Chapter 4

With the invention of the radio came the issue of regulating it. The Radio Act of 1912 required everyone who wanted to broadcast on the radio to have a license. Personally I think that making people who are going to be on radio have a license is a very smart thing to implement. Especially since having so many people in the radio would stop people from getting emergency notices to people who need to get them. Also I don't really think that people should be able to say whatever they want to say. I guess I came from a more sheltered household, but having a younger niece I would never want her to hear any of those words. I know that kids will hear them any way from their peers and what not, but they should not hear them in a way that makes it alright to say them.

When the radio became portable it reinvented what people thought media could do. Being able to take the radio almost anywhere what something people of the 1960s had never experienced. These days it is routine to have many portable devices with us. Right now I have my iPod, my cell phone, and my laptop. It makes me wonder what's to come. Will one day all of these things be one? We are well on our way already. Smart phones play music and let you surf the web while still allowing you to make calls. Making radios portable was just the tip of the iceberg. 

As talked about in a previous post I am a huge consumer of internet radio. The idea that we are able to listen to radio on the internet for free and are able to choose what we listen to is, I think, one of the greatest ideas ever. As I write this I am listening to Pandora. Having free internet radio stations allows me to be exposed to music I would not hear other wise. Also if I had money for a satellite radio, and my car was equip for it (not sure '97 could take it) I would buy one. And more and more lately I have been wishing I could talk my internet radio with me other places, not just in the car, but on my iPod. I know that devices to offer this and maybe I am just to poor and low tech to have those things. But even having the radio online and been a nice luxury.