Calling on you to discuss the joys of writing and the importance of creativity in our personal and business lives.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Why I love radio.

There are many ways to receive and consume media these days. But here’s a toast to radio. May it never, ever go away. Why? Because radio is…

real time
. Need to push something out to scores of people right away? Radio is ready.

best for multitasking
. Listening to the radio requires just two ears. (And you can even close one ear if you want to be really efficient.) Every other sense, every finger, every thumb, every toe (not common, though) is available to work on something else.

wireless
. And we all worship wireless, don’t we?

variety
. No matter what you like to listen to, it’s somewhere on the radio. I even heard a show the other day where three people discussed an entire novel on the radio in one hour. Sort of like the audio version of CliffNotes. Interesting.

free
. With few exceptions, radio doesn’t cost a dime. Want to listen? Just grab it out of the air.

national security
. In the event of an emergency, radio can reach millions of people in seconds. No smartphone needed. No computer necessary.

emotional. Try finding another medium that has played such a personal and important part in your life. It has a history of being there during those best moments. Oh, and your 10 most-favorite bands? You probably discovered most of them on radio.

Okay, so radio isn’t very social. It’s a one-way communication (unless you’re calling in to win concert tickets, request a song, or butt heads with the on-air personality. But now you’ve added another medium: the phone. And that’s cheating.)

And radio falls big-time short when it comes to delivering images and video. But so what. Sometimes you need your eyes for other things.

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