Wolfgang Schlag talks about the emergence of radio, its significance as a mass medium and his experiences as a radio journalist.
On November 2, 1920 the first radio station went on air in Pittsburgh, sponsored and financed by large companies. The rise of radio was also clearly visible in numbers. At the beginning of the radio there were about 40 thousand listeners. Within only two years the number increased to 500 thousand listeners. The radio was the medium in which not only music, information and advertising was broadcast, it was much more, it also served for education.
In 1924, the time had come for Austria as well, RAVAG was the only radio station at that time, but under the leadership of the National Socialists. During this time the radio was used for propaganda purposes.
But in 1967 that changed, the modern radio was born. Ö3 and Ö1 were founded, the radio stations’ themes were music, education and politics. Suddenly modern pop music and jazz resounded through the radio. It was the time of Woodstock. New Radioprogrammen were founded, like the „Musikbox“, of which Wolfgang Schlag was also a member. He reports on his experiences as a radio journalist.
To be honest, the reason why this lecture was so interesting for me was that I had not dealt yet with the medium radio. It was interesting to learn more about the history of radio. I also liked that he shared his personal experiences with us. Radio is still an essential part of our everyday life, but it has great competition from platforms like Spotify. The hole Talk was really interesting and sympathetic.
