Date

5-8-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to predict the future of the radio industry by evaluating its origins and current status in society. The invention of radio served a significant importance as to how we communicate on a daily basis, and it still lives on today. The broadcasting system is currently used to communicate to thousands of people at once, but that wasn’t the case during its initiation. The “Founding Fathers” of radio such as Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla, Lee Deforest and Edward Howard Armstrong allowed us to communicate with others over radio waves. I have examined the history of radio and how it came about to be.

Through scholarly articles as well as statistics from the Pew Research Center, a thorough analysis has been made as to what the future holds for radio. From what I’ve examined thus far, radio will be here to stay for the foreseeable future. Currently, 90% of Americans ages 12+ listen to the radio on a weekly basis, down only 3 percent from 2011 (Audio and Podcasting Fact Sheet, 2018). And yet despite the growing smartphone usage and the easy-to-use music streaming service applications, it’s not stopping Americans from listening to the radio. To get an even better understanding of what the future holds for radio, I surveyed fifty of my Bridgewater State University peers. The vast majority of people that were surveyed grew up in the digital age. Their opinions are crucial to my final conclusion.

Department

Communication Studies

Thesis Comittee

Prof. Joshua Moulding, Thesis Advisor

Dr. Jabbar Al-Obaidi, Committee Member

Dr. Hui Zhang, Committee Member

Copyright and Permissions

Original document was submitted as an Honors Program requirement. Copyright is held by the author.

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