Today's audience wants constant interaction with their favorite radio, through online and offline channels - stream, recorders, applications, social actions, etc.
Radio has long ceased to be a superficial medium that cannot provide quality information. It has become a fast, powerful and influential platform that educates, helps and nurtures the community. It has dispelled one prejudice, but it still struggles with the eternal one – is the time of radio over? No, it is not, radio is stronger and more listened to today than ever before.
After the appearance of the first formatted radio stations, radio listenership has increased. The number of listeners who listen to the radio daily is increasing, and the public is increasingly using radio as a source of information and entertainment. Research by the European Broadcasting Union over the past five years shows that radio is the most trusted medium, and this trust rate is growing year by year.
Interaction with listeners
Today's audience loves to be involved in media content, and advanced technology makes it possible for them to do so. The younger audience, consisting of high school and college-age listeners, communicates with the radio through "games" and practical research, as well as 24-hour interaction via social networks, which are places for meeting and socializing. Therefore, the connection between the radio station and the listener is greater than ever, and the audience's favorite radio station is becoming a part of life. Communication with the audience is interactive because the medium is used actively and creatively, and the audience is developing from the role of a passive consumer to the role of a user and participant in the creation of media content.
Online streaming has also enabled visual contact between listeners and the radio station. The development of modern technology has advanced the relationship between radio stations and listeners to a completely new level, where their communication takes place via various modern platforms and applications, such as mobile phones, online platforms, social networks, streaming , television, YouTube channels, podcasts , etc. Furthermore, radio stations use all available platforms to deliver news to the audience, in a form that is most useful to them, and such networking has led to the development of new multimedia, which provides the possibility of consuming radio content that was previously available only through a classic FM receiver.
"Hello, did he do that?"
In the past, the audience had to contact the radio station by phone or send them a letter to communicate with them, while today they interact with their favorite radio station in real time – via recorders on applications and WhatsApp and Viber groups, thus creating a close and friendly relationship with their favorite radio station. Various variants of off-air activities are also popular, in which listeners connect with the radio station through various forms of joint actions such as concerts, socially responsible activities, space design and the like.
However, although new technology has made it easier to reach the listener, it also poses a danger due to the emergence of a larger amount of information that moves faster. How to prevent the uncontrolled publication of unverified content and a decline in the quality of the transmitted information? How to convey a message to the listener when he already has all the information available?
More demanding audience
Radio is listened to differently today, but the audience’s expectations have remained the same – listeners want to hear relevant news and real people they can relate to and their stories. Content that is already familiar to the listener must provide a new perspective, add value to the information they have already received, and more than ever before, provide the audience with an answer to a question and a solution to a given problem. Today’s audience wants to participate, believes that solutions exist, and does not want to feel helpless. The new direction involves communicating with a listener who wants to hear news that matters and feels connected and useful within the community.
Radio is better, faster, more accessible today. It is in every pocket and at every step. Because of this, the audience has become more demanding, has higher expectations, but also more choices. And radio follows it. It follows trends and adapts to the new listener. It is creative, innovative and different. Radio connects people and initiates communication. It has always been that way. The only difference is that once the listener communicated with a "box that plays music", while today he has a close relationship with the radio that is his friend, that he trusts, that he confides in, that is always there for him and that will not let him down.
written by: Silvija Londero,
Lecturer at VERN', undergraduate study Journalism
