Underrepresented music? Check. Talk shows? Check. Big Ten sports broadcasts? Check. WNUR, Northwestern's student-run campus radio station, has it all. Just not a strong radio department to back it.
RTVF (Radio/Television/Film) majors at Northwestern are part of an innovative program designed to teach them the practice of using media to express their ideas to the world. But although the curriculum provides students with extensive study of film and television, the radio aspect of the program has become defunct over recent years.
Communication senior David Benjamin, General Manager of WNUR, had his first radio show on a community station when he was 14, and he later became the general manager of his high school station. Upon joining WNUR he found that, in lieu of formal radio instruction, the station's community DJs help students learn through experience.
"They're very good, and they've been here for a long time and can teach students a lot about the radio industry," Benjamin says. "They know the history better than many of the staff members because they have been here for decades."
A common misconception is that radio is slowly losing its audience to popular alternative music services like Pandora and Spotify. Traditional newspapers are widely considered a dying form of media and many believe radio will follow that trend, hence a possible reason for RTVF lagging in the R. But it doesn't have to be this way because radio is, in fact, as strong as ever.
Don't abandon the dial just yet
According to the Arbitron Radio Ratings and Media Research Firm, 93 percent of Americans over the age of 12 listen to terrestrial radio at least once per week with most of that listening taking place in vehicles. Those surveyed for Arbitron's "The Road Ahead 2011" stated they spend 62 percent of the time in their cars listening to AM/FM radio.
Considering the fact that the study reports people spending an average of over 16 hours in their cars per week, this averages to over 10 hours of radio listening per person surveyed per week.
Staying power of the sets
Besides being stuck in a car for several hours per day, there are plenty of other reasons people choose to tune in. Paula Hambrick, president of the Chicago media marketing firm Hambrick & Associates, believes radio is the ideal mass media news distribution platform.
She says that a radio station manager she knows found out about the 9/11 tragedy by tuning in to the radio during his morning commute. He was stuck in traffic and noticed the drivers of every nearby car wearing expressions ranging from forcedly stoic to completely hysterical. Upon flipping on the radio he found out about the attacks. "This made him part of the community of everyone else who knew what was going on," she says. "All of these people knew at the same time because of radio."
Another virtue of radio is that it allows for multitasking, says Medill professor and radio journalist Cecilia Vaisman. She believes this is the reason radio won't suffer to the same degree as the ailing newspaper industry.
"I have workers at home painting my daughter's room, and they're listening to the radio all day," Vaisman says. "They can't read news online or in a newspaper while they're working."
Weinberg sophomore Soren Nelson, WNUR's Outreach Chair, says students enjoy radio because they don't have to choose the music. "People like to flip on the radio and hear whatever is playing, and they don't have to think about it or choose what to play," Nelson says.
He believes people appreciate occasionally hearing unusual things to aid in their never-ending quest to discover new music. With the vast amount of music and media at the disposal of tech-savvy students, it's easy to become overwhelmed. For this reason, radio's passive listening experience offers a welcome break from trying to take in the scope of such a media-infused environment.
Beyond the box
Although radio has plenty of inherent staying power, stations are working hard to reach out to their audiences and devise convenient ways to keep up with programming. A significant part of this initiative is expanding streaming through apps and the station's website.
Nelson is also the director for Phoneathon, WNUR's weeklong annual fundraising initiative during which DJs ask listeners for donations and give out premiums to those who support the station. Phoneathon, the main way WNUR supports its operating budget, garnered close to $40,000 last year. Nelson credits its success to the station's loyal listeners not only in the Chicagoland area, but also those who stream it online around the world. Via the station's website, users can listen to archived shows and live radio wherever Internet is available.
With the advent of modern digital technology, streaming radio through websites and apps has become extremely convenient and thus quite popular. (Alternative streaming is not considered terrestrial radio, so Arbitron doesn't count these numbers in their aforementioned statistics.) Benjamin chooses to listen to radio via iPhone apps. He said he looks forward to apps becoming the next big thing for radio.
"Listenership is increasing not just in terms of typical radios, but with other platforms," he says. "It'll continue to grow as we see this digital revolution play out not just for radio but for all forms of media."
Radio apps for smartphones and tablets ensure users the ability to keep listening to the same stations from a more convenient platform. Apps allow terrestrial radio stations to leave the driver's seat and travel with their audience, whether they're on the bus or the treadmill.
Battling the robots
Radio apps level the playing field against terrestrial stations' biggest competition, automated algorithmic music discovery services. Some may believe these services—which include satellite radio, Spotify and Pandora—are the future of music listening. Weinberg junior Dan Sloan, music director for WNUR's Rock Show, doesn't agree. Sloan believes people will continue to seek announcers passionate about the music they play no matter if they listen on traditional radios or stream it through stations' apps.
"Music discovery is a social thing," Sloan says. "I don't think it necessarily means the same thing as the Spotify app on Facebook telling people you listened to an album. That's not so much of a recommendation as it's exhaust fumes."
Sloan said he believes such music discovery services make it harder to find good music as opposed to hearing what actual DJs choose to play. "There's so much out there that it's kind of impossible to hear everything," Sloan said. "Some of it I listen to and love so much that it's nice to share that, and I think people come for that effort."
The goal of much of WNUR's programming, Sloan says, is to bring unique music to the airwaves. Through his experience producing the Rock Show, he has found that people really get into WNUR because of its tendency of sharing quality, unknown music.
Follow it, tweet it, favorite it
To further encourage people to flock to radio stations, the industry is evolving with new technology by pursuing an increased social media presence. Chris Petlak, social media manager at WTMX, works directly in audience interaction. Petlak says the station's goal is to "pinball" listeners from on-air to Facebook to Twitter to its website and back in order to further engage its audience. Since establishing this process, the station has seen a growth in listenership and audience interaction.
"We're able to connect with our audience in a way that never existed before," Petlak says. "We need to be where our listeners are. We're even beginning to have listeners call in and talk about what someone else posted on our wall."
Whereas radio can't become completely integrated with the lives of its listeners, social media can. Stations organize and promote charity events, concerts, coupon deals and other interaction events around their communities. This gives the station influence beyond the dashboard, and influences listeners to tune in because they personally identify with the station's announcers.
Although Petlak credits social media with increasing the station's listenership, Vaisman believes success lies in general mobility.
"Younger audiences are more inclined to mobile devices," she says. "The more radio can adapt itself to the delivery system that mobile devices offer, the better chances it will have to reach younger audiences."
Though some may claim video killed the radio star, the fact of the matter is that radio is only dead if its audience makes it that way and ignores the effort of stations to reach out and remain convenient. In a world that seeks constant news updates and that constantly craves new music, radio is far from being a dead media. If WNUR is any indication, radio will continue to deliver prime content to its audience for decades to come.