Radio Is Not Going Anywhere
Written on Mar 15, 2026
I am a child of the 1960s, but I only remember some of it. Some of what I remember is because of what my older sisters listened to on the radio and what they watched on television. While my father liked country music, everyone else in the family liked rock music, including my mother.
People started predicting the end of radio when MTV started becoming popular in the 1980s. "Radio Ga Ga", a song released by Queen in 1984, defended the radio format, but it was really not necessary. Music has never required video to accompany it.
Music on Radio and Television
When I was young, I enjoyed a few forms of entertainment at home, listening to the radio the most. In retrospect, broadcast television was not great back then. I remember music playing on the radio, on record players, and on television.
My generation is probably the last generation that remembers "The Monkees", "American Bandstand" and "The Ed Sullivan Show" when they first aired on television. There were country music-themed shows as well, but I never watched them. When MTV appeared in 1981, it was on cable.
In the second "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, Peter Quill's father told him "she knew every song that came on the radio", referring to his mother. His mother was a child of the 1960s, just like me.
Car Radio
While most people are more likely to listen to music over the Internet these days on mobile phones and tablets, most people still listen to radio when driving or riding as passengers in roadway vehicles.
While digital audio broadcasting and satellite radio are available, FM radio still dominates the airwaves. People are willing to put up with the advertisements between songs because it keeps FM radio free of cost. It is pretty much that way in both the Philippines and the United States.
The days of radio-specific furniture and portable radios may be over, but the radio format itself is not going anywhere as long as there are people who want to listen to it.