Diffusion Theory- Blog Post #8

The radio is something you have in every vehicle today even if it is a brand new Tesla or Ferrari. When the radio became commercial in America in the Roaring Twenties it revolutionized the world. The world the radio created is the one we know and love today. Through the lens of Diffusion Theory starting with the pioneers. The big two in the radio industry is Guglielmo Marconi who started the first commercial radio station in 1901 where the first transcontinental broadcast was made. Second, is Reginald Fessenden who broadcasted the first voices and music in 1906. 

After the pioneers, some people started to discover the radio who were the early adopters and this was the military. Every military force in World War One was starting to use radio as their main form of communication. The radio was still changing, and still in the experimental phase. After this phase, the radio moved into the uptake phase where the early majority came into play. The early majority consisted of the big companies after the war and half of the urban families. . By the 1920's around half of the urban families had in their homes. 

This was the tipping point when the radio moved over half of the urban area out into the rural areas, and also in vehicles, it was everywhere. Even with the radio being everywhere there are always late adopters that do not enjoy the radio. These late adopters were the people out in rural areas who finally got access to the radio. This all happened during the Great Depression when the work programs forced the people to no longer neglect the rural areas. 

After the late adapters and the maturation phase came to a close the radio had a long tail with laggards not wanting to jump on the wagon. These were the people who preferred their news in newspapers and did not own a car that had a radio even. These were the people who were born without the radio in the greatest generation  who are still getting over the war. They would adopt the radio after a while, but just as our grandparents do today it takes elderly people just a little bit of time. 

The radio was able to catch on and spread through people like wildfire due to the ease of access. It was very easy to have a radio either big or small, expensive or cheap, and in your car or not. The radio brought forth the biggest positive in the modern age with people all being connected, but it also brought negatives. The biggest negative that came with the radio was the fact that everyone knew everyone's news and business immediately and 24-hour surveillance began. Ever since as people we have been watched and listened to.