CHARACTERISTICS OF RADIO

Course Name: Paper No. & Title:

Mass Communication & Journalism For under graduate student. Paper-VI Introduction to Audio Visual Media

Topic No. & Title:

Unit- 1 Characteristics of Radio

Objectives: To understand the nature of content on radio. To know the strengths and limitations of the medium in clear detail. To know the reasons behind the evolution of certain nontechnical characteristics of the medium.

Content & Script of the Programme Introduction Radio is one of the most important tools of mass communications. It is a result of several innovations and discoveries by various scientists across the globe. Many of the important developments in the radio technology happened in the last few years of 19th century. The trend continued in early 20th century and it slowly became a popular medium for mass communications.

In this lesson we will mainly talk about the characteristics of radio. We will discuss the features of radio that distinguish it from other media and give it its own unique position amidst various other communication media. Present day mass communication scenario is populated by various media like print, television, theatre, cinema, internet, mobile phone etc. In this competitive environment, each medium stands out for its own unique qualities and abilities. We will discuss these qualities in the context of radio in order to understand it as a communication medium.

Elements Let us start with understanding the elements that form any radio programme. The characteristics of these elements also help to shape the identity of radio medium. In our day to day interpersonal communications, we rely heavily on verbal communication. We talk and we use language to communicate with people around us. We also communicate with the use of gestures and body language. So these are the some elements of communication at the interpersonal level. Similarly the Print medium uses printed word, photographs, illustrations, elements of design for communication.

The radio content is made up of four main elements. These are Voice, Music, Sound Effects and Silence. Voice is probably heard most of the time. Voice or the spoken language, that we hear on radio most of the times, conveys most of the content and meaning to us. The language used here is slightly different from the written language used in print. The radio scripts are meant to be spoken out, so they are written in a more conversational manner. In fact use of small and simple sentences and simple vocabulary is a main characteristic of radio language. Music provides a mood, a background to the radio programme. It helps to provide entertainment as well. Sound effects help to create a visual around the words narrated to us by the voice. They add a feeling of reality to the content being presented in radio. Silences are not heard for very long. In fact, a prolonged silence might give an impression of a break or malfunction in broadcast. But little pauses help to form the grammar of radio. Basic Characteristics Certain characteristics of radio are basically because of its technical make up. These have come out of its technical properties and limitations. We will start with talking about these properties first. Most important and probably most obvious feature of radio is that it is an audio medium.

Radio is sound. It is a medium based on audio only. All the elements that go into making of radio programme are different kinds of audio. Because its an audio medium, it engages only one sense of the listener. It is a Single Sense medium. When one listens to the radio, only the ears are engaged. So one could be doing something else and still be listening to radio. Unlike a newspaper or Television, the audience does not have to suspend all other activity to engage with the medium. This may be perceived as a drawback and also as strength. It is strength because radio can get more audience. It does not demand undivided attention, so audience could be driving, cooking, jogging, eating and still be listening to radio. They dont need to sit down and dedicate themselves to this activity at a particular point in time. In fact a lot of people listen to radio only when they are driving. But this characteristic could also be seen as a disadvantage because the audience is very likely to get more engaged in the other activities and pay less attention to radio broadcast. Which means that the radios content would not leave the desired impact on the audience and it would only play in the background. Though sometimes we do need some medium to just be present in the background. As audience, we all know that we do not always want to engage most actively with a medium. A background medium in itself is a break from other more demanding media.

The Radio content exists in time. The listener has to experience it right when it is on air. He does not have the option to access his choice of content at will. The nature of radio is such. In other words, radio is transient in nature. It is different from a medium like printed newspaper in which one could probably read the headlines in the morning and go through the details sometime later. In fact, if you fail to understand something that has been said or explained during a broadcast, there is no way of going back to it for reference. Unless, of course if the radio station schedules a repeat telecast. So radio cannot be referred back to. One has to listen to it and understand it as and when it is on air. This imposes certain checks on the kind of language that is spoken on radio. It is better to not to use difficult words which are difficult to pronounce or are not used by a large number of audience. Similarly use of simple and short sentences delivered at a moderate pace makes it easier for the audience to follow it. An unfamiliar word or a complex sentence will leave the audience perplexed. They might want to go through it again, but that would not be possible. If they refer to some other source to understand it, they will miss out on the ongoing broadcast. We will discuss the language related properties of radio in further detail after a short while. Radio is known for bringing the content in the fastest possible manner. It has tremendous speed. This is largely due to the fact that radio operations are much simpler than those of television and newspaper. In fact, radio works best in the live situation because of the simple techniques involved. The reports from remote areas, scores of cricket match played overseas, results of an award ceremony or excitement of an ongoing concert, all

