Oregon daily emerald., September 28, 2000, Page 7B, Image 23

■ Despite broad advances in
the technology, radio has
proven it will survive the test
oftime
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
At the time radio was invented,
families would sit around their
tuners nightly, listening to their fa
vorite programs. But today, with an
abundance of media competing for
the attention of audiences, radio
has been pushed to the back
ground.
“Everyone listens to the radio,
but they’re not paying attention to
it,” said Jim Davis, program direc
tor for KKNU in Eugene.
What people are paying attention
to are more visual media such as
television and the Internet. One
might think that radio would get
phased out by these more ad
vanced forms of entertainment. But
it is the grassroots nature of radio
that maintains its vitality.
Ihe one thing that radio has
that none of those other media have
is it can still be your companion,”
said Davis.
If you think about it, the radio is
always on. It wakes you up on your
alarm. It’s on in the background at
work. It’s in the car. But it takes a
distinctive personality to further
break it into the foreground.
“You don’t have personalities,
you don’t have a station,” says Bon
nie Keene, marketing personnel for
KDUK and KPNW, two popular lo
cal stations.
“DJs are our most important as
set. They are the people who inter
act with listeners,” says Autumn
Depoe, programming director and
DJ for KWVA, the campus radio sta
tion. “With our station, we have
people there 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.”
As long as there is someone at
the station, there is someone to talk
to. A person can’t call up his or her
television station and be on the air,
or win an Internet contest by plac
ing one phone call.
“Contests on the telephone are
the greatest thing in the world,”
Davis said.
Davis’ reasoning for this is that
these contests allow people to feel
as if they are a part of something. It
serves as immediate gratification.
Davis speculated that sometimes
people just want to talk to someone
else. Radio can support this listener
interaction for only one reason: It
remains local.
“That’s going to be radio’s sav
ior,” Davis said.
Stations such as KWVA have the
freedom to play local music, expos
ing the public to artists and at the
same time letting listeners know
{ ( The one thing that ra
dio has that none of those
other media have is it can
still be your companion.
Jim David
program director
kknu yy
wnere tney can see tne artist per
form.
“We are the station in Oregon
that is prime for new music,” De
poe said.
The radio is also an immediate
source for local news, sports
events, traffic information and oth
er snippets that a national medium
cannot supply.
Technological advances have
moved other competing media for
ward in their ability to communi
cate, but they have not forgotten ra
dio.
“People who design stereos
aren’t going to stop putting radio
bands on their products,” Davis
said.
Technology has also allowed
tuners to become smaller and more
portable with better reception.
Even a radio that has a hand
cranked generator has been invent
ed, eliminating the need for batter
ies.
The mobility of radio is enough
to give it an edge over larger media,
and when you consider the fact
that the radio is 100 percent free to
listeners, this particular medium
can sound pretty enticing.
One other leap radio has taken to
is streaming on the Internet. While
online broadcasting is not the main
focus of the station, the Internet sta
tions are reaching out to new listen
ers all over the country. Also, if de
voted listeners are out of the
normal reception area, they can
still find out exactly what is going
on in their hometowns.
Think of radio as the underdog
in the race of greyhounds on the
track of the 21st century. As of now,
it’s still a pretty good bet.
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