Radio gets a radical revamp

Digital radio sales are growing worldwide

The dawn of radio ushered in the beginnings of mass media entertainment, which has now become fundamentally woven into the fabric of modern-day society.

In more recent times radio has been eclipsed by video games, multi-channel television, home cinema systems and the internet.

Against such competition, radio is facing questions as to whether it can survive as a mainstream entertainment form.

Industry experts say that radio can embrace technology and sustain its popularity. Growing sales of digital sets worldwide certainly lend strength to that theory.

However, the idea of listening to a device which only plays radio may well be something that is on the wane.

Nick Piggott, head of creative technology at UK-based Global Radio, told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme that he expected big changes.

FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE It is important that the radio is every bit as engaging and interesting as the experience of listening to a pre-recorded music file James Cridland BBC Audio & Music Interactive More from Digital Planet Download the Digital Planet Podcast

He said: "10 years ago if you asked people how are they going to listen to your show, they'd say on the radio and they could point to something that was in the kitchen or living room that had batteries in it and was plugged into the mains electricity and that was their radio."

"I think in 10 years time almost nobody will say that they own a radio, as in just one device and that's all it does. I suspect even now you'll probably find that there are more and more people who are saying that they listen to the radio on something that is not a radio at all."

Mr Piggott said Nokia was the biggest manufacturer of radios, because of the vast number of mobile phone handsets it produced with radios built in.

Looking to the future, Mr Piggott suggested that creating some kind of visual content to work alongside radio programming was a potential future development.

New avenues

He said: "I think the most interesting thing is when you've got radio together on a device that has got a connection to the internet and I think some of the things that we'll see coming out of that is the idea of enhancing radio with visuals which is absolutely not about turning radio into television.

"It is about understanding that people have got the opportunity to glance at a screen whilst they are doing other things and just to put useful information on to that screen and entertaining information on there."

Interactivity is another avenue which radio technology may venture down.

He said: "Some sort of simple way of allowing people to register the interest in something they hear on the radio and then when they have got bit more time later in their day, come back and follow on and find out a bit more about it."

Meanwhile, at the BBC the issue of radio is hugely important considering the amount of content generated by the corporation for the medium.

James Cridland, who oversees future media at BBC Radio, has guided the placing of radio shows on the BBC's iPlayer, the on-demand service which holds large amounts of BBC audio and visual content.

Describing how iPlayer benefits on-demand radio, he said: "The sound is better and it is easier to find your favourite shows."

How radios once used to look

Looking to the future, Mr Cridland agreed with the importance of interactivity, with the utilisation of mobile phone screens a key priority.

He said: "We do not want to damage what radio is great at...something you can listen to while you do other things. It would be mad if we damaged that."

Developers are looking at the kind of information offered by mobile phones when users play MP3 files as a potential model for radio development. Specifically, they are looking at the kind of information users can get, such as album covers and song lyrics.

Mr Cridland said: "It is important that the radio is every bit as engaging and interesting as the experience of listening to a pre-recorded music file."

Trials have also been conducted where users can vote on whether they like songs on the radio or increasing the amount of texts which are featured on a radio phone-in.