Educational Radio

Educational radio, one of the first media for large–scale instructional dissemination, became popular as the radio became a common broadcast platform. Instructional radio provided educators with a method for reaching large numbers of learners and thus broadcasters had high hopes for the medium's potential. Broadcasters applied the same techniques they used on entertainment productions to their educational broadcasts. Voice–overs, scripts, and sound effects all were used to improve the effectiveness and appeal of educational radio broadcasts.

Unfortunately, due to limited amounts of programming and an inadequate regulatory environment, educational radio has had modest impacts. Just as regulatory agreements were being implemented to encourage educational programming, interest in instructional radio was declining as a result of the introduction of television. Many of the issues related to radio were taken up by those interested in the rapidly advancing television medium. However, in the time period between large–scale adoption of radio and the advent of television many beneficial experiences were created and delivered, and the medium still provides educational opportunities for many geographically dispersed learners.

Building upon inventions by Nikola Tesla, Oliver Lodge, and Jagdish Chandra Bose, as well as many others, Guglielmo Marconi acquired the first patent for the radio in 1901. In 1909, Charles David Herrold created the first broadcasting station with a regular broadcast schedule. Broadcasting was a unique implementation of radio technology. Previously, the radio was used for point–to–point communication, for example, facilitating communication between lighthouses and individual ships. In 1916 the first continuous broadcast was delivered by the American Radio and Research Company. In 1927 the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was established and granted the responsibility to allocate licenses, assign frequencies, and oversee power levels.

Even prior to the establishment of the FRC, educators were working together to exploit radio for instructional uses. In 1925, the Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations [Page 310](ACUBS), which would become the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) and eventually morph into the Public Broadcasting Service, was created to promote educational uses of radio. These organizations influenced legislation to allocate channels specifically for educational use. At this time the airwaves were largely chaotic. Licensees had limited responsibilities to the public and to education. In 1938, The Federal Communications Commission (which had taken over the FRC's jurisdiction) began to reserve frequencies for educational broadcasting.

During this period there were many successful experiments in instructional radio. The School of the Air broadcast instructional programming that coincided with various school curriculums, presented programs in an organized and serialized fashion, provided reading materials and instructional guides, and had schedules that matched the school year. The School of the Air attempted to expand from its regional roots in Illinois but failed to secure funding support for national expansion. It did, however, find support at the state level and provided educational programming for six states.

Educational radio has been widely used in the developing world as an inexpensive method of distance education. Instructional radio has been used successfully in countries such as Thailand, Swaziland, India, Mali, Columbia, Nigeria, and Kenya. In fact, it has been used at one time or another in just about every country for every type of curriculum.

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