The word radio comes from the Latin ” radius ”. It is a means of communication that has managed to remain in force for decades despite the manifestation of more sophisticated competitors, such as television and digital content in general.
The Radio as a medium of communication and entertainment massive came into existence since 1920 in the United States and Argentina, as a set of devices to transmit voice and music, making them accessible to people, this is a process wavelet transform of original radio signals in another type of growth so that you can send the signal to them at a distance.
The radius is an element that can be called ” social communication ” because it has the possibility of contacting large social groups. There are also different types of radio such as commercial radio, public radio, community radio.
The commercial radio is a radio station owned by a commercial entity specializing in music and Portugal is one of the first stations in Portugal that transmits real-time news.
The community radio, rural radio, cooperative radio, participatory radio, free radio, alternative, popular, educational is radio transmission and networks of groups that have been created with the intention of favoring one community or population center, whose interests they are the development of the community.
Public radio is an essential service and the nucleus of democratic societies whose objective is the production, edition, and diffusion of a set of radio channels covering all genres and destined to satisfy information needs.
A radio is an electronic device with which signals are recovered that are transmitted through electromagnetic waves. We explain what radio is, what it is for, how it works, and more.
In summary, A radio receiver or radio is an electronic device by which voice signals and other kinds of signals are recovered, which are transmitted with a radio transmitter through electromagnetic waves. It is one of the most important inventions in history for communication.
What is radio for?
Due to its ability to receive and decode the electromagnetic waves emitted by radio transmitters, it has been a device that revolutionized communications for human beings. It allows communication over long distances without the need for a cable.
How does the radio work?
The operation of the radio starts from the sending of radio waves into the air by a transmitter. This process fulfills its objective once the waves reach the second piece known as the receiver or radio. Once the antenna is extended towards a radio receiver, some of the electromagnetic energy that is passing nearby is going to be taken. When a radio is tuned to a station and an electronic circuit, a program that is being broadcast will be chosen to follow it.
The previous process occurs because electromagnetic energy is a mixture between magnetism and electricity that is, travels through waves that resemble the waves that occur on the surface of the ocean. These radio waves are going to have a certain length, speed, and frequency.
The speed of radio waves is the speed with which the waves travel between two points. The length is the distance between a crest or wave peak and that follows. The frequency is the number of waves that will keep coming every second that passes.
Now, the frequency is measured in hertz, therefore, if seven waves arrive per second, it is said to be seven hertz or 7 Hz. Think about the waves of the sea and you will notice that their travel speed is one meter per second. In general, the length of these waves is ten meters and their frequency is a few seconds.
Once the radio tries to capture the waves that are close to it, the process is similar to the waves that end up on the shore of a beach. However, these waves are longer, faster, and more frequent than those of the ocean. The wavelength meters and the frequency can be millions of Hertz, which is why millions of waves will arrive every second.
In conclusion, the operation of the radio is summarized in:
- A radio station broadcasts radio signals that can be digital or analog, which are accompanied by a signal for text data.
- The digital signal is compressed prior to transmission.
- The signal that has three layers is transmitted by the digital transmitter that is updated at the radio station.
- The interference has multiple paths, which is caused by a reflection in the signal from the buildings. In digital radio, this is ignored because the true signal can be identified and interference ruled out.
- The radio receives the signal, and according to the device, the sound will be heard in digital or analog data.
Radio parts
- Antenna – It is the one that allows the electromagnetic signal that is transmitted by an emitter to be obtained. The signals are sent to the diode so that they are later audible.
- Coil – It is the place where the signals can be tuned. It allows the radio to respond to transmitting frequencies and in turn, allows other types of frequencies to be dropped.
- Diodes – Here the signal transmitted by the antenna arrives. It has the function of an electrical switch in which energy flows in one direction. This produces a barrier in the opposites.
- Speakers – It is a part of the radio in which the signal that is captured is converted into audio. With this, the listeners will be able to understand the message. Once the electrical signal sent by the diode is received, it is converted into a signal that is audible.
- Volume Knob – It is a piece to set the volume.
- Radio program knob – To tune the station or frequency in which you want to capture electromagnetic waves.
- CD player – In some cases, this element is incorporated. Let’s you listen to CDs.
- Screen – More modern models incorporate it. Presents information in digital format.
Radio types
- AM Receiver – These are Amplitude Modulated receivers. They are very cheap and simple. They are used for radio, communications at an airport, and as the case may be for entertainment purposes. Its frequency ranges between 500 and 1700 kHz. Its decoding is simple.
- FM Receiver – They are Frequency Modulated receivers. They substitute the amplitude to have advantages such as a higher fidelity or that signals that are not wanted can be eliminated. Almost all trading signals are of this type.
- AUB receiver – Used for digital audio transmission when possible. They are the most innovative option today because they use a single frequency network. Its signal quality is excellent and it also compensates for environmental distortions.
