Tomorrow is Friday 13th. Unlucky for some. Not, this year, for me, as it marks World Radio Day, a chance to reflect on the history of the medium, and how it is being reshaped by new technologies.
I remember, during the closing days of the Cold War, listening to radio stations announcing the (re )birth of new countries, and learning names like Tallin, in Latvia, and the like, as they appeared in the names of new stations. They gave updates on the conflict, as Russian forces were pushed out, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Baltic states gained independence.
For much of the twentieth century, founding a radio station was one of the first actions of any putative state, and an important part of declaring yourself to the world.
Indeed, during the Easter Rising of 1916, rebel forces seized a transmitter (from a ‘wireless telegraphy’ school ) and started sending out a signal declaring the establishment of the Irish Republic. The signal may have been in Morse code – and the vagaries of the First World War may have interfered with the possibilities for reception – but the intent was clear: through declaring itself to the world, the little republic could manifest itself into being. That, and perhaps get a message to the United States to garner public support (and material resources ).
Over the coming century, though television had its charms, radio has continued to play a special role, even as what radio ‘is’ has been transformed in recent decades.
There is a story – perhaps apocryphal – of a young girl being asked, in the early days of television, whether she preferred radio or TV. The answer, of course: radio “because the pictures are better on radio”. Whether or not the answer would be different in these days of 4k high-def LED screens – I don’t know.
There is something, though, to the way that radio engages the mind’s eye, encouraging the imagination, in a way that television cannot.
Radio has been particularly important as a tool of community media. The technology is relatively accessible, and can be low-budget, even as it facilitates reaching remote audiences.
Audience behaviour
From Connemara to Coolock, Nevada to Nepal, radio has been leveraged as a tool of community engagement and development. I am privileged to have a new book out (co-edited with my friend and colleague Salvatore Scifo ) that looks at how community media (and particularly radio ) has supported communities globally at times of crisis.
New technologies are challenging radio in ways that could not have been anticipated even 20 years ago. Audiences no longer listen to ‘linear’ radio in the numbers they once did, when Ireland led the world in radio listenership. As audiences migrate, radio stations have had to rethink their mission and operations.
It is in this context that Coimisiún na Meán, the media regulator, has launched a Digital Transformation scheme to address the challenges faced by ‘legacy’ media.
In the recently announced first round, our local stations, Galway Bay FM and Flirt FM, scooped just over €40,000 between them, while local newspapers (including this one ) were granted, collectively, just over €170,000. This funding will support our local media ecosystem in responding to the challenges of digitalisation, and taking advantage of its opportunities.
In media studies we teach that technologies offer ‘affordances’ – that is, that they influence society by making certain developments more or less likely, but the future is not fully predetermined. Broadcasting has been a tool for social cohesion and propaganda; it has facilitated the development of pop culture, and subcultures; it has served as a modern-day public square.
Some of the recent developments in technologies challenge these opportunities for the formation of group identity, particularly the algorithms that individualise our experience.
The hope must be that our local media, including our local radio stations, find a way to navigate this future that continues to foster local culture and community, while leveraging the advantages that these new technologies can bring.
Dr Andrew Ó Baoill is a lecturer at the School of English, Media and Creative Arts at University of Galway.
