Happy World Radio Day! It's a Big Deal, We Swear!
Happy World Radio Day, everybody! We swear, it's a thing! The United Nations made it an official holiday in 2012. This year's theme is celebrating over a century of radio helping to inform, entertain, and educate.
All jokes aside, radio really did change the world and still reaches over 80% of Americans every single week.
Here are a few more stats and facts to help celebrate . . .
1. The first commercial radio broadcast was over 100 years ago on November 2nd, 1920. Now there are over 15,000 radio stations in the U.S. alone.
2. A poll a few years ago ranked the radio as the 11th most important invention of all time. The top three vote-getters were electricity, phones, and vaccines.
3. The Model T came out in 1908, but cars didn't get radios until the 1930s. The first ones cost around $130, which is like $2,300 in today's money. (Keeping A.M. radios in cars is another focus of World Radio Day this year.)
4. The call letters for stations in the U.S. have to start with either a "K" or a "W". It's a military thing from the 1910s. In general, stations west of the Mississippi start with a "K". Most stations in Canada start with a "C".
5. One in five people say listening to the radio is a top "little thing" they look forward to. Hearing your favorite song played ranked fifth on a list of nice things that can happen on any given day. (#1 was finding cash. Hard to compete with that.)
6. A poll found 9% of people wish we'd play more commercials, which is odd . . . and somewhat insulting.
7. "Broadcasting" was originally a farming term. "Broadcast seeding" is when you scatter seeds in a wider pattern than normal.
8. Around a third of dog owners have used the radio to keep their dog company when they were gone.
9. A recent poll of more than 1,000 radio hosts found the top reason we do this is it's a whole lot of FUN. Although, 50% also agreed with the statement, "It's the ONLY thing I know how to do, or it's what I do best."
Originally posted on February 13th, 2024