Happy World Radio Day, everybody! The United Nations made it an official holiday in 2012. This year’s theme is celebrating over a century of radio helping to inform, entertain, and educate.
All jokes aside, radio really did change the world and still reaches over 80% of Americans every single week.
Here are a few more stats and facts to help celebrate . . .
1. The first commercial radio broadcast was over 100 years ago on November 2nd, 1920. Now there are over 15,000 radio stations in the U.S. alone.
2. A poll a few years ago ranked the radio as the 11th most important invention of all time. The top three vote-getters were electricity, phones, and vaccines.
3. The Model T came out in 1908, but cars didn’t get radios until the 1930s. The first ones cost around $130, which is like $2,300 in today’s money.
4. The call letters for stations in the U.S. have to start with either a “K” or a “W”. It’s a military thing from the 1910s. In general, stations west of the Mississippi start with a “K”. Most stations in Canada start with a “C”.
5. One in five people say listening to the radio is a top “little thing” they look forward to. Hearing your favorite song played ranked fifth on a list of nice things that can happen on any given day.
6. A poll found 9% of people wish we’d play more commercials, which is odd . . . and somewhat insulting.
7. “Broadcasting” was originally a farming term. “Broadcast seeding” is when you scatter seeds in a wider pattern than normal.
8. Around a third of dog owners have used the radio to keep their dog company when they were gone.
9. A recent poll of more than 1,000 radio hosts found the top reason we do this is it’s a whole lot of FUN. Although, 50% also agreed with the statement, “It’s the ONLY thing I know how to do, or it’s what I do best.”
