Radio- CHARACTERISTICS OF RADIO

Radio is an audio device of passing messages to a large audience. Radio involves the process by which messages are sent through electrical waves. In other words, the sound could be sent and received through these waves.

Meaning

 Radio as a word has its origin in the Latin.  The word Radio is defined as the process of sending and receiving messages through the air, using electromagnetic waves. It is also about the activity of broadcasting programmes for people to listen to the programmes being broadcast.

 

Radio involves the process by which messages are sent through electrical waves.

 Definition

It can also be defined as the broadcasting of programmes for the

public to listen to. It is the system of sending sound over a distance by

transmitting electrical signals.

 

Radio is one of the most important means of communication. Through radio, people send spoken words, music, and other communication signals through the air to any part of the world.

 

Radio broadcasts now feature music, news, discussion, interviews, description of sports events and advertising. People drive to their jobs listening to car radios and spend leisure hours hearing their favorite programs on radio.

 

Radio also has a wide variety of news in addition to broadcasting airplane pilots, astronauts, construction workers, policemen, sailors and others who do many kinds of jobs use radio for quick communication. Scientists send radio waves into the sky to learn about weather. Telephone companies send messages by radio as well as telephone.

 

FROM THIS SUBMISSION, RADIO HAS TWO CONCEPTS

 

(i)                It is a medium of transmitting messages by electronic signal to a scattered or receiving audience.

(ii)               It is a box which the receiver possesses and by which he or she traps the electronic signals through the antenna and receives a message.

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF RADIO

 

 As a medium of mass communication, radio has the following characteristics

 

Portability:

Radio is a very portable device that can be carried about with ease. The portability of radio makes it possible for people to listen to it wherever they are. With the coming of ICT, we now have radio sets that are as small as handsets.

 

(2) It is a mass medium:

Radio messages can reach people in different localities. Bittner (1989) says that the mass medium makes it possible for the message to reach beyond the immediate proximity of the sender. A mass medium has the ability to send a message globally.

 

(3) Transient messages: Radio messages are perishable. They are constantly on the move. The audience cannot ask for a repeat of what was not clearly heard because; the messages are on a move. That is why most people say radio does not talk twice.

 

(4) Audio medium: Radio is a one-sided medium that is it can only be heard and not be seen. This makes it a limited sensory; it only appeals to the sense of hearing. According to Asemah (2009), in radio words are the only thing used to create pictures in the minds of the audience. Other things like sound can also be used to create a mental picture in the mind of the listener.

 

(5) Cheap: Radio set is affordable. We have radio sets that are as cheap as N 500 naira.

 

(6) It requires talent: Radio operation requires talents to operate. It needs the blending of different talents in order to function well. It is not onesided in operations. It requires the reporters, sound engineers, etc, to operate.

 

(7) It is competitive: with the advent of many radio stations, it could be said that radio is a highly competitive business as it requires putting up catchy programmes in order to outshine other stations.