Innovations in Radio

Radio has seen a huge amount of technological innovation in its life. The equipment started as big, bulky, and unreliable, but is now small, compact, and computer controlled. The advancement in radio technology has allowed the industry to become much more portable on the broadcaster's end. A live remote 40 years ago required bringing in a special phone line and hooking up mounds of equipment, but today only requires as much equipment as a cell phone. The possibilities for live radio are now greater than ever, because technological advancements have made broadcasting so much easier. The digital age of radio is likely the basis of the future success of the industry.

By Matthew Mohney

Left: This is a control board from the mid-70s. While it resembles the technology of today, it is much bigger than modern boards and is analog instead of digital.

Right: In comparison, this is a modern computer-controlled board. It is completely digital and has a seperate computer interface.

Left: In the early days of radio, music libaries were kept track of on typewritten pape, usually in a binder. In this photo, the library sheet assigns each song a different cart number.

Below: The Electro-Voice mic began to grow in popularity in the 1980s, and is commonly used in radio stations today. Debatably, it is the industry standard.

Cart machines (left) used to be the workhorse of all radio stations. This is the machine that ran the music and commercials. Each song or commerical was recorded onto a loop tape known as a cart (below).
Today, carts have become obsolete, and most radio stations run all of their music, commericals, and sound effects on a computer program (Above).

Above is an example of an FM tower. The round things sticking out from the tower make up the antenna. (Photo: Oct. 2016)
Two things that have never change and will never change about radio: radio towers and coffee. The radio tower is what helps deliver the signal to the listener. In the beginning, AM radio had active towers, that were antennas that were hundreds of feet high. If you touch an AM antenna while standing on the ground, you will be electrocuted. FM radio is slightly different. FM stations use a tower than is several hundred feet high (usually), but the tower is not an active antenna, which means if you touch the tower, you will not be electrocuted. The antenna hangs on the tower, and the tower is just the vehicle to get the antenna hung as high as possible.
Above

For as long as radio has been around, somebody has been working at an un-Godly hour. Hence the common association with radio and coffee. Coffee pots at radio stations do more work than most DJs.

All of these innovations in radio have made the business a whole lot easier. A main advantage to highly advanced equipment is portability; no longer does a radio station need a bulky van with loads of equipment to broadcast from the streets, the technology is now as small as a cell phone.