The radio was once the easiest way to send communication across long distances and is still used a lot. Unfortunately, the radio has been seeing a steady decline for a multitude of different reasons. One reason is with the rise of Bluetooth. In fact, one junior, Miller Banse, had this to say when asked when the last time he used a radio was.

Banse said “I was listening to the radio when I was accidentally using my stereo in my car this morning trying to get my other device to connect to it.”

There were cars made before the innovation that was Bluetooth. The people who own these cars have ways of using Bluetooth even without a Bluetooth connector pre-built into their cars. Senior Brian Sandblom is one of those people.

Sandblom said “I have this thing that plugs into my car’s phone charging space and it lets me play whatever I want on the car’s speakers.”

This thing that he is talking about is called an FM transmitter. It turns your phone’s audio into radio waves and sends them to your car through the radio. So the only thing the radio is being used for is something that could be achieved without a radio. This device is also pretty cheap. It can go for around $10-$25 so it won’t break the bank.

Another problem with radios is that they are expensive. One sophomore, Zander Karnik, has had his fair share of radio troubles.

Karnik said “My radio doesn’t work. So I’d probably say I listened to one two years ago. It broke and I haven’t been able to afford a new one ever since.”

This is completely fair. A new car radio can set you back $1000. That is a lot to pay for something that is outclassed by a phone that you can take anywhere.

Radios themselves are not technically dying in terms of sales, but a type of radio is definitely dying and that is AM signals. AM is dying purely because it is outclassed by FM. AM refers to amplitude and FM refers to frequency. Amplitude is much easier to change than frequency, so AM radio waves are just flat out worse than FM. And the worst part is that most people don’t even know the difference.

Emmett Clarke said “I have absolutely zero clue what the difference between AM and FM is.”

In the end, there is a non-zero chance that in our lifetime no more radios are made and the only people we have to blame for this are ourselves. 

Blake Corbisier said “ All of a sudden that hit song ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ is starting to sound a lot more scary.”