Driving around, we've noticed that the radio stations aren't really what they are in America. I mean.... we go a few kilometers and the station totally switches. The first couple of times, it's entertaining when Lady Gaga gets mixed with some Italian religious music... But after about the 100th time, it gets pretty aggravating. However, what these change ups in FM settings means is that Italy probably doesn't have as strict of regulations on bandwidth as America. If this was taken to an extreme, then it's likely that any person who could get the technology to send out an FM wavelength could technically have their own radio station (MY DREAM COME TRUE!!).
What made me start thinking about this particular thing was actually a discussion in my Mass Communications and Media class last semester. My professor, Vladimir Bratic, hails from a country that has been torn up by war- media regulation isn't really high on their list of priorities (as to whether it should be, that's definitely a whole other story!!). Anyway, he said that he would be going through a city and that every block, a different radio station would come on... without even changing the frequency. While Italy wasn't that extreme, I found it surprising that a nation that seems to pride itself on advancement and attempts to be on top of most things hasn't really regulated its radio so that their stations don't overlap every few kilometers.
This being said, it begs to wonder whether or not Italy should be focusing on media as a means to pull itself from its current instability. Could media regulation mean more economic stability? While this might seem like a far stretch, consider that media has the power to sway the masses and contort public opinion into a certain view point. Because of this power, if the government (or whoever...) wished to convince their people that they needed to do or be something, it could easily be done. While I'm not saying that Italy can pull totally away from the steep crevice that has become the European debt crisis only by using media, I think that a little regulation could definitely help.
And it would definitely help us be able to to listen to the radio a whole lot easier!! =p
What made me start thinking about this particular thing was actually a discussion in my Mass Communications and Media class last semester. My professor, Vladimir Bratic, hails from a country that has been torn up by war- media regulation isn't really high on their list of priorities (as to whether it should be, that's definitely a whole other story!!). Anyway, he said that he would be going through a city and that every block, a different radio station would come on... without even changing the frequency. While Italy wasn't that extreme, I found it surprising that a nation that seems to pride itself on advancement and attempts to be on top of most things hasn't really regulated its radio so that their stations don't overlap every few kilometers.
This being said, it begs to wonder whether or not Italy should be focusing on media as a means to pull itself from its current instability. Could media regulation mean more economic stability? While this might seem like a far stretch, consider that media has the power to sway the masses and contort public opinion into a certain view point. Because of this power, if the government (or whoever...) wished to convince their people that they needed to do or be something, it could easily be done. While I'm not saying that Italy can pull totally away from the steep crevice that has become the European debt crisis only by using media, I think that a little regulation could definitely help.
And it would definitely help us be able to to listen to the radio a whole lot easier!! =p
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