The radio – pure entertainment or part of your life?

When I was a kid I remember my grandpa turning on the radio every morning and listening to the weather forecast, news and sports and not a day went by without him doing this. Living in a post communism country, the access to radio and television was limited for a long time. My parents told me how when the access to information was forbidden due to the regime, they secretly listened to Free Europe Radio (Radio Europa Libera) and this was one of the biggest adventures that time. And the biggest savior. It was a window to the free world, a world they could only imagine about in that period.

In the communism also the access to music was limited. The only artists promoted were those approved by the leaders, foreign artists and especially Western – influenced music were not accepted. Luckily there were the sailors, including my father as I know these stories from him, who each time they arrived in a port with their vessels, connected to local radios and recorded music on cassettes. It was one of the most precious gifts at that time. It was illegal, but again, a gate to the free world.

The years passed and things changed, with democracy, more and more radio stations began to appear and now, in the digital era, radios broadcast through several platforms, on some of them also accompanied by video, Youtube, Twich, Websites, even continuously on MixCloud. Lots of them are live on Youtube such as A State Of Trance, Anjunabeats, RazNitzan etc.

Many may not realize it, but radio is everywhere around you and today is no longer used only for news and music, but also as a form of personal development. There are various cultural shows, podcasts, debates. Likewise, radio can be a good psychologist. Funny or not, a lot of people are taking their energy dose every morning in traffic or coffee listening to their favorite shows. Some of them turn the radio on when they work, study, gathering with their friends or before going to bed. And these are facts.

At Trance-Energy Radio we often receive messages from the listeners which tell us how much the radio helped them passing a hard time, or a stressful period at work or school, passing an exam or accompanied them when they just felt lonely. They often thank us for being there for them everyday and offering support through music we broadcast. This makes us feel that we are part of their lives, changing their mood and vibes. We are thankful for these life stories they share with us as somehow we feel close to each of them.

Personally, when I schedule music for the radio I often smile and remember a mail of a listener telling how much he loves uplifting trance or vocal trance and I think well, our friend, hope you will enjoy these tracks. One of the biggest satisfactions that keeps you going is this feedback from them.

A very important role that radio plays is also to influence musical tastes and trends in a certain genre. Promoting quality and only good music, the listener learns to refine his taste, to be more pretentious and exigent and so, the artists are also somewhat pushed to improve their performance and quality to satisfy their listeners. They grow up along with their listeners who become their fans. We sometimes receive messages in which they highlight several inconsistencies, from the quality of sound or music played by their favorite artist to a missing show or ask questions about various changes that have occurred. Here the radio intervenes as a mediator between the artist and the listener, all the messages go to them as no request remains unanswered and no issue remains unsolved.

On the promotion side, the options are almost unlimited. From ads, job postings, locations, the radio becomes a trend setter even here. From experience I can say that radio ads generate more feedback than interned ads as the number of daily listeners is steadily increasing. At Trance-Energy Radio we don`t have this part but we promote artists and we have cases when we have been with them since they were hardly known, and now they are some of the most appreciated, we may dare to say in the world. We have beautiful projects in which we promote their creations and new releases and this helps them, also the listeners to have access to everything that is new.

All in all, the radio is with you in so many ways, it`s that friend you don`t realize you have, but who is part of your life every day. 

13rd February was proclaimed as the World Radio Day in 2011 by the Member States of UNESCO, and adopted by United Nations General Assembly in 2012.

At the global level, radio remains the most widely consumed medium. It is the oldest and most widespread mass media as we know them today. The radio brought the news, the music and the performing arts to the workers, to the housewives and to all the other citizens in ways that had never seen before.

It was the radio that moved us from a world where we were getting the news the day after or at minimum a few hours later, to a situation where they could announce the news within hours or even minutes from the events, and you could receive those news anywhere as long as you had a radio device.

This unique ability to reach out the widest audience means radio can shape a society’s experience of diversity, stand as an arena for all voices to speak out, be represented and heard. Radio stations should serve diverse communities, offering a wide variety of programs, viewpoints and content, and reflect the diversity of audiences in their organizations and operations.

Radio continues to be one of the most trusted and used media in the world, according to different international reports. The theme of the 2022 edition of World Radio Day is thus devoted to “Radio and Trust”.

With the digital era, the radio had a big increase around the world, the resources involved in creating a radio station being minimum and there are many providers that offer the radio service, without having too much technical knowledge.

From the “traditional” FM and AM waves, radio switched a lot into OnLine medium and also DAB. This access to more ways of broadcast lead to an explosion of radio stations born, giving to any listener an unlimited choice of options what to listen, follow and how to be updated all the time and anywhere.

This democratization of the radio that is most visible with podcasts and independent radio stations, where anyone can create content targeted to a specific audience without the costs of broadcasting in the traditional way, without the restrictions and the limitations of traditional media, is what keeps radio alive and impulses it into the future.

In an era where the big broadcasting corporations and economic and political interests are intertwined, radio allows for a space where both the people who have something to say and the people who want to hear can meet, and share a thought that may fall out of the mainstream agenda, and this also applies to music.

All the podcasts and online radios in the world have given us a space to share our favourite music without needing to have advertisements or commercial breaks. They’ve allowed for small DJs without a label to start an empire and for amateur musicians to share their art even when a traditional medium wouldn’t dare.

Thanks to that economic independence, these independent broadcasters can build trust with the listeners, building a community in times when society is more fragmented than ever.

Radio brings us together, connects us in times where we are all connected but in our own bubble. it gives us a window to a reality that may be far away -in distance or conceptually- and at the same time it provides a safe space for us to immerse ourselves into it with our minds. It is through the radio that we can access content that is being neglected by the other media and it is through radio that we can keep many of our favorite things alive and going. And that is definitely something we should celebrate every day.

Written by: Lori Monique, Pepo and Luciano Medica Catalan