August 20, 2018 (Monday)
Each year on August 20th, National Radio Day recognizes the great invention of the radio.
In the late 19th century, interest grew in electro-magnetic energy and in a spectrum that displays energy waves that produce light, colors, sounds, heat or are invisible. These waves exist all around us. The idea of harnessing this energy for communication grew as curious scientists continued to study it. It became clear that wireless communication was possible.
Several inventors from several countries had a part in the invention of the radio in the late 1800s and not just one person can be credited with its beginning. To make the radio a reality, it required several different inventions and discoveries including both transmission and reception methods as well as technology.
When I was born in 1931 only two out of five homes in our country owned radios. This number quickly grew by 1938 to four out of five homes. By that time most families were listening to radio news and entertainment. According to FCC statistics, at the end of 2012, there were more than 15,000 licensed broadcast radio stations in the U.S. Satellite broadcasts are becoming common.
Celebrate National Radio Day by listening to your favorite station today. In all probability, that broadcaster has a web site and you can hear the station on your desktop, laptop, tablet or handheld device.
The technologies that result in wireless communication have surpassed any and all expectations. Everywhere you go today, you see people with their electronic devices, transmitting and receiving texts, movies, pictures and many other kinds of data on their private telephones that have many functions. These devices have little in common with our celebration of radio that is generally thought of as broadcasting entertainment and news.
Television grew out of radio quite naturally until today when we are surrounded with opportunities to tune in to the world around us.
In such a world we Christians need to be very aware that we must make time for prayer and Bible Study, and we must continue to educate our children in an environment that includes faith and dedication to God. We must not allow modern influences to take from us our own responsibility to rear our children, as the Bible urges, “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”