# Radio

Radio is the wireless transmission of electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere or free space.

## Quotes

* Listening to a foreign radio station is something that declines when local media become freer and provide what local people most want to hear. According to BBC audience research, in most cases the BBC achieved large audiences (20% and more) only where the choice of local services was limited to 5 or fewer stations. As choice grows, BBC audiences fall.
** BBC, Audience research at the BBC World Service 1932-2010, Participation, Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 2011, p. 95; as qtd in UNESCO, “Statistics on Radio”, (Feb 13, 2013).
* First radio, then television, have assaulted and overturned the privacy of the home, the real American privacy, which permitted the development of a higher and more independent life within democratic society.
** Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: 1988), p. 58
* Radio has contributed to our ‘growing lack of attention.’ .?.?. This sort of hopscotching existence makes it almost impossible for people, myself included, to sit down and get into a novel again. We have become a short story reading people, or, worse than that, a QUICK reading people
** Ray Bradbury, 1951 letter to Richard Matheson, as quoted in "Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 Misinterpreted", Amy E. Boyle Johnston, LA Weekly, Wednesday, May 30, 2007.
* The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, decided all by itself that radio and television were the only two parts of American life not protected by the free speech provisions of the first amendment to the Constitution. I'd like to repeat that, because it sounds... vaguely important! The FCC—an appointed body, not elected, answerable only to the president—decided on its own that radio and television were the only two parts of American life not protected by the first amendment to the Constitution. Why did they decide that? Because they got a letter from a minister in Mississippi! A Reverend Donald Wildman in Mississippi heard something on the radio that he didn't like. Well, Reverend, did anyone ever tell you there are two KNOBS on the radio? Two. Knobs. On the radio. Of course, I'm sure the reverend isn't that comfortable with anything that has two knobs on it... But hey, reverend, there are two knobs on the radio! One of them turns the radio OFF, and the other one [slaps his head] CHANGES THE STATION! Imagine that, reverend, you can actually change the station! It's called freedom of choice, and it's one of the principles this country was founded upon. Look it up in the library, reverend, if you have any of them left when you've finished burning all the books.
** George Carlin, What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)
* In 11 countries surveyed across Africa, local commercial radio grew by an average of 360 percent between 2000 and 2006, whereas community radio grew by a striking 1,386 percent, on average, over the same period.
** "The Growing Pains of Community Radio in Africa" (Peter da Costa), Glocal Times, The Communication for Development Journal, 2012, No 17/18, p.4; as qtd in UNESCO, “Statistics on Radio”, (Feb 13, 2013).
* For many people in the future, radio will take the place of an inner life.
** Georges Duhamel, In Defense of Letters (1937), E. Bozman, trans. (1939), p. 35
* Beware of the radio if you want to improve your mind.
** Georges Duhamel, In Defense of Letters (1937), E. Bozman, trans. (1939), p. 42
* Books are the friends of solitude. They develop individuality and freedom. In solitary reading a man who is seeking himself has some chance of finding himself. … Radio, on the other hand, is now the chief agent of imperialism. It does not purify the spirit of man, does not, like the book, bring him back to the sanctuary of solitude, but throws him to the lions, subtly preparing his mind for the blood and chains of public sacrifice.
** Georges Duhamel, In Defense of Letters (1937), E. Bozman, trans. (1939), p. 42
* Radios are everywhere, with at least 75% of households in developing countries having access to a radio.
** EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2012, p.248; as qtd in 'Unesco, “Statistics on Radio”, (Feb 13, 2013).
* The Brazilian radio market is the second largest in the Americas, being one step behind the United States. According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) of 2009, radios are present in 88% of homes, 80% of cars in circulation, and in 36% of mobile telephones.
** Carlos Eduardo Esch and Nélia del Bianco, Digital radio in Brazil: analysis of an unfinished debate, Radio evolution: conference proceedings, University of Minho, Communication and Society Research Centre, 2012, p. 142
* The most significant meaning of freedom of the radio is the right of the American people to listen to this great medium of communications free from any governmental dictation as to what they can or cannot hear and free alike from similar restraints by private licensees.
** Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees, Report of the Commission, 13 F.C.C.1246, 1257, 1 20 (1949); as quoted by R. Trevor Hall & James C. Phillips, “THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE IN LIGHT OF HOSTILE MEDIA PERCEPTION”, COMMLAW CONSPECTUS, Vol.19, p.400
* The basic principles of the Fairness Doctrine date back to the 1940s and the Mayflower Doctrine, but its fundamental principles trace back to the formative years of the FCC itself. Congress created the FCC and its predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission ("FRC"), in response to an untenable situation created by the explosion of innovative radio enthusiasts and the electromagnetic cacophony that followed. With the regulation of radio also came the responsibility of determining who received a license and who did not. Consequently, licensing regulation created a situation where the majority of Americans were prohibited from broadcasting their voices at the expense of the few who retained exclusive rights to the same. Hence, fairness was a primary pre-occupation of the Commission from its inception, and was linked to the pursuit of the public interest. In the late 1920s, the FRC stated: It would not be fair, indeed it would not be good service to the public to allow a one sided presentation of the political issues of a campaign. In so far as a program consists of discussion of public questions, public interest requires ample play for the free and fair competition of opposing views, and the commission believes that the principle applies not only to addresses by political candidates but to all discussions of issues of importance to the public.
** R. Trevor Hall & James C. Phillips, “THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE IN LIGHT OF HOSTILE MEDIA PERCEPTION”, COMMLAW CONSPECTUS, Vol.19, p.399; quoting Application of Great Lakes Broadcasting Co., FRC Docket 4900, 3 F.R.C. Ann.Rep. 32 (1929)
* White finds “striking parallels” as he explores the way law’s history was brought to bear on the question of the regulation of radio. Faced with an evolving and developing First Amendment jurisprudence, courts nonetheless had little trouble, White argues, upholding the Radio Act of 1927, through which the Congress asserted government ownership of the airwaves. They focused on radio’s potential to reach vast audiences as well as the scarcity of radio frequencies. They drew an analogy to film and claimed that, like the former, radio was intrusive and pervasive in its reach. Yet today, somewhat paradoxically, the latter is subject to a far more restrictive regulatory regime than the former, though today new analogies and new precedent prevail. Film and radio are now regarded not simply as property; the new analogical structure provides greater First Amendment protection by treating them as like the print media.
** Thomas R. Kearns (August 2002). History, Memory, and the Law. University of Michigan Press. p.23
* It is impossible to understand the American public without taking into account the tremendous psychological effect of bringing up a generation of people in a daily environment of advertising. It is impossible to escape the advertising man; his sales talk assaults us in the morning newspaper, in the street car, with billboards along the highways, and in his shameless use of the radio. This means that from morning till night, in the midst of our work as in our recreation, we live constantly in an atmosphere of intellectual shoddiness. Every popular prejudice and vulgar conceit is played upon and pandered to in the interests of salesmanship. Everywhere material interests and herd opinion are strengthened to the loss of personal independence. The tendency is to think and speak for effect rather than out of one's inner life. There is a marked decline the ability to play with ideas, or to live the spiritual life for its own sake. Hence a decline in civilization of interest, humor and urbanity. Advertising tends to make mechanized barbarians of us all.
** Everett Dean Martin, The Conflict of the Individual and the Mass in the Modern World (1932), pp. 29-30
* All this, I said, just as today was the case with the beginnings of wireless, would be of no more service to man than as an escape from himself and his true aims, and a means of surrounding himself with an ever closer mesh of distractions and useless activities.
** Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf, B. Creighton, trans., (New York: 1990), pp. 103-104
* Of the untold values of the radio, one is the great intimacy it has brought among our people. Through its mysterious channels we come to wider acquaintance with surroundings and men.
** Herbert Hoover, Radio Address to the Nation on Peace Efforts and Arms Reduction. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207403
* By the 1930s the radio was becoming a staple in many American homes. For the first time, citizens did not have to wait until the evening paper to get the latest news -- radios brought breaking news right into people's living rooms. The airwaves carried talk about jobs and the economy during the Great Depression, but Americans also heard news about incredible advances in science and technology, celebrities of aviation exploration, and political changes afoot in Europe.
** “Breaking News of the 1930s”, American Experience, PBS.
* For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall
    Concert hall
    And echoes with the sound of salesmen.
   * Rush, "The Spirit of Radio"
* Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.
