The Need for FM Radio
FM radio was born out of a need to produce music with high definition and greater clarity, and this required a greater number of radio frequencies to be able to listen to them live-to-air.
Just like the old LP music albums that have been superseded by CD’s that can be played in stereo sound – CDs are a far cry from the old scratchy record media of yesteryear.
In 1939, Edwin Armstrong built the first FM station, after he saw a need to create music broadcasting available to the masses. Music broadcasting that needed to be free from static and high-fidelity. Although the station was built in the 1930s, FM radio did not really take off until the 1960s.
Since then the FM radio industry has gained worldwide attention. In this fact alone radio transmitting media are now expected to have FM frequency.
FM radio stations were born to fulfil a need, a need that has left the old AM radio stations for dead.
There are commercial FM radio Stations that supply the masses with true fidelity sound, and there are even FM radio stations you can download your favourite genre of music from.
The commercial FM radio stations are subsidised by commercial enterprises wanting to advertise and be heard by a greater number of the listening public that FM Radio targets.
The older AM band radio stations are still holding their own, however their numbers are declining worldwide. FM radio is here to stay and it has generated a vast audience. Ask any teenager if they listen to AM Radio and they don’t even know what you are talking about.
The FM Radio industry has strategically targeted a vast market in teenagers, let alone the other services it provides apart from music.
And what about the local FM stations, the ones being run from Universities down to community FM stations? They are all fulfilling a need in their own right. It is great to tune into your local community FM radio station and find what is going on within the community you live in, and although these stations are funded by ordinary community minded people and businesses, they are providing good local news and are targeting their own community with issues that pertain to the local area as a whole, or specific members of it.