Radio Programming: Both and Art and a Science Ideally, radio programming should be more of an art than a science. It should be about what people want to hear and what the disc jockeys want to play. Station managers should strive to create quality programs, similar to like they did in the old days, before television was around.Radio is used much differently today than it was in the past. When it was first invented, families used to gather around the radio and listen to programs, similar to how families today watch television programs. Most of the programs on the radio did not feature music, like most do today. Today, radio is mostly turned on to hear news and news information. Personally, I only listen to radio in my car and I have to change the channel frequently because of all the commercials that are played. With the digital revolution and the invention of compact discs and mp3s that are played on the computer, people have less of a use for radio. They can control the songs they hear by playing in a CD player or on their computer. This is personally what I prefer to do.These days it seems like radio programming is more of a science than an art. Program managers find out what a select group of people like, and most of the time it is not very accurate. The way that radio stations get feedback is not very accurate or well-done. They then buy blocks and strips of programming and try to make as much money as they can. They do not play necessarily what the listeners like, but the same songs over and over again day after day. Disc jockeys are tightly controlled and have certain things they are and arent allowed to do. Promotions and contests are done all the time to try and draw in listeners and add to the listener base. If a station does not like the demographic they are reaching, they will forget about their listeners and change their format to make more money. Its sad to say, but the bottom line these days in the radi...