** Nikola Tesla, On patent controversies regarding the invention of Radio and other things, as quoted in "A Visit to Nikola Tesla" by Dragislav L. Petković in Politika (April 1927); as quoted in Tesla, Master of Lightning (1999) by Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, p. 73 ISBN 0760710058 ; also in Tesla: Man Out of Time (2001) by Margaret Cheney, p. 230 ISBN 0743215362 .
* The total number of community radio stations in Latin America are around 10,000, with Peru having the largest proportion and Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil in second, third, and fourth place. If unlicensed stations are also taken into account, the overall numbers are much higher. Recent surveys by UNESCO, for example, show there are more than 10,000 community radio stations still waiting for licenses in Brazil alone.
** "Voices from Villages: Community Radio in the Developing World". CIMA, 2011, p. 9; as qtd in UNESCO, “Statistics on Radio”, (Feb 13, 2013).
* In Southeast Asia, Thailand tops the region’s charts with about 5,000 community stations–most of them operating without licenses. In populous Indonesia, community radio has also taken off rapidly, but the number of stations is in the hundreds rather than thousands. The Philippines counts more than 55 community radio stations independent of government and commercial interests operating outside the cities and using low powered transmitters.
** "Voices from Villages: Community Radio in the Developing World". CIMA, 2011, p. 10; as qtd in UNESCO, “Statistics on Radio”, (Feb 13, 2013).
* In science fiction novels, the main thing was radio. With it, happiness of mankind was expected. Here is radio now, but there is no happiness.
** Ilya Ilf, From notebooks (1925-1937). (Илья Ильф. Из записных книжек. — Ленинград: «Художник РСФСР», 1966.)
* Radio destroyed distance and connected all the ships and all the cities of the earth with an invisible but strong link. Then it embraced trains, automobiles and airplanes… Then it entered homes. It entered as a teacher, a friend, a reference book, a newspaper and a musical instrument. Now it brings cinema into homes, and soon it will be able to break out of the globe, and create thousands of things that we cannot even foresee.
** Sergey Kolbasyev, Radiobook ( Колбасьев С. Радиокнижка. — М.-Л.:«Молодая гвардия», 1933)
* Didn't wireless start out to be just a way to beat the cable monopoly? Then some guy started playing dance records on a ham sender, and look at radio now — it's made the country into one big vaudeville house. You engineers and inventors never learn. You can give the public any damn gadget you want, but sooner or later the public is going to find a way to use it to have some fun.
** Mitchell Wilson, My Brother, My Enemy, 1952
* Radio is much more than television without vision. Incomprehensible, but it is so.
** Radio — znacznie więcej niż telewizja bez wizji. Niezrozumiałe, ale tak jest.
** Mgr. Kawusia (Myśli ludzi wielkich, średnich oraz psa Fafika, Przekrój, #973, P. 8)
* When in the dead of night only one window dimly lit up the huge house, we could unmistakably say that there, nestled in the corner near his homemade devices, having arranged the lamp so that the light would not disturb the sleeping household, a radio amateur was performing his sacred rites. And indeed, there was something to be carried away by, it was worth giving up sleep for such an exciting activity. Imagine. In a plywood structure, stuffed with lamps and wires, a radio wave is born at your will. Here it runs along the wire to the roof, there it breaks off and with incomprehensible speed, piercing the clouds, rushes into the stratosphere to the reflective layer. There, at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers, the wave, created by your hand just a fraction of a second ago, changes direction, returns to the ground at a certain angle, is reflected again and again goes up, encircling the globe in giant leaps. Who will hear it and answer? Most likely, a similarly suffering enthusiast from the neighboring block. But the antipode can also respond with the same probability. True, it was rare to establish contact with the antipode. But still, it was possible. Isn't it worth sitting past midnight in front of the radio for this? After all, a person waits his whole life for happiness. And it can be, but it can also pass by. The whole meaning of life, perhaps, is in active attempts to achieve, and sometimes in patient waiting.
** Ernst Krenkel, The Birth of the Short Wave (Кренкель Э. Т. Рождение короткой волны: Очерк // На суше и на море, 1970, № 10)
* Radio is a wonderful invention! One movement of the hand, and nothing is heard.
** Radio to cudowny wynalazek! Jeden ruch ręki - i nic nie słychać.
** Julian Tuwim (Cytaty. Julian Tuwim)
* I only had the radio for a short time before I heard Elvis; it was a game changer for me... It's hard to say whether or not I would have done what I do now if it hadn't been for the transistor radio…I really loved it, it was my favorite gadget… I think it was why rock 'n roll got so big.
** Roger McGuinn (Regency TR-1. Did You Know...)
* The landlord went into the house and returned with a small object, like a cigar box. The inevitable skeleton was burned in the lid. “You want to try it? It works as well as a regular receiver with valves.” He quickly arranged the leads and the earphones, and put a plug into a jack built under the table. It costs three marks seventy-five pfennigs, without earphones, of course.” He offered the earphones to Khlinov. “You can listen to Berlin, Hamburg, and Paris, if you like. I’ll tune you in to Cologne Cathedral, there’s a service on there now, you’ll hear the organ. Kolossal!”
** Aleksey Tolstoy, The Garin Death Ray, 1927

## See also

* Radio wave
* Television