Why radio is my second favourite medium

In second year uni I had a lot of freedom about the papers I wanted to take. There were only a couple of compulsory courses to get into the Advertising Creativity major so I filled the rest of my year with courses I would enjoy: Art History, Digital Media, USA History and Radio. Overall our teachers were pessimistic, they knew we would graduate into the middle of the recession and that very few of us would ever land media jobs. They were right.

Radio seemed to be the department with the least hope. We were given the essay topic “Why radio is a dying medium” and all the resources needed to make a good case that it was in serious decline. I ended up with one of the highest marks in the class, by arguing the opposite.

Since I wrote that essay in 2007 NZ radio has had plenty of downfalls. Mediaworks buying out Iwi stations, them and other stations are borrowing tax payer money to keep frequencies they can’t afford, threatened funding cuts at RadioNZ and we can’t forget that our Communications minister is a complete twat.

However podcasting, the natural evolution of radio, is a growing medium. Millennials (or so we’re called) are used to a constant stream of information. Why would we walk, clean, drive or fall asleep in silence when we could be learning something new? There are at least two hours of menial activity everyday which are enhanced audio, I have to say I prefer radio programming over music in these situations. My favourite podcasts are:

BBC’s Click
Stuff you should know & Stuff you missed in history class
RNZ’s Mediawatch
You Look Nice Today (HT Ian Howarth)
This American Life

Please let me know if I’m missing out of anything else brilliant!