Radio - TV Tropes

I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And ev'rything I had to know
I heard it on my radio

— Queen, "Radio Ga Ga"

The Ur-Example of broadcast media; like Television but without the pictures. You young 'uns might think of it as like a Podcast, but sent over the open airwaves. As a serial broadcast medium, radio shares many tropes with television. Indeed, early radio originated many of these tropes. Several television series originated on the wireless. These days, of course, television has eclipsed radio to the extent the latter is seen as mostly a format for music and live talk shows, though some stations in some countries (like BBC Radio 4 in the UK and CBC Radio One in Canada) offer drama, comedy, documentaries and more.

The name "radio" comes from the low-energy electromagnetic waves first detected by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. These waves "radiated" out from the spark-gap generator that produced them. The first radio transmitters could only broadcast Morse code, but soon the technology was developed to piggyback audio signals onto a radio-frequency carrier wave. Soon afterward, rules were established to allow for specific radio frequency bands to be allocated to different licensed broadcasters within an area. Eventually, the technology to encode video signals onto radio carrier waves was developed, but by that time radio waves had been used for audio-only broadcasts for so long that the word "radio" had become synonymous with them. (The broadcasters who used radio waves for video signals had to invent a new word for it.) Today, some things called radio, such as cable radio and internet radio stations, don't even use radio waves at all.

See also: Audio Play, Podcast, and Web Original.

Radio Tropes:

By Decade:

AM/FM Characterization: A character's choice of music reveals their personality.
Buccaneer Broadcaster: A character runs a radio station that isn't licensed.
Broadcast Live: Radio programs that are aired as they happen.
Car Radio Dispute: Two characters fight over what they should listen to on the radio.
Coincidental Broadcast: A radio just so happens to broadcast something important when the plot needs it.
College Radio: A radio station for a college.
Dead Air: Unintentional silence on a radio program.
Dumbass DJ: Loud, obnoxious radio emcees.
Emergency Broadcast: We interrupt your browsing to bring you an important message!
Excuse Question: A radio contest that consists of a single, painfully easy question.
Large Ham Radio: Radio DJs are usually loud, boisterous fellows.
Live but Delayed: A live stream is delayed by a few seconds so stuff can be edited out.
Narrating the Obvious: A radio dispenses information that is immediately obvious to the listener.
Numbers Stations: A radio station that dispenses various letters and numbers meant to be decoded by spies or government agencies.
Radio Contest: Call the radio station to win a prize!
The Radio Dies First: Any form of long-distance communication is destroyed to add suspense to a story.
Radio Friendliness: A song can't be played on the radio for one reason or another.
Radio Silence: Like Dead Air, but fully intentional.
Radio Song: Ever wanted to listed to a radio song on the radio?
Radio Voice: Someone's voice is altered when they're on the radio.
Shock Jock: A radio emcee who's intentionally crude and crass to get attention.
Sound-to-Screen Adaptation: A radio program enters the world of television.
Talk Show: A host interviews a random guest each episode.
Tokyo Rose: A wartime radio host who broadcasts demeaning propaganda to enemy troops.
WPUN: Radio station callsigns with punny names.