Reception Platforms

Reception Platfoms relate to how we listen or receive our radio, without them we wouldn't be able to listen to the radio or recieve anything. 

In order to recieve radio signals we need an aerial, usually a tv aerial to recieve signals an convert them  to audio through our stereo in home or in a car stereo.
This is terrestrial reception. 

Radio signal beamed to a satellite in space, this then sends the signal to all he homes with a subscrition and a satellite reciever dish
In the UK this is normally your SKY dish b there are others which recieve foreign channels to. 
This is satellite reception.

Streaming means watching a video or listening to music in 'real time',  not dowloading a file and watching i later. It is quite a recent development because your broadband has to run fast enough to show the data in real time. Files for streaming are usually highly compressed to use as little bandwidth as possible. Streaming has become really popular because of the popularity of the internet radio statios and various audio / video on - demand services such as spotify, last.fm, youtube and BBC iplayer.

On demand is basically a way of anybody to catch up on radio. It isn't live or shown at any particular time, so is avaliable to listen to any time and any where. It is also avaliable on different devices such as tv, phone or laptops.

Radio has changed a lot for the listener how we recieve and listen to the radio. It has changed for the best, because listeners can now catch up on what they have missed, on computers, laptops / tablets, tv and mobile phones at any time. It is still avalialbe to listen to the radio live from a normal radio. 

Distribution Technologies

 Distribution technologies relate to how a broadcaster gets their content o the audience. They can do normal transmission from a large aerial on top of their office that send radio signals within a certain boudary. This is why when you go on holiday certain radio staions lose their signal. 

     
   During the past few years, it has been made possible to the radio on different devices such as the internet, mobile phone, tablets and also the tv. 

Podcasting is another way of listening  to the radio, they are digital media files. Mostly audio but they can also be vide, which are produced in a series.
   Podcasting attracts people who want to be able to choose their own content, just like using the internet instead of the TV and radio model of broadcast, where you tune in and stations that are playing.
   Podcast listening experience is basically like getting radio and music shows to listen to on devices every day. You can automatically have new shows ready to listen to while you get on with what you're doing through the day.

Anyone can create their own show and broadcast it to the world, it doesn't take long and doesn't cost much, all you need is a computer, a mic and the internet.

Iplayer is basically a media player that has pre-loaded content on, BBC has it's own iplayer, it is an internet tv and radio service and software application. Iplayer's are useful for audiences to catch up with tv / radio shows they have missed. Example - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio

Content distribution fom independent producers to radio statios via broadband means independent production companies make a show, jingle or advet at their own home, hey edit it and save it as .wav or .mp3 file and send it via email, making sure i is secured. They send it to a radio broadcaster who pay for it.

Digital Technologies

Over past years radio has changed a lot from LM (long wave), MW (medium wave), AM (ampliude modulation), to FM (frequency modulation) and now DAB (digial audio boadcasting).

       LW -  longwave refers to parts of the radio spectrum with relatively long waveslengh, it was used during the 1940's.

 MW - Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting.

       AM - The electrical image of the sound (taken from a micopone or other program source) is used to modulate the amplitude of the carrier wave transmitted from the broadcast antenna of the radio station, this happens when information is broadcasted from an AM radio station. This is different to FM radio where the signal is used to modulate the frequency of the carrier.

    

FM - Whereas AM radio provides low - fidelity, FM radio provides high - fidelity. When information is broadcast from an FM radio station, the electrical image of the sound (taken from a microphone or other program source) is used to modulate the frequency of the carrier wave transmitted from the broadcast antenna of the radio station. 

  
   DAB - This stands or Digital Audio Broadcasting, it is used in quite a few countries but mostly in Europe. this is a way of broadcasting radio digitally via a network of transmitters. It provides listeners with more choice, better sound quality and more information. With DAB radio, it is also possilble to pause and remind live radio.