In defence of the virtues of traditional radio

Abstract

This article explains that reports of the death of traditional radio, in the context of the mushrooming multiplicity of audio platforms are much exaggerated. The history of successive waves of potential competition – vinyl records, television, CDs and the early internet – have all come along, achieved massive audiences, found their fixed changing place in the wider audio ecology. Yet each of them has left traditional radio with a continuing and highly important role, albeit flexing that slightly as the media ecology changes. Through the history of those developments, this article identifies those virtues of traditional radio which remain fully relevant today and into the future, notwithstanding the myriad new audio opportunities. It considers the impact of digital origination and broadcasting technology, concluding that although radio needs to reassert some of its traditional virtues – localness, not least – if it can do that it will be well placed to meet the evolving challenges of the first half of the twenty-first century.