Effects of Internet Radio on Radio Landscape in the UK - Case Study Example

Running Head: Effects of Internet Radio on Radio Landscape in the UK Effects of Internet Radio on Radio Landscape in the UK [Institute’s Name] Effects of Internet Radio on Radio Landscape in the UK Globalization is the new phenomena of the world, whereby the massive world has shrunk down into a simple “Global Village,” where thousands of miles have reduced to a distance achievable in milliseconds, a place which does not resolve to any boundaries or limitations, having no restriction upon knowledge or its dissemination (Lessig, pp. 1-16, 2004). Moreover, this advancement in technology, which has made our daily lives more efficient and self sufficient in all, respects, has transgressed profoundly in the last few decades. One of the most pivotal roles that technology has played is in influencing the conventional radio system, which is now with advancements and progression in Information Technology, is encompassing into the form of internet radio. Living in the world of blooming science and technology, our lives are gradually changing along with its research and innovations (Lee, pp. 20-23, 2005). It revolves around us in every activity, whereby we have been left dependent upon its functioning as mere parts of a machine, unified under a mechanical function. Not only has it revolutionized our personal lives, but also the way in which a society communicates with each other has changed. Our present way of life would have been a dreamland for man just a century ago, and what we possess today is still not at its climax, what follows ahead is a mystery under guidance of technological advancement (Lee, pp. 20-23, 2005). The conventional system of broadcasting information, news, and entertainment is under massive change by the gauntlet of technology, whereby the entire network today stands at perils because of the rapidly growing fantasy of internet radio (Zittrain, pp. 56-58, 2008). The dissemination information by its means has developed a new system, which allows the network’s programs to be broadcasted everywhere to common people. The new internet radio is seen wearing the new trend to fit easily to the tastes of the modern generation, massively loaded with new news and information to cater all age groups and its ease in accessibility and profound efficiency all have added great value to popularity. From all forms of electronic media, radio is a common person’s device, which provides apt news and information and a negligible cost, is mobile and can be accessed from almost anywhere around the country. It is easy to travel with, acting as a live companion at all times, and can even be connected with other electric devices as an “add on” keeping one updated with national and international happenings throughout the day (Zittrain, pp. 56-58, 2008). The different channels broadcasting their programs at various frequencies give the ability to the listener to even have third party opinions regarding the current new, listen to talk shows and advice from professionals. Moreover, it is an interactive program, through which even the listener can participate into an ongoing debate, voicing his opinion and ideas millions of listeners worldwide in just an instance. Other than that, it is also the most updated entertainment source, also providing access to music files and interviews of singers and insight to their lives for their fans. The conventional radio system had its scope concentrated in providing news and the latest political national and international updates to its listeners; however with the recent advent of internet radio, the structure and the transmission of the radio has completely changed (Lee, pp. 46-47, 2005). As the main determinant of what is aired on a media source is its audience, the internet radio being readily used by the youth, thus most of the programs are focused for their information and entertainment. This has widened the perspective of radio, making its structure more complex as the internet radio facilitates its users with services like file sharing, broadcasting, downloading, and online streaming. The internet radio, with its wide range of media programs, has even influenced the market of record selling and purchase of music files itself, as with just a click a user is able to download music sources from around the world, without paying a single penny (Albarran, pp. 87-90, 2006). Thus, the new era of media is seen to be lead by the consumers rather than the institutions themselves as they handle all the information and its broadcasting under just a click of their finger. The new internet radio is such that it progresses through the high demand of the IT geeks, who mould and use it in order to meet their demands and needs, while the institution only tries to keep the aspect of radio being traditional as much as they can (Norris, pp. 63-67, 2000). In addition, as the supply of this technology grows simultaneous to its demand, media analysts believe that this transformation after a few years would be irreversible, when the internet rather than being a compliment would act as a cheaper, more efficient and readily accessible, the usage of radio in its traditional form would disappear in the near future. This is clearly seen by the fact that landscape radio is sharply losing its audience while the usage of radio online is rapidly gaining popularity. Recent statistics taken from UK’s trends of online users show that users spend about 13 hours per week on online search and using other services, and above that spend about 53 to 54 hours per week online as non-users facilitating through other media sources (Zittrain, pp. 46-59, 2008). All the IT consumers during this time spent online watch television; listen to internet radio, music and other forms of web streaming. This clearly shows the significant impact of internet on the landscape radio transmission. The users of radio online believe that it is the easiest way to acquire latest news updates, and entertainment, while it is still able to give a conventional form of feel, while however it has even further cost reductions, accessibility, high efficiency and no mobility problems. Some of the users even make use of the radio signals on their cellular phones, which provide access to even enhanced user-friendly features. For example, a listener can easily download songs while listening on the radio live, could program or utilize information to match personal requirements, forward information or media files to other contacts, etc. Another prominent distinction of internet radio from the landscape radio is its blogging feature (Katz, pp. 95-107, 2009). A blog is when different online users accessing a piece of information could make comments or their personal opinions against it, make suggestion or complaints immediately, and leave their feelings for a certain item. This allows the access of immediate feedback, which was not initially