Difference between digital and analog radio
An analog radio uses FM or AM waves, but they do not have the ability to receive the waves clearly due to their inability to filter out other kinds of noise that the sender also transmits. In the case of digital radios, they have more capabilities and they do filter noise outside the transmission, therefore, it is clear from the beginning what to pay attention to and whatnot.
Analog radio
Ocean waves carry energy causing the water to move up and down. In much the same way, radio waves carry energy as an invisible movement of electricity and magnetism, going up and down. They carry program signals from huge transmitting antennas connected to the radio station, to the smaller antennas of the radio receivers.
A program is transmitted by adding it to a radio wave called a carrier. This process is called modulation. Sometimes a radio program is added to the carrier so that its signal causes fluctuations in the carrier frequency. This is called frequency modulation (FM).
Another way to send a radio signal is to make the peaks of the carrier wave larger or smaller. Since the size of a wave is called amplitude, this process is known as amplitude modulation (AM). FM radio is emitted thanks to frequency modulation, and AM radio is emitted by modulating the amplitude of the wave.
Digital Radio
Suppose you are driving down the highway and your favorite song plays on your FM radio. Now you pass under a bridge and the noise, interference, hiss, crackle begins, and the song disappears in a burst of static. Although people have had to get used to such annoying noises, now there is a new type of radio that promises almost perfect sound.
Digital radio, as it’s called, sends speech and songs through the air like strings of numbers. No matter what gets between your radio and the transmitter, the signal will almost always get through. This is why digital radio sounds better. But in addition, digital technology also contains many more stations and displays information about the program you are listening to (such as song names, time, news, and information in general).
How is digital radio different from analog?
Let’s go back to the previous example of sending information from a ship to shore, but this time using a digital method. In an emergency, I could store hundreds of rubber ducks on my boat, each with a number. If I get into trouble, as in the example above, and want to send a distress signal, I could send an emergency coded message “12345”, releasing the ducklings with those numbers.
Now suppose I have a problem. I release the ducklings with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, but instead of sending only five numbered ducks, I send maybe 10 or 20 of each number to increase the chances of the message getting through. In this way, even if the sea is rough or if a boat is going through, there is still a high probability that the ducklings will reach the shore. Eventually, the waves will carry ducklings with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 ashore. In this way, you would only have to collect them.
This is more or less how digital radio works.
The transmitter sends program signals divided into chunks and encoded in numbers (digits).
The transmitter sends each chunk many times to increase the chances that the original signal will reach its destination.
Even when there are elements that interrupt or delay some of the fragments, the receiver can still gather those that arrive from other places and add them together to achieve an uninterrupted program signal.
To help avoid interference, a digital radio signal travels over a huge and wide band of radio frequencies, nearly 1,500 times wider than those used by analog radio. To go back to our rowboat example, if I were able to send a wave 1500 times wider, I would avoid the passage of any speedboat that got in the way and would get to shore more easily.
This broadband allows a single digital signal to carry six stereo music programs or 20 talk radio programs in one go.
Mixing the signals together in this way is called multiplexing. Part of the signal could be music, while another part could be a stream of text information that says song titles, DJ’s name, the radio station you’re listening to, etc.
Importance of radio
The radius revolutionized communications because it was a novel technology without cables or wires. The transmission by air or vacuum was a change for the sector, which soon supplanted the telegraph and each of its derivatives. It was one of the precursors for developments such as television or Wi-Fi transmission.
History of radio
The radio is a result of the combination of different inventions previously developed, but which came together to build the radio. It was an Italian. Guglielmo Marconi who in 1894 combined these elements for the invention of the radio. Once he discovered all its possibilities on a commercial level, the telegraph was replaced by all the advantages it had so that voice was transmitted directly without the need for a common thread.
Discovery of electromagnetic waves
James C. Maxwell discovered electromagnetic waves and how they were generated in the 19th century by observing that varying electric fields created varying magnetic fields and vice versa. Maxwell exposed in 1873 the result of his experiences in this regard in the previous decade before the Royal Society of London and this was the first antecedent of radio.
Heinrich R. Hertz confirmed Maxwell’s theories in 1888. He discovered how to artificially create these electromagnetic waves and how to detect them, using an apparatus of his manufacture that used two metal rods of the same size, aligned and culminating in metal balls, in each of which electrons were injected at very high voltage extracted from the other.
Using this apparatus, Hertz demonstrated that waves could be reflected, deflected, polarized, etc. This was because they were moving at a speed close to the speed of light and that they had characteristics similar to it (wave characteristics). This was the basis for sending the radio signals.
In homage to their discoverer, these waves are called “Hertzian waves .” The name “radio” began to be used only 20 years later. Many scientists and inventors, such as Nikola Tesla or William Crookes studied this new phenomenon and proposed applications and uses. Some already perceived the potential it would have in telecommunications.