can be shared live and immediately with the audience. It makes radio one of the fastest and most exciting medium. Even audience response or questions can be shared and addressed at a faster pace. Though, in the last few years, television technology has also been able to provide similar pace and fast delivery of information to the audience, the radio scores because of its relative simplicity and low costs. In fact, low cost is one important feature of radio. The cost of setting up a radio station is not very high. Similarly production of radio programme is a relatively simple and low cost process. You do not need camera, lights and lots of people to handle them. And like print media, there is no need to make multiple copies of the finished product. The receiver can also be bought at a very low cost and the audience can listen to the content without paying any fees or subscription. This makes radio one of the most low cost medium and also a very suitable medium for various operations and communication requirements where huge amounts cannot be spent. Another feature of radio is its portability. Radio sets have become smaller and smaller in size. They were portable and carried around in bags or slung from shoulders even a few decades ago. Then they became smaller and fitted into our pockets. Now they have got squeezed into our palms and have become so small that they are sold as a part of various other gadgets. Now a day you could easily find a radio of the size of matchbox. And it is not rare to find a radio set fitted within the body of a mobile phone, a headphone or even a toy. The radio broadcast knows no boundaries. Books, magazines and films can be blocked at boundaries of

states and nations and institutions. But radio cannot be stopped in this manner. One cant really place a firewall or administrator to restrict its content. This boundless power can be used to send messages of enlightenment and joy to people across the border. One good example is radio Ceylon, which became very popular with listeners in India as it was able to provide them their choice of entertainment. There is one more feature that emerges out of understanding all these properties of radio. Radio, in fact is a very simple medium. The equipment involved in making a radio programme is very simple to operate. One person with a tape recorder is a complete outdoor crew for radio. You need no cameras, lights etc to record for radio from the location. Radio content once ready does not have to get through complex and time consuming process of duplication. There is no need to produce several copies like in print media. It is ready for broadcast and sharing with masses as soon as its content is finalised. Language based characteristics Now let us discuss some characteristics of radio, which are largely related to the language used on this medium. Radio is a spoken medium. The language that it uses has to be different from the written language used in print media. As we said earlier that short and simple sentences are to be used. While selecting words one has to avoid jargon, slang and tongue twisters. And the language has to have the quality of being conversational. That makes it slightly informal but still free from colloquial usages. Let us not forget that radio is reaching to a vast audience spread over a huge geographical area. Many of these people might be illiterate. Radio might be their only source

of information and connection with the outside world. So we have to keep a heterogeneous audience in mind. The informality of the spoken language builds an easy connects with audience. But slang of one locality might be completely lost on the audience of another area. So we stick to the simpler version of widely spoken language. Mixing the tongues can also be a problem. We might imagine that we are trying to make it more accessible of the audience, but we actually end up distancing ourselves form all those people who dont know any one of the two languages. Though radio is an audio medium, it is known for its ability to build images. We could say that the language of radio helps us to create visuals in our mind. In fact, it is our own natural tendency to attempt to visualise what we hear. We would try to think of the image of the person speaking to us from the radio. Properly scripted content of radio is going to further assist us create these visuals with the minds eye. These visuals can be varied. We will always try and visual the scene in the auditorium, where a state function is happening or that in a stadium from where a match is being broadcast live. Appropriate commentary will help us to organise our thought and visualise something close to what exists at the scene of broadcast. In the process the audience also gets more involved in listening. What is interesting and what probably makes radio a powerful medium is that unlike a visual medium, the visuals here are not limited by the size of the screen. If supported by appropriate sound effects and right music, virtually any situation from a space age war to medieval kings durbar can be created in the listeners mind. And you do not have to spend a penny on sets, art direction, special effects and lighting.

