by Amy Wilber

Created on: February 13, 2009

It is a new technological age and generation and televisions are mostly the common and best genre for information and entertainment as much if not more than the internet. When most people begin conversations about what is happening in the world there is a common phrase that almost always starts it off. "Did you see ______ on the TV last night?" Of course there are variations to the question but still remains to be the normal format when asking someone about an event. You do not hear anyone asking if they had seen or heard about an event on the radio as often.

In the late 1940's to the early 1950's, a technological concept was becoming popularized by the idea that would allow people to interact with a new media that offered stimulation and enjoyment. The novelty item known as the television began appearing in homes as the main form of enjoyment and information. People still had their "old" knob radios but the television was becoming a must have in every household. Viewers could watch Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, California. They could also watch commercials of their favorite consumer products or watch ever increasing popular sitcoms such as the Honeymooners or I Love Lucy.

In the aftermath, for years the television stood out as a main source of information and entertainment while the radio was degraded to mostly listening to only music that replaced the on air radio shows.

Today, there is a nine out of 10 chance that every household contains at least one television. It is used as a reference when wanting to know the weather, news, watching sitcoms, or movies. Besides the internet, the television is regarded as an appliance we cannot live without. Instead of reading a book, viewers can search for a channel referencing biographies, nature, and many more hot topics. Radios may be listened to in leisure time at home, while at work, or listened to in their cars on their morning commute to work and there may be the occasional reference to an event happening in real life. For the most part, the radio has become an instrument for listening to music nothing more.

The television allows the viewer to associate spoken content to visual recognition. This is a thing the radio never offered in the past. People tend to learn to build intelligence faster with the use of visualization and associating it to what they hear on the television. This is common among most educational children shows or home improvement channels. Movies on television become an interactive tool to experience what the characters are experiencing. For example, you might be watching a horror film on television. Coupled with the eerie music playing in the background getting louder as a character goes into a dark room you might catch yourself saying aloud, "Watch out!"

It is experiences like these that we cannot feel with the radio. There is the audio stimulation with how the music makes you feel but the only images you see are the ones you associate with the flow of the rhythm. With the television, you are offered new opportunities to learn, experience different emotions, persuasions from commercial products, and interact with the programming.

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