“RADIO A MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION AND ENTERTAINMENT” Medium of Communication and Entertainment”

INVENTED by Gugliemo Marconi 1896

What is Radio?

“A Radio is a Medium for Communication. It transmits messages via radio waves; it is a communication system based on broadcasting electromagnetic waves”.

AM: AM stations were the earliest broadcasting stations to be developed. AM refers to AMPLITUDE MODULATION, a mode of broadcasting radio waves by varying the amplitude of the carrier signal in response to the amplitude of the signal to be transmitted.

FM: FM refers to FREQUENCYMODULATION, and occurs on VHF airwaves in the frequency range of 88 to 108 MHz 

Old media don’t’ die! They just bounce back in new avatars. Not so long ago radio had been written off as fuddy-duddy, down market and not so cool. Television and later “new media” were touted to being the media of the future. But thanks to technology radio is making a comeback, in fact, in its new avatar-fm-radio is all set to become the hippest, coolest and most with -it medium.

HISTORY HISTORY

In British India, broadcasting began in July 1923 with programmes by the

Radio Club of Bombay and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of

July 23 1927 the private Indian Broadcasting Company LTD (IBC) was

authorized to operate two radio stations; the Bombay station began on 23July

1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August1927. The government

took over the Broadcasting facilities, beginning the Indian State Broadcasting

Service (ISBS) on 1 April 1930 (on an experiment basis for two years, and

permanently in May 1932). On June 8, 1936; the ISBS was renamed All India

Radio. FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in Madras, and was expanded

during the 1990s.

In 1992 there was a total of 11,312 radio stationson the air. In 1994 they started Rock music, Oldies, Spanish/Ethnic and Adult standards.

Broadcasting in India is speedily shifting its profile. Indian radio is currently changing from a government monopoly to highly commercialize broadcasting. As India opens its skies to privateFM radio broadcasters, listeners are beginning to wipe the dust off an estimated 150 million radio sets across the country.

RADIO ADVERTISING

Radio advertising can be an excellent means to get your marketing message out to the public. Daily millions of people are listening to the radio and there are many different radio Station.

Radio Advertising Reaches Millions.

Radio Advertising is Cheaper than Television.Advertising

Radio Advertising Allows You to Target Your Market.

RADIO ADVERTISING

For more than 4 decades, the Government of India did not permit private radio stations to broadcast in India. Then history changed its course. In 1993, the Government allowed private FM operators to 'buy' blocks (chunks) on All India Radio, prepare programming content, book commercials from advertisers and broadcast the whole lot. Within 4 years, (1997-98), the FM Radio advertising and sponsorship business grew to Rs. 93 crores with Times of India's Times FM & Midday Group's Radio Mid-Day becoming the main players.

RADIO ADVERTISING

Then, in June 1998 the Government, through its electronic media regulatory body Prasar Bharti, decided not to renew contracts of private FM operators. Not surprisingly, the advertising revenue fell by 50% within a year! This time, the Government gave the green light to privatize radio in India. July 6, 1999 was the historic day when the Government announced that 150 new FM channels Would be licensed across 40 cities. And in 2000, the Governmentauctioned licenses for private FM channels to bolster the revenue.

Internet radio

Internet radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio webcasting) is an audio service transmitted via the Internet. Music streaming on Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means.

Internet radio was pioneered by Carl Malamud. In 1993, Malamud launched "Internet Talk Radio" which was the "first computer-radio talk show, each week interviewing a computer expert."

Internet radio

In 2003, revenue from online streaming music radio was US$49 million. By 2006 that figure rose to US$500 million. A February 21, 2007 "survey of 3,000Americans released by Consultancy Bridge Ratings & Research" found that "as much as 19% of U.S. consumers 12 and older listen to Web-based radio stations."

Aims & objectives

To analyze the tastes and preferences of different age groups of radio audiences, and also the growth and usage of online or internet radio in context to the Indian urban population.

