What is Radio?

Radio

Radio is important to society as it is a free form of media as you only have to buy the radio and then you can receive news and music free and without a license, unlike television. It is also important as it is a very simple form of communication and will be around even if all other media was wiped out, this is why it’s still used and why it is important today.

There are many different genres of radio programmes according to the BBC’s website, there are drama radio programmes and comedy skits. There is a very wide variety of programmes on radio if you know where to look for it as usually radio is associated with just music, podcasts and the news.

I do not often listen to radio but when I do I listen to the Local channel Lincs FM or sometimes Capital FM as it is a very easy listen, and I only really listen to music on the radio as I prefer it to Programmes. The only time I listen to the radio is when I am in a car. My brother drives to work everyday and listens to the same channels as I do but my grandmother listens to classical stations, which shows that the radio station varies from a person’s taste and/or to the person’s age.

It is the 21st century so there are many different ways to access and listen to the radio, you can do it by using obviously a radio and listening from there, you can also use computers to listen radio and mobiles, through both websites and applications. You can also listen to it through digital television too as there are channels dedicated solely to the radio.

A Public Service broadcast is exactly what it says, it is a service to the public and is for the benefit of the listener rather than the broadcaster. The UK’s main public service radio is the BBC and it’s funded by it’s license fees, because it is funded this way the BBC Radio and Television doesn’t require the use of advertisements. This type of radio reaches a very wide audience of people.

Commercial Radio on the other hand does use advertisements, they are there to make profit whereas the public service prioritizes on the listener rather than money. The advertisements for commercial radio is the main income for commercial radio. Similarly to Public Broadcasting this

Local Radio are radio stations that usually focus on a region of a country, they can also focus on an entire country and still be considered local, but a local radio station stays in it’s country.