Technology: how it has affected the radio industry

Technology change has had a very significant impact on the radio industry as a whole. It is the biggest factor that has taken radio from the simple clicks of the telegraph machine to being able to listen to any radio station all over the world via internet. Technological change is constantly shaping how the idea of radio effects people. In general, new technology works by increasing the ways people are able to listen to the radio. In the early 50's the new technology of FM channels completely revolutionized how people could listen to programs. Music came out clearer and people farther away from broadcast stations could listen in to what was going on in the world. These technologies opened radio to a whole new audience of listeners, creating new demands and more reasons to keep innovating the industry. More recently the development of internet radio has taken a somewhat faded industry and re-invigorated it by letting people listen to their favorite stations all across the world.
In the 1920's, with the increase of the popularity of the radio, more and more stations were being created and thus the radio act of 1927 was passed. This created the ability for the government to allocate frequencies to companies who would support ideas that the government saw fit for society. This was a direct effect of the fact that technology was becoming too easily accessible and so almost anyone could broadcast what they wanted through the radio waves. The government saw this as a problem and needed a way to control this new transfer of information. Overall, new technology has completely changed the industry of radio in almost every decade and its sure to not go away now.