Aim- To analyze the tastes and preferences of different age groups of radio audiences, and also the growth and u sage of online or internet radio in context to the

Indian urban population.

Objectives-1.) To study the popularity of different radio stations.

2.)To study the usage pattern of radio audiences.

3.)To study the growth and usage of online radio.

4.)To quantify the advertising share and the audiences responses to various advertisements.

Operational definitions

1.) Radio station- Radio station is the working place from where all the shows of a particular radio channel is recorded and broadcast. A radio station consists of recording studio which is sound proof and a person known as radio jockey talks or say host a show. The recording and broadcasting is live on radio.

2.)Radio audiences- Radio audiences refer to the group of people who tune in to listen to radio using various sources of radio, i.e. car radio, mobile or old radio sets. 3.)Online radio- Online radio or internet radio is the new revolution in radio, in which the audiences can surf the internet and listen to their favorite stations and songs anytime. It was started long ago, in various parts of the world, but it has reached the Indian market 2-3 years back.

4.)Advertisements- Radio advertisements or a radio commercial (in the USA also called a spot by people in the business) is a form of advertising via the medium of radio. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials.

Research design

Theoretical background –

This research process was followed by the uses and gratification theory. Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Divergent from other media effect theories who question "what media do to people?” UGT focuses on "what people do with media?"

Research Approach

Descriptive research method is used to conduct this research process. Descriptive Provides general frequency data about

populations or samples Does not manipulate variables (e.g. as in an experiment) Describes only the "who, what, when, where and how" Cannot establish a causal relationship between variables Associated with descriptive statistics.

Research methodology

Quantitative research-

Quantitative data is any data that is in numerical form such as statistics, percentages, etc. In layman's terms, this means that the quantitative researcher asks a specific, narrow question and collects a sample of numerical data from participants to answer the question.Quantitative research methods will be helpful to know the usage patterns of audiences, and what they prefer more on radio and not just use it as only a medium of listening songs.

Sampling Technique

In a simple random sample (SRS) of a given size, all such subsets of the frame are given an equal probability. Each element of the frame thus has an equal probability of selection: the frame is not subdivided or partitioned. Furthermore, any given pair of elements has the same chance of selection as any other such pair (andsimilarly for triples, and so on).

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

A heterogeneous sample of 100 people was collected which was equally divide gender wise i.e.

Males -50 Females-50 Age group- 20yrs to 35yrs Class – mostly middle and upper-middle-class Geography- Pune city Occupation – Students, Teacher, Businessman, Housewives.

DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

As per figure-1 we get to know the preferences of the sample population as to what they like most. When asked that what they would choose between video song and audio song, the above figure shows that 54% people chose audio and 46% of people chose video. It was mainly because that while listening to a song, simultaneously you can do other things, while travelling also its not convenient to watch a video song whereas you can prefer audio anytime anywhere. Videos are sometimes disturbing also. These were the reasons given by people, when asked that why would they prefer any of the above option.

Thus this shows that radio has a good scope of being in the market among the audience as medium of entertainment as well as communication, which together becomes infotainment.

video46%

audio54%

Choose one between audio and video

Figure.2. Choice between FM and AIR

As per the figure-2, we can conclude that due to the emergence of the commercial fm channels, all India radio (AIR) is losing its presence in the market; it can also be because of the same kind of shows that they have been broadcasting since so many years, it needs to provide a variation in the shows they broadcast, the population including both the age groups, It shows the majority likes to switch radio to listen to fm channels with 88% people choosing fm and air only with 12%. All India radio is still a priority to the rural parts of the country but with a different format of shows and with a variation in providing information, which they do in their shows, it can do a lot better for the people preferring all India radio. The observation in this question was that the youth population who replied to this question, preferred fm channels. AIR can give priority to the youth oriented shows. Also considering that the sample was mostly from urban city, it can be said that most of them prefer listening to commercial fm channels as compared to all India radio.