The radio cannot accommodate a huge amount of content. In fact, it has very limited space. Of course, we cannot forget that radio exists in time and that is why it is a transient medium. When we say that radio lacks space, we imply that its ability as a medium to hold or convey content is quite limited. Let us understand it with this example. On radio, typically 120 words are spoken per minute. So a limited amount of content per minute. A ten minute bulletin would carry words equal to those in two column news. So the news or any other content would have to be presented in brief. After all you have a limited number of minutes in a day. On the other hand there is practically no limit to the number of pages that can go in a magazine or a newspaper. This allows them more space and more flexibility. Radio has to however, present its content within these space constraints. This could be seen as a disadvantage of radio. It is important to understand this feature in order to make better programme for radio. Though a radio broadcaster speaks to tens of thousands of people at the same time, he does not treat them as a group. In fact for the radio listener the experience is of being addressed personally. That is why radio is more personal. Broadcaster speaks in a manner as if he were speaking to a single person. The radio broadcast does not speak to a group. Rather he speaks to the individual. This makes the listening experience personal for each individual member of the audience. The radio connects with audience in the present and the communication style is one to one. That is why the broadcaster does not use the radio as a huge public

address system. The broadcaster actually speaks to one person. The radio is selective in presenting the content to the listener. Radio content has to be presented in a linear order. This order is decided by the people in the radio station according to what they think would be liked by most of the audience. The lack of space that we earlier talked about also compels these people to limit the content and to include certain things only. So when the content reaches us, it has gone through an extensive process of selection and ordering. The transient nature of radio makes it necessary to choose and order and it is not possible for the listener to upset this order for their own preferences. Compare this with the newspaper where you can read the content in an order that you like. The reader may start with the horoscope and then go to sports page and have a look at the editorial before reading the front page news. He may also glance through the head lines, pictures and bits of news once and then read the news in detail when more time is available. The technical qualities of radio have helped us to formulate a certain grammar for its language. These properties of the radio are important characteristics of radio. Derived Characteristics These characteristics that I have been talking about also ensure that radio reaches a large number of people. It is a low cost medium and it is easy for even a poor person to

own a radio set. He does not have to pay anybody to receive the content. It is free to air. Though he might have to spend a little on the batteries. The receiver set is portable and that makes it very easy to carry it around and listen. One is not tied by any chords or cables. And radio broadcast reaches almost 98% of Indias territory. All these factors ensure a higher reach of radio amongst the audience. In fact higher reach can be counted as another characteristic of radio. All these characteristics and the resultant higher reach also makes radio more suitable for certain purposes. One characteristic of radio is that it is very suitable for aid in distance education. It is not viable to spend much on educational programming especially when the size of audience in this case all students enrolled in a particular course is not very high. Suppose a very specialised programme of an open university attracts 40 learners. If these learners are spread in different parts of India, then reaching out to them through other medium would be very costly. Television air time is costly and in this case your will either need one national broadcaster or several regional or local channels. The cost of printing per copy come down when u do large scale printing, printing or copying a limited number of documents proves to be costly. But Radio does not have these limitations. That is why radio becomes an important part of distance learning programmes and it also becomes a default choice in this kind of a situation. Producing and telecasting an educational programme on radio is viable even when the number of students is small and they are spread over a huge area. Radio is actually a perfect medium to reach out to a small and stratified audience because of its low cost and huge coverage area.

This very virtue also makes it a suitable medium for Public Service Advertising. Though such advertising is extremely important for society, it does not lead to immediate returns. In facts the returns accrue to the society in long run, in the form of a better living environment. But unlike commercial advertising, it does not aim to justify itself through revenues. So the purse strings for this category of advertising are always held tight. The lower costs in production and broadcast make radio a preferred medium for public service advertising. Its wider reach and the fact that the target audience does not have to be literate to understand the message, makes it even more suitable. These were some of the main characteristics of radio. Radio is an important medium of mass communications and it is a completely audio medium. Its technical make up gives it certain features while some features are based on the kind of language that is usually spoken on radio. These languages related features may also be seen as certain conventions which have evolved out of decades of attempts to make radio communication more effective and enjoyable. These conventions are practiced widely. Some features have emerged out of technical, economic and language features and it has become most suitable for certain requirements. Hope you enjoyed this lesson and found it useful. Thank you FAQs What are the four main elements of radio? The radio content is made up of four main elements. These are Voice, Music, Sound Effects and Silence.

