How many other technologies do you use so often?
Rarely does a day go by without me driving, so rarely does a day go by without me listening to the radio (sports talk, almost exclusively). Yet radio gets dismissed – ridiculed even — as so 20th Century, especially by those too young to remember when radio ruled.
So allow me a shout-out to UNESCO for turning up the volume on tomorrow’s second annual World Radio Day. From the organization’s website:
World Radio Day seeks raise awareness about the importance of radio, facilitate access to information through radio and enhance networking among broadcasters.
Radio has to be recognized as a low cost medium, specifically suited to reach remote communities and vulnerable people: the illiterate, the disabled, women, youth and the poor, while offering a platform to intervene in the public debate, irrespective of people’s educational level. Furthermore, radio has a strong and specific role in emergency communication and disaster relief.
All true. And as much as radio remains a part of my everyday life, there is no denying the nostalgic element at play here: Memories of radio from my childhood – radio of the ’60s and ’70s – are among the most vivid and treasured I possess.
I was that kid listening to the ballgame on a transistor tucked under my pillow. And it couldn’t have been more fun even if I had been able to text my friends.
