Questioning the Media Chapter 4

1. Describe your earliest memories of listening to radio. Do you remember a favorite song? How old were you? Do you remember the stations call letters?

Why did you listen?

My earliest memoriesof listening to the radio station were when I was in earlier elementary school and in the afternoons when my parents were still at work i had a babysitter. I would hang out in my room and listen to the radio. It was always the country radio station KICKS 103.3. My favorite song, that my dad eventually got me a CD of was Something in Red by Lorrie Morgan. I grew up dancing and so I always imagined that I would one day dance to that song. That was my favorite song till about third grade and then I decided that I didn't for some reason like country music anymore. I still listen to that radio station because it is the local station in Lenoir, and has local news on it, broadcasts some high school sport games.

3. If you

could own and manage a commerical radio station, what format would you choose,and why?

If I could own and manage my own commercial radio station I would choose to use the Oldies format. Only 5.4% of the radio stations played today are oldies music. I never thought that I enjoyed oldies music, but I do love 50's music. I would play this music, because it does not need to get lost in the music that is played today. Some of the music that is played today is similar to oldies music, but it needs to be known and listened to that that music came from something else. Generations of today are growing up and not getting a full feeling of their past. They read in History books, and learn about the history but do not really get a teaching about the music during the history that they are learning about. Music is just as important as people that lived during the past.

5. How might radio be used in improve social and political discussions in the United States?

Radio could be used to improve social and political discussions by being more informational about situations going on. It is common that radio stations broadcast this information but not clearly enough so that citizens understand the full situation before drawing conclusions. I understand that some people think that all citizens do not need to know everything, but they do in order to draw the correct conclusions on either a social or political issue. Even if the issue is simply about education, it needs to made clear about what the situation is talking about, so that not more in brought up to make the issue harder to figure out.