Media Technologies have grown over the past 100 years. From print to early radio in the early 1900’s, television in the 1950’s, to the internet in the early 1990’s, companies have incorporated new technologies while still using media outlets of the past.

Something Old: Print

            Communicating via the printed word is a very common form of communication. News papers, magazines, books, fliers, pamphlets, brochures, and newsletters, along with many other forms of print communication still in existence goes to show that print media still has not lost its “charm or relevance” (NOS Online, 2012) in the digital media age.

            Print media can be used for a number of reasons as well. Many people will turn to their local news paper to follow up on current events like the results of a city council election, or the cause of a fire at a local business. Business will use print to make quarterly reports and to send out press releases. Print communications are used by schools to send out report cards, notes for parents, and homework assignments. Many companies will incorporate some form of print with any type of media campaign they choose to do.

            Companies that create print communications, such as news papers or magazines, are now beginning to incorporate their material with digital technology. With devises like Apple’s iPad and the vast number of Android based tablets hitting the market, consumers are now able to wirelessly receive up to the minute information that has been laid out in news paper form. Extra editions and “Newsies” standing on sidewalks pushing the latest news have both been replaced by “push notifications” and media’s ability to send updates directly to device. This feature keeps consumers coming back to the product looking for those updates and new stories. Print, alongside with the internet and the written word, will continue to be a driving force in the communications industry.  

Something to Listen to: Radio

            Radio is a media technology that is used to get a desired message out to a large number of people at once. ”Radio advertising often is used to complement advertising messages delivered in other media” (Marsh, 2009, p. 139). Radio can also be used to bring awareness to an issue or to inform the public of a special event. Radio offers advantages over print media as a means of communication. Radio can transmit the latest news more quickly than print. It can provide the listener with all the energy and emotion of “live” discussion. Radio can also be used while the listener is participating in other activities such as driving, working, or enjoying time with friends and family. Such human qualities are often lost in a printed transcript (Garfield, 1978).

            For business people looking to get a message out, radio can be a great addition to a media strategy that already involves print and television. There are industries that use radio to promote location awareness by bringing local radio personalities to the advertiser’s location for a short period. Because of its portability, ease of use, and the speed at which radio information can travel radio can be used keep the public aware of what is happening during an emergency situation like a severe thunder storm.

            Radio has had to change with the times. In a survey done in 2009 by Bridge Ratings four radio technologies were put to the test with traditional radio stations holding a 93% per week use among those surveyed. It was also estimated that 60 million Americans listen to streaming radio online and almost 19 million American subscribe to satellite radio (FMQB, 2009). With this kind of continued use radio will always be an excellent compliment for any form of communication.

Something to View: Television

            Television as a communications tool is huge. Mitchell Stephens reported that by the late 1990’s 98% of American homes had at least one television with an average “on” time for that television of over seven hours (Stephens, 2012).  Communications via television have the ability to show viewers information in the printed word with sound and still as well as moving images incorporated. “Because of its sight and sound dynamics, television is considered a prestigious medium and seen as particularly effective in building and maintaining a corporate or product image” (Marsh, 2009, p.144). Consumers of information will use television in much the same way they use radio, by keeping it on in the background, listening for key information, then paying attention when what the consumer wants to hear is on.

Television media technology is directed at a large number of audiences. Because each audience varies in age, gender, religious background, political beliefs, as well as many other factors, broadcasting companies have to use a number of strategies to get desired information to key groups of individuals. This is the reason a lot of cereal commercials are on during the Saturday morning cartoons and car commercial during prime time programming.

But have programming directors and companies that use television to deliver messages have had to change their strategies in recent years with the introduction of TiVo and other digital recording devices? Duke University researchers have found that “While viewers fast-forwarded through about 70 percent of the commercials in shows they recorded, they still watch the screen to know where to resume play, meaning they are still being exposed to the advertisements” (Gallagher, 2010). And in 2011 Dade Fitch, Global Analyst for Millward Brown, reported that a large number of viewers are not fast forwarding commercials because “they have other screens to attend to” (Fitch, 2011). Bigger concerns may be looming for television in to form of streaming video, internet news magazines, and social networking sites.

Something New: Internet and Digital Media

            The internet is a large medium which incorporates all of the previous three mediums with many more (personal) options. Because each web page is created individually, by a large number of people, there is no limit to how communications might be delivered. Target audiences for each web page can be specifically targeted based on web page history. Streaming video and up to the minute changes to information make other media channels almost obsolete. By incorporating digital copies of news papers for subscription, allowing for radio stations to be listened to online, and offering up television content online, mass communication companies have embraced the digital forms of their product, and have invented new ways to have consumers use both products simultaneously. This instructiveness works because it keeps individuals feeling like they have control over how they receive information.  

            Personalization of the internet comes with each individuals opportunity to set home pages, filter out content not suitable to their needs or wants, and the ease of which pages can be avoided by keeping searches specific and to the point. Personalization also comes from companies trying to get out a message. Companies can select their advertisers, maintain their message, and incorporate multimedia into each communication. The internet gives communicators a platform to post quick messages, layover sound bites, and show video, all while making the experience interactive.

            Because the internet is an interactive medium for communications it best represents how good communications can happen. In usual communications technology settings the creator of the message sends it out and hopes for the desired response. For example, a business man creates and sends out a coupon the waits for customers to come pouring in. With the internet and the advance abilities available for tracking, monitoring, and updating results as well as receiving feedback, a better model of communications is represented with the receiver of the message sending back information to the original sender.

References

Fitch, D. (2011). Who’s Still Afraid of the DVR? Retrieved July 2, 2012 from https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:gwZ9UapA4R0J:www.millwardbrown.com/Libraries/MB_POV_Downloads/MillwardBrown_POV_Still_Afraid_of_DVRs.sflb.ashx+how+advertisers+have+changed+because+of+DVR&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgGaBKOjtAVWz2ECq3VpF2s01zE0TVRS5zrM244m7CYJh92SHdu3Hs8MTTrkzJpLJlEABHLWYmkxy2AnJSEUFhc3y6BAoeg6q0gzP4C1dJ73pZ8QjbBkKeEJtBT_FccD30erzsz&sig=AHIEtbT_xTmLverxKL9K5xGKIv-rx1H3fA

FMQB (2009). Study: Internet Radio Use Continues to Rise. Retrieved July 2, 2012 from http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=1627614

Gallagher, J (2010). Duke Study: TiVo Doesn’t Hurt TV Advertising. Retrieved July 2, 2012 from http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2010/05/03/daily6.html?page=all

Garfield, E.  (1978). Current Comments: Radio: The Neglected Media for Scientific Communication. Essays of an Information Scientist. Vol. 3, p. 517-521. Retrieved July 2, 2012 from http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v3p517y1977-78.pdf

Marsh C. (2009). Strategic Writing: Multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising and More, 2nd Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.

NOS Online (2012). Mass Communication: Introduction to Print Media. Retrieved July 2, 2012 from http://download.nos.org/srsec335new/ch5.pdf

Stephens, M. (2012). History of Television. Retrieved July 2, 2012 from http://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm