Roughly one million years ago, the control of fire allowed archaic humans to socialize around flame and exchange their stories. Not too different from these ancestors, in the Golden Age of Radio, families of the 1930s and ‘40s gathered around a radio to listen in to music and shows. Now, the modern listener needs nothing but a phone for this same entertainment, but the cell phone has also created an isolated experience rather than a communal one.

Just as humans evolved their forms of storytelling and entertainment, radio has also changed with the times. The development of streaming services and auxiliary cords in cars have pushed the need for live radio to extinction. Still, radio serves its purpose by drawing communities together. 

“Radio is one of those things in life that I think is a very human experience. Truthfully, we don’t have much nowadays that really builds a sense of local community anymore. Radio shows help to build that by creating this unique environment where you and maybe a hundred other people are listening to the exact same thing, from the exact same place, with the exact same mindset,” explained Rayat Karim, a WNPV radio host and North Penn High School senior. 

In 2020, WNPV, Lansdale’s local radio station, announced a shut down due to a lack of finances and audience. After a school board vote, North Penn School District bought the radio station property and received the FM frequency. Mr. Bob Gillmer, North Penn’s Coordinator of Communications Media found an opportunity to add to the media and broadcast program by reviving the station. In 2022, Maria Pushart, a then North Penn High School student, had the mission of aiding the station back to life. After persistently asking Gillmer, she became the first radio host of the new version of WNPV. 

“I was told that a lot of people in the community were sad when WNPV went off air, so I was happy to bring it back and let them enjoy it again,” Pushart explained. 

“There’s this sense of attachment to where you are. I know I discovered so many songs when I was younger…through the radio. And if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have as much of a sentimental value with them,” Karim explained further. 

Though listeners now have new ways of streaming music through smart devices, Sean Caldwell,  a local music blogger who is no stranger to interviews with music artists and the radio industry itself, sees the value in our more modern means of listening to “radio,” but also appreciates what we lose when we plug in rather than tune in. 

“The virtual compendium of material that Spotify and podcast channels tap into and algorithmically fashion to suit specific listeners is going to have an edge over live radio, whose contents and commercial airtime won’t appeal to every individual,” Caldwell said. “Radio is an immediate thoroughfare to news, local announcements, traffic reports, weather, etc. Obviously, these items and conditions can be easily looked up and checked on your mobile device, but that option is not always readily available, especially if you’re behind the wheel mid-commute. Every car is still equipped with a radio for a reason,”  Caldwell added. 

“As shared tastes have always been a means with which the populace can form bonds, I would say that, historically, music has had substantial impact on connection and the formation of scenes and fan culture. From these radio-bred communities, we’ve seen music festivals and concerts sponsored by radio stations, as well as food drives and public assembly,” Caldwell explained. 

 Caldwell noted that a current example of this is Preston & Steve’s Camp Out For Hunger, which aligns with Philabundance to help feed hungry or homeless people. Caldwell notes that this is an annual event and participation is historically substantial.

Still, despite these connections, it isn’t difficult to observe that not many, especially in younger demographics, get their music through the radio. However, Gillmer believes that this doesn’t necessarily mean radio is dying. On the contrary, it actually might make local radio more relevant than ever. 

“The things that you hear that are automated are the national shows. There are no people; people recorded somewhere, and they’re like ‘This is coming up on BEN-FM,’ and that’s all they’re doing. I don’t know the weather, I don’t know the traffic. For all of those little things that are local, the local radio is strongest. That’s where the value comes in,” Gillmer explained.

Gillmer also feels that, even though the vehicle for music is changing, radio programming doesn’t go away. Almost anything you listen to, from music to podcasts to sports, is radio.

“A lot of people are just connecting their phone in the car to listen for sound in the car. If you take that and you say ‘radio is dead, nobody’s listening to the radio,’ I see it. It’s definitely affecting radio. But, if you’re into news, you have KYW and you’re listening to that. If you love sports talk that’s live, that’s on the radio. Can I get it on my phone too? Sure, but they’re programming it as radio that’s available on your phone,” Gillmer said.

“The mindset is, this is not 1932 anymore. We’re not getting around a radio, tuning it in and listening to dramas. But, the primary source of where you’re listening to the radio is in your car. I still believe any live content is being programmed like it’s radio. You may aux-port it, bluetooth it, and the way it’s getting to your car may be over the internet and your cell phone, but you’re listening to radio programming. I do not believe terrestrial, over-the-air radio goes away,” Gillmer commented. 

Still, one of the things that makes radio different from streaming services is the host. 

“If you want to just listen to music, go to Spotify. But if you want to listen to [a host] DJing a show…it’s going back to connecting with your host and enjoying the show, and not knowing what you’re going to get, but enjoying what is presented to you,” Gillmer said. 

“Humans are very social animals, we’re built off social connection. The biggest thing for a radio host to be successful is to really make that connection with people, and the only way to do that is putting yourself out there,” Karim added.

In 2023, Spotify debuted its very own artificially intelligent DJ, which generates a personalized mix with narration from an AI host. With options like this, it raises questions about the relevance of live radio hosts.

“With anything AI generated it can get very real and be very effective. I still think there’s value in real speaking and in real content from people who have an opinion about something. AI can fill those things…, [but] you know when you see AI generated stuff; it just doesn’t have the same texture to it that a real person has, including mistakes and stumbles, and that tells me there’s a person here I’m connecting with,” Gillmer commented.

“There are lots of radio stations in the Philadelphia Market that are automated when there’s not actual live DJs. I prefer to have a person, and a person with a personality. I get to know that personality and I like what they have to say. If it’s a DJ, it’s like, ‘This guy knows music. Really appreciate him, he knows his job. He picks good music.’ If you’re listening to an automated station, you’re never thinking in that hour you just listened to, ‘What a good pick, what a good mix.’ A song that you like may pop up, but you never talk about it like, ‘That was a good show,’” added Gillmer. 

The value of a quality, local radio station has the potential to bring communities together in a way that the individual experience of streaming services, in spite of their convenience, cannot come close to. While we no longer gather around in a campfire fashion, radio, even in its ever-changing form, still has the ability to make lasting impacts on communities.