The Radio — A Forgotten Medium?

Are you still listening to the radio? Maybe I should ask if you have ever listened to the radio. I assume listening to the radio among younger people is rather unusual nowadays. I am not talking about listening to music. What I mean is listening to a radio program, for instance, a show that is on air on a regular basis. And I do not mean shows that are run by DJ’s who play music. I mean radio shows that talk about issues on politics, economy or cultural issues.

At home I do listen to a radio station on a regular basis, but they only do music programs. Every now and then when I use the car though it happens that I get stuck with a non-music program and I am always very surprised by how much I enjoy listening to these kinds of programs. Quite often I get stuck with book reviews. The author would be interviewed relating to their book. Somehow I enjoy these as much, if not more, than watching TV or reading on the Internet. I wondered why that is but I could not come up with a reason. Maybe it is because it’s a thing that I do not do often. After I have listened to such a radio show I always think I should check out what else all these different radio programs have to offer. Sadly I never do it — despite the fact that I really enjoy this.

Podcasts are a new sort of radio show, aren’t they? The main difference is that you can listen to them whenever you want. You download it and listen to it on your smart phone.

So tell me, what do you think about the radio? Do you listen to radio shows? What kind do you listen to? Do you enjoy listening to radio shows that deal with political, economic or cultural issues?