100 Years of Radio

Technologicaldevelopmentsinthesecondhalf of the 20th centuryledpeople to predictthedeath oftraditionalmediasuchasnewspapers, radioandtelevision. However, thiscertainlyhasn’thappenedyet,and, ifanything, the Internet revolutionhasonlyreinforcedtheimportancethatweplaceonthesemedia.Radioisanexcellentexample of this. Itisnowpossible to useyourhomecomputer to listen to radiostationsfromallovertheworld. Insomecases, youcanevenlisten to programmesthatyoumayhavemissedwhentheywereoriginallybroadcast.Thingshavedefinitelycome a longwaysinceDecember 1901, whenMarconisentthefirstradiosignalacrosstheAtlanticOcean, fromCornwall to Newfoundland. Untilthen, electroniccommunicationhadbeencarriedoutbymeans of thetelegraph, whichsends a signalalong a cableorwire, butwithMarconi’stransmissiontheage of the ‘wireless’wasborn. ThefirstradiostationsbegantransmittinginEuropeandtheUnited States intheearly 1920s, andwereimmediatelyhugelypopular. Thenextgreatleapforwardcameinthe 1950s, whentransistorsweredeveloped, makingsmall, cheapportableradiosavailable to everyone. Thiscameatthesametimeasanincreasedinterestinpopularmusic, givingradioa uniqueimportanceinourdailylives, a rolethatitstillholdstoday. Infact, atthemoment, thefamousBBC World Service has a weeklyaudience of 188 millionlisteners, andthisisset to rise, asthenumberof languagesthatprogrammesarebroadcastinincreases.

  1. Inthepast, therehadbeenconcernsaboutthefuture of radio.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. The Internet hasmadenewspapersirrelevant to themajority of people.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. Computershavereplacedtraditionalradios.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. Itispossible to listen to a broadcastseveraltimes.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. Marconiwasinvolvedinestablishingthefirstcommercialradiostation.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. Ittookseveralyearsforradio to beacceptedbythepublic.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. Inthe 1950s, everyonebegan to enjoypopularmusic.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext

  1. The BBC broadcaststhe World Service inEnglishonly.

A TrueB FalseC Noinformationinthetext