Impact of new media on traditional radio

Abstract

Radios have been one of the earliest inventions that helped communication at the very beginning of the revolution of communication. In Bangladesh, this media has been used as a very important one to spread urgent messages throughout the country at the time of crisis. With the development of civilization, this has changed and the digital era has arrived. Now, the digital media is dominating all types of traditional media platforms. In Bangladesh, Radio Foorti is one of the biggest and oldest names in the traditional media industry. It has reach from the urban to the rural people. Bangladesh has been the home to several technological advances that includes the radio industry too. From the traditional form to the now digital form, radio in Bangladesh has seen immense growth. The free online live radio has a wide variety of different country and language radio stations. At present, apart from Radio Foorti, some of the most popular and leading radio stations in the country include Dhaka FM, Radio Today, ABC Radio, Radio Shadhin etc. In addition, Bangladesh government has granted many licenses to new radio stations along with almost 60 community radios in 2013. Some of these include Radio Dhoni, Radio Capital, Radio City, Jaago FM etc. The humble old FM radio may not be out of fashion yet. It still possesses the advantage of offering a complete package of music and non-music content with a significant amount of loyalty attributed to the brand personas/RJs. However, there is the persistent threat of modern-day music streaming players ramping up their offerings beyond music, by incorporating talk shows and podcasts. With a significant overlap in target group as well as a huge reach thanks to cheap data,prices there will be an impact on radio. Digital only promises one thing — convenient access. The rest needs to be created in a manner such that it commands huge value and respect from listeners, advertisers and of course shareholders. In addition, with established FM radio brands poised to go online in a big way, it is time for audio streaming apps to put on their serious thinking caps and radio to undertake digital seriously to stay competitive.