AIR (akashwani)12%

fm88%

choice between FM and AIR

1. Popularity of different radio channels

In the first section of the questionnaire, questions were asked to know the popularity of different radio channels, and the reasons or factors that make that particular channel favorite among the audiences. Here we will analyze that which channels are popular among audiences, what is the purpose of switching that channel, what sources they use to listen to radio? and which time of the day they listen to radio. But in the starting we will see that how popular is all India radio in comparison with the various commercial channels in the market.

FIGURES

radio city21%

radio mirchi40%

red fm24%

others15%

most preferred radio station I like the RJ15%

It has a good

variety of

shows14%

It plays a good collec-tion of songs56%

It keeps me up-dated

with the city

news15%

liking on radio stations

mobile78%

car radio17%

old radio sets5%

use of which sources to listen to radio

morning19%

afternoon13%

even-ing15%

night53%

preferred timing to listen to radio

2. Usage Pattern of Radio Consumers

The second section of the questionnaire talks about the usage pattern of consumers on radio. What all program people like to hear on radio, do they participate in game shows or request and dedicate songs on request shows? And also do they swear by a channel that they say is most liked by them or they would prefer switching on to other radio station. These can be well explained using the following figures.

FIGURES

talk shows(solving prob-lems of people)

32%

request shows20%

discussions on topics related to

social awareness

23%

interviews of celebrit-

ies25%

most liked programmes on radio

yes most of the time to listen to

songs i like56%

not betwee

n songs, but yes if ads are

there28%

i switch radio

only to listen

to songs and

don't like ads or rj's talking

16%

prefer switching between channels

yes, i do5%

never tried but would like to68%

not in-terested

27%

request and dedications on radio shows

Yes, i do15%

Never tried but would like to41%

not interested34%

i don't think it is real10%

participation in game shows on radio

3. Audience Response to various Advertisements on Radio

The third section of this questionnaire focuses on the advertising part of radio and how does audiences response to various advertisements on radio. The first question helps us to know whether audiences feel is radio a good medium of advertising or not. How much they rely on radio for local advertisements, and what kind of advertisements they look for on radio shows.

FIGURES

strongly agree33%

agree59%

disagree8%

preferred radio as good advertising tool

yes, very much20%

sometimes50%

no,not really30%

following the advertisements on radio

latest sales/dis-

count18%

property10%

traffic up-

dates24%

new happenings in the city

48%

preferred advertisements on radio

4. Growth and Usage of Online Radio

i don't know about online radio13%

yes, i am a

regular listener to on-line ra-

dio12%

some-times when

access-ible32%

never tried43%

Tried listening online radio

na-tional music41%

international music59%

music preferred on online radio

radio mirchi24%

radio city52%

others24%

popular radio station online

FIGURES

i can listen to my favourite shows and songs any-

time36%

i can listen to other city broadcast

25%

i can watch the radio in-tervies now

9%

i can collect photographs of my favour-

ite rj14%

it doesn't has advertise-ments dis-

turbing between

songs16%

purpose of online radio

very good25%

good52%

neutral23%

Rating experience between old radio and internet radio

CONCLUSION

The sample being all the age groups showed a mixed reaction of the different questions asked. Radio has always been the most important communication medium for decades mostly to the rural parts of the country and is still preferred a medium of information and education, whereas in the urban cities it’s a medium of entertainment and an advertising tool for local advertisers. It’s a medium of knowing the recent events around the city through fm, whereas all India radio is not much preferred in the urban areas of the country as compared to rural areas. People are very much fond of playing and participating in radio game shows because of the prizes that are placed. There is a lot of scope in variation in radio shows that are related to interacting with people.The internet radio is very much preferred by the youth so that they can listen to international music and archives of radio shows which is not available while listening to radio in the traditional ways. Internet radio has really made the mark in the market, while being the very recent entry in the Indian market.

Thank you Sofiya Ahmed

MCMS - II