A case for radio

Over the winter of 2017, I’ve gotten back into radio. Not just terrestrial broadcasts, I get some of my radio streamed over the internet. Otherwise I'd miss BBC’s Radio 4 in Canada.

I grew up on radio. But this is not a nostalgia-driven idea. This is a case for the format of radio; now, in the age of on-demand media.

So, by radio I mean broadcasted audio programming that I can’t pause, rewind, or skip forward. When I switch it on (when I “tune in”), what I start hearing is exactly what’s being broadcast at that very moment. If I leave and come back, I’ve missed that part. No backsies 🙅🏽

I had stopped listening to radio regularly early in university. When I moved into my dorm, I didn’t have a radio anymore. But I did have a first-generation iPhone. It was around 2009 that I discovered the nascent podcast format. And how I could get my favourite programs in podcast form.

The BBC had started publishing scads of their programs as podcasts. Podcasts were ready to be played at my convenience, right from my iPhone. Very helpful for my mindset at the time, when I wanted to squeeze a lot into as little time as possible. Listening to only what I wanted was important.

I see new value in radio now. Radio helps me break the filter-bubble. Radio is easier.

Bursting the bubble

Before my quest to cut out the extraneous, I would read more than one source of information. Eventually it became more effort and time than I was willing to put in.

Then came 2016 and 2017 to show me what happens when we live in an echo chamber.

A few months ago I had an unexpectedly strong emotional reaction when a friend questioned my support of a particular perspective. I guess I had become comfortable with being around people who mostly operated in an echo chamber.

The brief radio news segments at the top of the hour lets me absorb ideas without my selecting for the ones I want.

Easier

Radio frees my mind from having to choose. When I cook or while I clean, I can just tune in and be amazed.

The other day I heard about a play called My Mum’s a Twat, a comedy about a girl losing her mum to a cult. And a catchy tune by Son of Dave (also, Benjamin), a Canadian musician now living in London. Also this rhyme from a children’s show:

Two little cater-pillars

Wriggling on a branch

One named Betty

One named Blanche

I miss Stuart McLean. The Vinyl Cafe was the first CBC program I loved.

So, choose a good radio station. Or choose two. Choose them for any reason; maybe they do good journalism, maybe they play music you like. But hopefully they help broaden your mind.