Old School Radio and its Modern Counterpart

Since its debut in the early 1900s, radio has flourished as a common medium in mass communication, broadcasting music to the homes and ears of even the most impoverished of individuals. In modern society it has been integrated into new media mediums such as satellite or the internet, allowing for its transmission to have an even broader reach than before. This presentation concerned the advent of internet radio webcasts and how it has since affected both users and the terrestrial radio while still adhering to its original principles of a common means of communication and a source of ad revenue.

Pandora radio is a great example of how internet radio has drawn upon the influences of terrestrial radio and improved upon them in the attempt to get more listeners, and in turn more ad revenue. Rather than forcing people to listen to a predetermined play list, the actual "music-genome" project is to be influenced by users and their choices. Pandora has adopted narrow casting, catering to the tastes of listeners, allowing for a much more enjoyable personal experience. Another example of this methodology of allowing users to choose what they want to listen to is Seeqpod.com. This website scours the internet for embedded audio or other media files and streams them for the listener to listen. With subtle ads on the flash interface, Seeqpod offers the options of buying media related to the content the user is currently consuming.

Enticed by internet radio's large following and the promise of an entirely new ad market, terrestrial radio has taken steps to adapt, and potentially share internet radio's success. Examples of this such as Kanm radio and 94.5 the Buzz have integrated live online streams, allowing users to tune into the radio from places such as their office computer, enabling a greater sense of accesibility. Coupled with online-only features such as online requests and last-played songs, terrestrial radio has effectively wedged itself into the internet.

All of these new forms of radio have been effectively influenced by the original terrestrial radio's principles of spreading radio to the masses and in turn, generating revenue through advertisements and sponsored programming.

Pandora.com <----Use It! Really cool.