobs
Radio opened gates of jobs never known before. To become a
broadcaster with a radio station was
considered to have a prestigious job in the early days of radio.
It still is. The news-readers, copy writers,
playwright for radio dramas, anchors for different discussion
shows, musicians, recording engineers and a
range of technical jobs came about so quickly that colleges and
universities had to run degree programs to
meet the requirement of radio stations to employee staff in its
various sections.
Advertising helped
The corporate sector sensed the importance of radio as one
strong medium to reach very high
number of consumers of their products and services and started
buying time for this purpose. Within a
decade of radio broadcast, an advertising sector – far more
organized than the world would know during
the rapid growth of print media, was visible. Since the
popularity of the commercial programs was
dependent hugely on the entertaining side, the glamour was but
to appear broad and loud. New trends were
invented in music jingles, script writing and presentation.
Promotion of other industries like film industry106
The film industry which was also in its nascent stages was one
noticeable area which benefited
tremendously from radio technology. Mainly, the film songs would
resound the air all day instigating
ordinary people to visit theaters for watching movies the songs
belong to. At one stage in 30s and 40s it
appeared as the radio and film world are only two names of one
same product. Not only the songs, the hot
talks about stars scandals and rise and fall of film stars would
generate lot of interest for common listeners.
Still a number of radio and TV stations are heavily depended on
matters related to film industry.
Wartimes
People glued to radio
Wars among nations – particularly the great wars in the 20th
century, have brought massive
destruction of societies. A nation at war has only one goal of
fighting against the enemy. In this context the
role of radio becomes all the more important. Radio news,
commentary, announcements and war music are
commodities in high demand by a society at war. Radio services
have been fully exploited by countries at
war. The quickest source of telling people what to do, where to
move and what instruction they must follow
have always come from radio. All important addresses by head of
government to people are done on radio.
Special band used by armies to communicate
It is not the common people who benefit from radio services but
the armies have been gaining
much advantage due to radio technology. Sending codes to
different formations in the battlefield within no
time have been possible by developing a code and occupying a
particular frequency for this purpose.
Communicating through codes is the common most practice during
wartimes. – decoding of messages if
believed to be one strong point which led to German defeat in
the WWII.
Ships, planes are connected through radio frequencies
It is not the activities of armies on the land which are linked
with radio messages, ships in the deep
sea and the war planes in the air are also connected with radio
frequencies.
Satellite using radio waves to detect enemies’ movement
After the dispatch of satellite in the space in early 60s, the
movement of armies of the enemy is
now detected from the skies with the help of radio waves.
Propaganda – to morale boosting and demoralizing enemy
The worst in wars occur in the form of propaganda at a wide
scale to demoralize the enemy. And
at the same time boosting morale of your own people and army.
Laws
The invention and usage of radio has been instrumental in
introducing laws which regulate the
radio programs and ensure that no misuse of this technology
takes place which may cause problems to
social life.
Censorships
It is applied by the governments when a political crisis is
visible. Dictatorial government have
always used censorships to ensure that a public opinion is not
molded against them by certain interest
groups.
Jamming transmissions from hostile sources
Ethics
Cultural values promotion
Cultural conflicts – an essential angle of mass communication |
|
|
|
|
|
|
