How does radio influence Americans?

Answer 1

If you are asking about today, radio is far less influential now than it was when it debuted in 1920. Back then, in the early 1920s, radio was the first mass medium to take the audience to an event live, in real time, and let the public hear the voices of news-makers: athletes, celebrities, politicians, clergy, etc. This had never happened before-- prior to radio, if you wanted to hear a famous person speak, you had to go to one of their events (assuming you could afford it, and assuming the event wasn't segregated). But thanks to radio, the events came to you, and this made more news, sports, and entertainment available to a wider audience.

Today, there are many ways to enjoy entertainment or keep up with sports and politics. There is television (which lets us see the event, as well as hear it) and the internet (which gives us access to people and events all over the world). But radio is not dead. Radio still influences Americans because it is the home of Talk Shows, which are still very popular among older Americans (the typical talk show listener is over 50, white, and conservative; 95% of talk shows are hosted by Republican and conservative hosts as a result); radio is also the home of a number of all-news stations and also the home of National Public Radio: most news stations tend to be neutral (non-partisan) and provide in-depth coverage to local and world events, helping the public to know what is going on throughout the day. Radio is also still the home of the top-40 format, where large numbers of kids, teens, and young adults still can hear their favorite songs and then download them to their devices; radio continues to influence musical preferences, playing the hits and playing new music to specific audiences that like country, or rock, or dance, or other kinds of music. And radio is also popular with ethnic and foreign language audiences, as well as with people who like to listen to sports while they are driving. In fact, car-radio listening is still extremely popular. So, radio can influence a person in many ways, affecting their political views, musical views, views about the news, and views about sports.