Individual listening experience has taken precedence over the era of sitting together and listening to music or singing along. There are lesser instances of coming across a group playing antakshri and more of a family sitting together and yet listening to their own devices.
Transistors earlier that were hand held were used by many to carry music, information and entertainment wherever they go. However, people gathered around it as well to share the experience of music, hawa mahal or News and sports as well.
It was dissemination of information. Broadcasting living up to its purpose.
However as we move on in time.. TV, newspaper and radio - all forms of typical broadcast have had to change their form and style. And I might correct myself here and actually say that the way they are being consumed has changed. Not much (sadly) has been done to the content or presentation of it per se.
This has been said a number of times in the last few years. However, I would like to speak about radio here as I have spent significant time of my life working with this medium..and talk about how it is the closest 'broadcast' medium to social media and lends itself so easily to digital.
It might come as a surprise, but as a radio presenter - we were always asked to speak to one person. We might hear jocks say things like " Namaskar Mumbai" - but it is not how a true blue radio person will address his or her listener. This is the closest we get to 'individual listening experience' - much touted reason for streaming to become popular.
Compare that to print...and I don't think a newspaper editor is asked to pick a headline that appeals to one person at a time. It is meant to grab eyeballs.. The online version being the click-bait.
What I mean to say is - radio as a medium can take various avatars and yet be what it is. Just like paper is replaced by phones and tablets, a radio listening device is now a mobile phone. Podcasts, audio books, dj mixes - are all radio babies. However, because it is not a visual medium, it does not lead you, you lead the process - by using your own imagination. You are an active participant in the process of consumption and that lends itself to automatic customization.
With democratization of content creation - no one is making content to appeal to a particular attractive TG anymore. (TV is forced to do that to balance cost) Online, people just wish to create something fun, thoughtful, interactive and easy to consume.
This is exactly what radio used to do. We had people picking up the mic and just share. Before we became the medium that took itself too seriously - we were just a platform giving a voice to some interesting points of view. Much like Twitter. We were also the original platform for stand up comedians - people giving simple, short and mostly funny Commentary on the current economic,social, cultural happenings.
Our biggest strength lies in the fact that we are local. Much like the local publications of a small town like Jodhpur. They don't care what happens at Cannes. They do however want to know about the latest happenings within the royal family of Jodhpur and may be the mela that's coming up...and yes, they do get a kick when a neighbor gets featured in a story.
Social media lends itself to that. You can "follow" people in your area. Digital news can be consumed by typing in "simla news" on Google. But it's not the same. Not to mention, the experience of hearing your own name on radio...Priceless.
Talking to someone - an art most of us will soon lose out on, is one of the basic necessity of a human being. Radio gives you the space to do that. All I have to do as a jock, my primary responsibility, is to give you an ear. Not to just speak at you. But speak to you. Authentic complete anonymity (no ip address I can track) when you speak to me and yet you are heard by many - another trait social media prides itself on.
So come. Speak to me. Here is the mic. I'll throw in a song if you please.
Now how many mediums can really do that for you?
