Radio is something I grew up with. I have many fond memories of listening to late night talk shows on the AM, and recording my favourite shows and music off the FM. College radio introduced me to a whole new world of music to explore. Radio introduced a whole new dimension in my life that television could never replace. It could travel with me wherever I went; it was my companion while traveling and throughout my work day. It provided my life with a sound track, and provided me with entertainment at any place, any time.
When MP3 players came out, I made a point of getting one. My current player, an 8GB Sansa Fuze expanded to 16GB, is my fourth MP3 player and seventh portable music player (my first being a Sanyo portable AM/FM/Cassette player in the very early 80′s). My first MP3 player, a Philips Expanium, could play both MP3 CD’s and music CD’s. However, it was the solid state players with large memory capacities, along with the increased popularity of podcasts, that caused a more complete transition in my life away from radio.
It all started out with Napster in the late 90′s. Between that and web pages about music, I was able to re-explore the music I liked to greater depths than was possible with the radio. Contrary to what the music industry would like everyone to think, this led me to buy more CD’s; I’d make a discovery, then I would buy their “Greatest Hits,” and then on to the more obscure stuff from there. The MP3 player was also an obvious choice for talking books; I’d rip them from the talking book CD’s I’d sign out at the library, then enjoy them at my leisure. That’s how I got through greats like Moby Dick, 1984, Robinson Crusoe, and other notable works of literature. While I enjoy reading a physical book, talking books allow me to enjoy the story while I am working on something else and also allow me to get through larger tombs with considerably less fatigue.
A couple of years ago, I discovered podcasts. During this discovery, I found out that my favourite radio programs were often available as podcasts. Not only that, I could access podcasts that were broadcast outside of my range. For example, I was always a fan of Penn and Teller, but living in Canada, I never got to hear the Penn and Teller show. Now I could enjoy each and every episode at my leisure. It also opened up a whole new world; while radio stations are limited in the amount of time they can spend on any given topic (so as to appeal to the majority), Podcasts know no such limitation. I can get some really obscure stuff that would never make it to the radio, but is of great interest to me personally.
I turned on the radio recently, and found myself grabbing for my Sansa Fuze and looking for the place to plug it in. I felt the radio was assaulting my ears with commercials and music I didn’t want to hear. I suppose I could have scanned the AM and FM dial to find some talk radio show, but it seems like so much effort now in a world where we have Google. I even bought a cheap FM transmitter in case I find myself in a car without an MP3 player hookup. The sound quality is crappy, but it works fine for my talking books and podcasts.
I recognize the usefulness for weather radio broadcasts in rugged country and across the waterways, and I can see its importance as a method to convey information in the event of a disaster. Also, there’s nothing that beats the FRS or GMRS radio systems for local communications between two or more people in a group. I suppose if I lived in a remote area of the country, I’d still be listening to the radio. However, this is not the case. Solid state MP3 players are as cheap as AM/FM radios now. Internet and computer access is free to the residents of my city at the public libraries. Recognizing all of this, I have to conclude that, as an entertainment medium, radio is obsolete.