The history and evolution of radio: from transistor to podcasts

For the record, the invention of radio is a collective work. It results from the discovery of electromagnetic waves, then from the invention of the telegraph, and leads to the first materials usable for wireless communication like transistors.
Radio has undergone many technical developments over the years. But above all, its key role during the Second World War is remembered.

At 11. 15am on 3 September 1939, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, made a live radio broadcast from Downing Street announcing that “this country is now at war with Germany”. The entire country was listening.
Then, radio was a very popular medium used for propaganda. “Radio Londres” (French for Radio London) was a radio station broadcast from 1940 to 1944 by the BBC in London to Nazi occupied France.

But what about radio today?

Television has somewhat overshadowed it, but it is especially with the arrival of the Internet that radio has had to reinvent itself.
Numerous media and blog wonder about the future of radio : “Will ‘Generation Z’ spell the end of traditional terrestrial AM/FM radio?”, “The future or radio: time for broadcasters to embrace digital”, “Podcasting is the new talk radio”.
We will therefore focus a little more on the evolution of content and the issue of radio podcasts.

Highlight on the practice of podcasts during the Radiodays Europe Show

As we have seen, new medium and new media materiel (tablets, smartphones, connected speakers etc. ) put radio in a delicate situation. It must therefore reinvent itself in order to exist.
8 years ago, a specialised European exhibition dedicated to the world of radio was created: “Radiodays Europe”. This Fair is presented as the: “Europe’s leading conference and largest meeting point for radio & audio innovation!” This year it settled in Vienna, Austria, from 18 to 20 March.
During the Radiodays the question of the future of radio was of course at the centre of the debates. For the “old medium”, it was the opportunity to find solutions. 60 sessions have been dedicated to radio during which 120 speakers testified for this purpose.
The new contents are thus highlighted.

Radio podcasts are on the rise!

Social networks and video are giving a new lease of life to radio, but they are not the only ones. Audio podcasts on websites or mobile applications are also widely listened to!
Indeed, the arrival of smartphones has changed everything. With the smartphone you can both listen and do something else, whereas with video or text playback you can’t. The BBC has launched the “BBC iPlayer Radio” in which podcasts can be downloaded using this app.

This year the Radiodays Europe welcomed Ben Hammersley, the inventor of the word “podcast”. Moreover, the first Radiodays Europe Podcast Day was organised last year. Thanks to its success, the Show comes back this year in June. Obviously, the Podcast Day is meeting the needs of radio broadcasters, podcast producers and everyone interested in understanding the fast-moving podcast market.

In conclusion, whether radio is reinvented by video or audio podcasts, automatic transcription is essential to participate in making these numerous contents accessible! Indeed, autoplay is a common practice on social networks, videos are launched without sound and subtitles play a major role here.
Eventually, the transcription of podcasts makes it possible to improve their referencing but also to highlight the key words. This is what we have been doing since 2016 for the prestigious Belgian radio RTBF.

Authôt transcribes RTBF’s radio broadcasts and podcasts!

Our proofreader and validator Julie testifies:

What is the RTBF mission?

The RTBF (Radio-Télévision belge de la Communauté française) mission consists in recording two programmes of the Belgian radio La Première (Matin Première and Jour Première) from 6am to 10am from Monday to Friday and transcribing four main topics:
“Les Curieux du Matin”
“Le plus de Matin Première”
“Ecomatin”
“Le Point de Vue”
Radio broadcasts and podcasts are recorded in their entirety and audio segments are sent to the Authôt application every 15 minutes. These segments are then automatically transcribed by the application. My job consists in correcting what the automatic retranscription system did not understand well (mistakes, hesitations, addition of negations, etc. ). On the other hand, it is not a question of reformulating the comments of the hosts and speakers. The final rendering must be fluid, comprehensible and faithful to the audio.

What are the deadlines?

The time for the four main topics is one hour, and the time for additional orders is 45 minutes.
The sections last between three and twelve minutes. So I don’t take the same time to correct them, and like with any audio file, the speed of the correction also depends on the quality of the file.

Is this an interesting mission?

This RTBF mission is my main mission at Authôt. It takes up most of my day. Although it may seem daunting, it is a very interesting daily exercise. Indeed, the topics covered are diverse and varied and I keep myself informed of world news every morning through radio podcasts.

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