Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Radio Communication is Our Last Line Of Communication During Catastrophic Events

Radio Communication is Our Last Line Of Communication During Catastrophic Events.

For over a century now, radios provided an excellent medium for communication and really provided us with our first form of mass-communication. Radios allowed a medium for people to get news, listen to music and be entertained. However, recently, radios started falling behind the time and are now not the first option for entertainment as it has been in the past. But, in an emergency situation, radios still provide one of the most safe and reliable mediums to communicate information.

Radios, As A Technology, Continue To Be Replaced and Is Slowly Dying.

I can remember my grandmother telling me a story once, saying that when she was younger families would gather around these large radios that they had in their living room to listen to shows and hear about the news of the day. This is similar to what families do today but instead of radios being the entertainment technology, we now watch television. Sadly, this is a reoccurring trend throughout the history of radio. Just as television ended the era of radio shows a half century ago, advances in music technology is threatening the future of all radio. Radio used to dominate the music industry, but started to get slowly knocked off by cassette tapes, CDs and the IPod. It’s now easier and more convenient to use programs like Spotify or Pandora on your phone, giving you all the music you could ever want to listen to right in the palm of your hands. I performed a survey, and asked students about their radio usage. Exactly 50% said they rarely ever use radio and only 15% said they use it multiple times a day. 

But, no matter what other technological advances arise in the future, radio will always exist as a reliable and widely used form of communication for one simple reason: it’s free. All you need is a radio and you can connect to stations that are within your range and hear free music and free news. All of the other technologies that have started stealing some of radios music market share cost money, whether you're directly buying the songs or paying for a monthly or yearly subscription to a music site. There will always be people who can’t afford or don't want to pay for music meaning that the radio can never die. There are also many areas in the world that don't have all the advanced technologies that we have in the USA, leaving them with the very cheap and reliable radios to entertain themselves. 

However, When All Else Fails, The Radio Will Still Work.

Catastrophes happen and there's nothing we can do to stop them, but we can be prepared for them. Communication is vital in emergency situations as people need to know what’s going on around them and where they can look for aid. But what if the power grid goes out? Televisions won’t work and the internet will be down. Cell phones are only reliable for a short period of time before their battery power dies. Plus phone lines may be damaged or destroyed if it's a bad situation or some phone lines stop working because of the large influx of people trying to use them. Everybody needs to have something consistent and reliable in these situations. While radios are never the first thing people go to any more for their news, it’s the technology that you need during a crisis. In the event of a severe storm, a military crisis or natural disaster, radios provide a way to stay connected because of their portability and their ability to work on battery power alone for a long time. 

Radios are a helpful tool for people trying to figure out the situation, but it’s also an irreplaceable tool used by first responders such as police and firemen to communicate in these situations. There are also amateur radios, also known as ham radios, which can be used by regular civilians and can access emergency lines, although they need a permit to do so. This article shows some examples of amateur radios being effectively used in large scale crisis situations such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1994. In both situations these ham radio operators gave useful information to authorities that helped them react to the situations quicker and safer. The good thing here is that people are aware that radios can be very useful in crisis situations. I asked a question in the same survey as to whether or not people would try to use a radio to get useful information in a crisis situation and 80% of people said that they would. 

Radios Are Used Everyday On Campus To Keep Us Safe

I am currently employed as a Facility Supervisor at the Eppley Recreation Center on the University of Maryland Campus. In my job description, the first thing listed is that I am responsible for the safety of every patron at the gym and the security of the gym. I had to get CPR certified in case someone needs assistance. The way that we communicate at the gym is through the use of radio. Every staff member and supervisor in every part of the gym has a radio that is always on and mine is always attached to my hip, as I do a lot of walking around the gym. 

We use the radio to communicate so that everyone knows whats going on at all times. We specifically need them in the event of a catastrophe, which thankfully hasn't occurred yet while I've been on duty. In that event I would need to get in touch with workers from every part of the gym quickly to make sure that all patrons can get out of the gym or to the safest area as quickly as possible and radios allow us to do just that. 

Overall radios have always been and remain to be a very efficient tool for communication. They allow us to contact others as well as be entertained by the news and music of the day. While it may be dying in popularity, especially among younger people who have more advanced technologies to take up their time, it will never disappear because of its ease of use, efficiency and low operation cost. They also provide us with a valuable tool in emergency situations and can allow us to communicate when other technologies will fail us. 




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