The first transmission of Hertzian waves took place on Christmas Eve 1906, with a high-frequency electromagnetic alternator generating amplitude modulated (AM) waves and transmitting the voice of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden singing a Christmas carol from Brant Rock Station, Massachusetts.
Related: Who invented the radio?
History of modern radio
The history of modern radio is the fruit of numerous technological convergences, such as the discovery of Frequency Modulation (FM) as a replacement for Amplitude Modulation (AM) in 1933, the use of transistors in radios in 1950, and another number of considerable improvements.
Radio revolutionized the world of communications and entertainment and paved the way for the arrival of television in 1948, employing similar transmission mechanisms.
From then on, radio slowly lost ground to television, being used in the military sphere through special channels, or through LORAN, the first radio navigation system. The next step, the digitization of radio, took advantage of the new technologies that the Internet made possible in the latter part of the 20th century.
On the other hand, the influence of satellites added quality, speed, and power to the radio, among other new possibilities. Today radio over the Internet is very common, as well as radio transmission between radio amateurs or local use for walkie-talkies.
Recommended reading: Satellite Radio: what is satellite radio
The great advantages of radio
Radio is “the theater of the mind.” This means that it wields the power of the spoken word and the ability of audio to create powerful and vivid images in the mind of the listener. The radio accompanies the listener everywhere, without distractions.
“You can close your eyes, but you can’t close your ears.”
Radio is just one of the many available ways a business can get in touch with current and potential customers in today’s competitive world of mass communications.
Radio listeners value the content you offer anywhere: in your car, at work, and now via mobile phones or the Internet.
- Radio is the most accessible and portable means of communication, capable of adapting more quickly to the changing listening habits of listeners.
- Radio more easily targets specific segments, youth, and adults, rich and poor, men and women.
- The radio has the ability to keep in touch with the local public and at the same time cover national and international events.
- Radio research has shown that the listener creates an emotional bond with his favorite station, even greater than with any other traditional medium.
The power of imagination
Perhaps the phrase most used to define radio is that it is “the theater of the mind.” This means that it wields the power of the spoken word and the ability of audio to create powerful and vivid images in the mind of the listener.
Mixing audio and words will help the listener to create their own images. These images are much stronger than the others because they are self-generated; they are unique images of each listener, created in much the same way as the reader of a novel creates the scenes they are reading about.
When someone says they saw “the most beautiful landscape imaginable,” each listener will have their own vision of that place. On the contrary, when someone sees a photo or video of “the most beautiful place”, they might think that they know more beautiful places.
When listening to the radio, the listener, even inadvertently, creates his own images often in great detail. They imagine what the presenter or the people behind the voices are like.
They react to the different types of voices they hear, often strongly, and love or loathe those voices and therefore the people behind them.
But they also get quite involved if they are interested in what these voices are saying and how they say it. For example:
- They imagine the location of what is mentioned, as well as the environment of the space.
- They react to whatever music is used, creating an atmosphere to which the listener brings their own emotions.
- The use of sound effects, even very simple, will create images in the minds of the listeners.
In summary the advantages of the radio
- Immediacy: As a medium, the radio can react quickly.
- Effectiveness: Advertising on the radio is cheap and the reach is wide.
- Production costs: Radio programs and spots are much cheaper to produce.
- Cost of use: The radio is free. You don’t have to pay to listen to it. You do not have to subscribe to a service.
- Segmentation: Radio reaches the right people, clearly segmented by age, gender, and socioeconomic status.
- Penetration: Can be heard everywhere. Broadcasters generally cover all areas of a region or country. It reaches where the other media cannot.
- Opportunity: It can be heard at the moment just before a purchase decision.
- Ubiquity: Being a portable medium, it allows the listener to continue listening while moving anywhere.
- Inescapable advertising: Although there is a tendency to believe that people change stations when commercials appear, the truth is that most do not.
- It is perceived as a friend: It accompanies people at all times and places. Create the feeling that someone is always there, behind the microphone.
- Safety: A radio program allows the listener to continue with other tasks safely. For example, it would be extremely dangerous to watch television while driving a car.
13 great reasons to advertise on the radio
- Radio offers more efficient segmentation.
- Radio reaches people at relevant times and places.
- Radio, like movies, presents advertisements that people do not avoid.
- Radio has a multiplier effect on other media.
- Radio offers more frequency and has a long-range.
- In radio, a brand can dominate a category of products with relatively low costs.
- Radio reinforces the way consumers think about specific brands.
- Radio leads to immediate responses, especially to online advertisements.
- Radio is a friend.
- Radio provides the entertainment that people need based on their demographics, geography, ethnography, etc.
- The radio reaches everywhere.
- The greatest strength of radio is the power of words and sound.
- Radio is resilient, it does not give up, it has withstood all the technological attacks and has come out ahead.