available with the conventional radio system. Initially, listeners who wanted to interact into a certain program or discussion board had to contact the radio through a phone call and wait in long queues for their call to be picked up, which was a rarity on its own with the numerous numbers of people calling simultaneously (Katz, pp. 95-107, 2009). Internet radio eliminates this segregation between users and allows a form whereby all users could voice their opinions openly, giving everybody a fair chance. This mechanism has been a very efficient way in bringing awareness among listeners and brining them together towards an innovative plan (Katz, pp. 95-107, 2009). It has come up as a democratic platform breaking the institutional barriers which had functioned it in a restricted and guided manner, selecting information which needed to be aired and hiding away news, therefore only allowing an already judged and corrected picture to be displayed. However, this advancement has also come up with negative trends such as it is depriving people from their patience and their ability to listen to other contradictory opinions (The Economist, pp. 11-16, 2007). The music market is left in a massive downfall, as all the purchasing and listening of music is done online. Moreover, with the increase in the trend of blogging, language usage and its culture are being ignored as informal forms of communication are made common and the quality of writing is constantly being ignored. Moreover, the internet radio in most of the cases is being used as a side lined or secondary media source, while the main concentration is upon chatting, blogging groups and other services attached to it (Katz, pp. 95-107, 2009). The internet programmers of these radios try to come down to the level of the audience to attract their attention, thus compromising the quality of programs and their messages in this process, which completely destroys the main idea behind radio transmission. In addition, when we talk about the cultural heritage that was held by the radio with its facilitation running back to many decades, some believe that the internet radio has completely banished this culture, destroying the heritage that this media source carried. However, some optimistic (Heberlein, pp. 20-24, 2002) believe that the internet radio is acting as a reliable and growing form for the culture of a society to grow as it allows a greater number of people living in a similar community to interact together, share their experiences, and learn better of their environment. The internet radio has opened new dimensions to media telecasting, with a very large audience, which no media source could have captured in the past. It opens a wide range opportunities and future perspectives to the users of this service, as it increases the platform of the listeners allowing all to communicate at a massive scale, in a way, which is easily accessible, cheap, and user interactive (Lee, pp. 29-42, 2005). The tone of this media is kept informal to provide a relaxed environment to the users, so that it could be used as a means of information and entertainment simultaneously. Hyperlinks which are an added feature of the internet radio allow the listener the ability to check the authenticity of a link or information, a feature that was absent in the conventional radio style. The most important aspect brought forward through the emergence of internet radio is the transparency of information, and the fact that whatever is brought to the platforms for discussion is free from the mishandling of institutions or their respective organizations, therefore, it allows to see a true picture of the society in reality (Runstein, pp. 36-45, 2009). Earlier on, the news that used to be brought to the forefront was manipulated and already cooked form of discussion, which did not allow user discretion but it was made to form judgments for people rather than helping them contemplate a situation on hand. Radio internet allows the user to be the master of his own judgments, check the authenticity of all forms of news and announcements and thus make his own opinion rather than believing in assumptions. It forms a medium, which runs upon the feedback and interaction of the users, rather than the conventional way, which was single, sided and had no interest to the user opinion, giving them the least of any importance (Lee, pp. 33-37, 2005). No matter all the programs are not controlled by the customers but it gives them a fair regard of their presence. It becomes a democratic organization in its own, which works upon the opinion of common person, and where the voice of each individual no matter how small is given equal priority. With the growing demands of globalization and electronic media slowly slipping into the lives of each individual, some experts while forecasting the future trends believe that the conventional landscape radio system would be completely replaced by the internet radio. As with the growing demands of broadband and WIFIs in every household and work place, its accessibility would become further easier and thus access just a click away (Lee, pp. 49-57, 2005). However, some fans of the conventional system believe that landscape radio is such a technology that it cannot be replaced by no matter how much digital advancement we make. Its demand will still be high in different parts of the country where internet accessibility is not widely available, and with growing population and needs, we would see landscape radio with us in the future as well. Conclusively, the paper has discussed some of the significant aspects of internet radio that has resulted in significant impact on radio landscape in different parts of the globe, especially the United Kingdom. The paper has identified and analyzed different studies related to the topic; however, it is anticipation that future researches in this regard will allow a more comprehensive and updated understanding of the impact. It is an expectation that the paper will be beneficial for students, teachers, and professionals in better understanding of the topic. References Albarran, Alan B. (2006). Handbook of Media Management and Economics. Routledge, pp. 87-90. Heberlein, L. A. (2002). The Rough Guide to Internet Radio. Rough Guides, pp. 20-24. Katz, James E. (2009). “News Blogging in Cross-Cultural Contexts” Journal of Knowledge, Technology, & Policy. Volume 22, Issue 2, pp. 95-107. Lee, Eric. (2005). How Internet Radio can Change the World. iUniverse, pp. 20-57. Lessig, Lawrence. (2004). Free Culture. Penguin Press, pp. 1-16. Norris, Mark. (2000). Communications Technology Explained. John Wily & Sons, pp. 63-67. Runstein, Robert E. (2009). Modern Recording Techniques. Focal Press, pp. 36-45. The Economist. (2007). the Economist. Volume 383, Issue 8530-8535. Indian University Press, pp. 11-16. Zittrain, Jonathan L. (2008). The future of the Internet, and how to stop it. Yale University Press, pp. 46-59. Read More