Why is radio known as a single sense medium? When one listens to the radio, only the ears are engaged. So one could be doing something else and still be listening to radio. Unlike a newspaper or Television, the audience does not have to suspend all other activity to engage with the medium. It does not demand undivided attention, so audience could be driving, cooking, jogging, eating and still be listening to radio. They dont need to sit down and dedicate themselves to this activity at a particular point in time. In fact a lot of people listen to radio only when they are driving. But this characteristic could also be seen as a disadvantage because the audience is very likely to get more engaged in the other activities and pay less attention to radio broadcast. Which means that the radios content would not leave the desired impact on the audience and it would only play in the background. In what different ways is radio a low cost medium? Low cost is one important feature of radio. The cost of setting up a radio station is not very high. Similarly production of radio programme is a relatively simple and low cost process. You do not need camera, lights and lots of people to handle them. And like print media, there is no need to make multiple copies of the finished product. The receiver can also be bought at a very low cost and the audience can listen to the content without paying any fees or subscription. What is radio a selective medium? The radio is selective in presenting the content to the listener. Radio content has to be presented in a linear order. This order is decided by the people in the radio station according to what they think would be liked by

most of the audience. The lack of space that we earlier talked about also compels these people to limit the content and to include certain things only. So when the content reaches us, it has gone through an extensive process of selection and ordering. The transient nature of radio makes it necessary to choose and order and it is not possible for the listener to upset this order for their own preferences. What kind of approach should a radio broadcaster ideally have when addressing listeners? Though a radio broadcaster speaks to tens of thousands of people at the same time, he does not treat them as a group. In fact for the radio listener the experience is of being addressed personally. That is why radio is more personal. A broadcaster should not address a group. He should speak as if he is talking to one person. How much of content can be accommodated on radio in comparison to other media? The radio cannot accommodate a huge amount of content. In fact, it has very limited space. Of course, we cannot forget that radio exists in time and that is why it is a transient medium. When we say that radio lacks space, we imply that its ability as a medium to hold or convey content is quite limited. Let us understand it with this example. On radio, typically 120 words are spoken per minute. So a limited amount of content per minute. A ten minute bulletin would carry words equal to those in a two column news. What makes radio visual?

Though radio is an audio medium, it is known for its ability to build images. We could say that the language of radio helps us to create visuals in our mind. In fact, it is our own natural tendency to attempt to visualise what we hear. We would try to think of the image of the person speaking to us from the radio. Properly scripted content of radio is going to further assist us create these visuals with the minds eye. These visuals can be varied. We will always try and visual the scene in the auditorium, where a state function is happening or that in a stadium from where a match is being broadcast live. Appropriate commentary will help us to organise our thought and visualise something close to what exists at the scene of broadcast. In the process the audience also gets more involved in listening.

SUMMARY The content on the radio medium comprises of voice, music, sound effects and silence. All programmes on the radio are made up of these elements. The radio uses a language which is different from that used in print media and TV. This is one important factor which shapes the characteristics of radio. Certain other characteristics have evolved out of the technology of radio. Important amongst these features of radio are its portability, it being an audio medium and low costs involved. These features also make the radio more suitable than other media for certain uses.

GLOSSARY RADIO: Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. It is also termed as wireless telegraphy or telephony. VOICE The faculty or power of uttering sounds through the mouth by the controlled expulsion of air. The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds (vocal cords) are the primary sound source. MUSIC Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, tempo, meter, articulation and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek mousike (art of the Muses). SOUND EFFECTS Any sound, other than music or speech, artificially reproduced to create an effect in a dramatic presentation, as the sound of a storm or a creaking door. SILENCE Silence is the relative or total lack of audible sound.

SOUND The sensation produced by stimulation of the organs of hearing by vibrations transmitted through the air or other medium. Sound is a travelling wave which is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations. BROADCAST Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults. PUBLIC SERVICE ADVERTISING Public service advertising is the use of commercial advertising techniques for non-commercial purposes. Typical topics for public service advertising include public health/public safety issues, emergency preparedness instructions, natural resources conservation information, and other topics of broad interest. BROADCASTER A broadcasting organization, one responsible for the production of radio and television programs and/or their transmission. ALSO A presenter, or host (sometimes hostess, in feminine form), is a person or organization responsible for running an event. RADIO CEYLON Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in

Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.