Invention of Radio - View from the Early 1920
Essay by Nicolas • June 25, 2011 • Essay • 687 Words (3 Pages) • 1,825 Views
Imagine a view from the early 1920? s; a family huddled together in front of the radio. The children are excitedly waiting for the familiar sounds of The Lone Ranger. Eighty years ago this was the image most Americans conjure in their minds when they pictured the early days of radio. Today radio has changed dramatically; the word radio no longer can describe the genera's housed under it. We have music radio, with pop, rock, country, hip-hop, r&b and jazz. Separate from music radio is talk radio, which encompassed home and garden tips, health information, and most often, conservative opinion talk radio programs. In this assignment I will compare two talk radio shows, "This American Life" and the Rush Limbaugh show.
There are a couple major differences that exist between Sean Hannity show which is a commercial talk radio show and "This American Life" which broadcast on national public radio. The first is definitely the way in which the information is delivered. On "This American Life" program, there is really no interaction between listeners and the newscaster. Everything is one sided, as the news is fed to the audience, and they are not given the chance to respond. On the other hand, the Sean Hannity talk radio show encourages listeners to call up the station and voice their opinions. The callers for his show are mostly Republicans that voice their opinions about how the country is being run by Barack Oboma. The pace of the Sean Hannity show is sometimes fast paced and you must listen so you don't get lost in the vast amount of information he is telling you. This communication between talk show host and listeners always results in a much more interesting and entertaining show."This American Life" has its broadcast of a particular topic cut into three different acts. The episode I listened to was called "Scenes from a Recession", this episode was about "the unusual circumstances our economic drought has left us in, and the newly hatched plans being made to survive it: including a partially-renovated loft". The pace of the show was a nice steady pace where you can understand and follow all the information being fed to you. The second distinction between the Sean Hannity show and "This American Life" is that one can expect to be told the facts and nothing more. While in the case of Sean Hannity show, a discussion is often triggered by a known factual piece of information, but it is almost always accompanied by the opinionated input of the host concerning the matter at hand. The latter is, of course, the major draw that appeals to audiences' more so than merely listening to the news. Interactivity between the host and a caller plays a major role in contributing to the overall entertainment value of the show.
The Sean Hannity show has a wide range of topics, like today he was talking about how women get ridiculous surgeries like "Brazilian
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