The main character of ‘Reply 1988’ who sends a story to ‘Starry Night’ⓒtvN
After dinner, the children gather at a friend’s house to listen to ‘Starry Night’ and reveal their unrequited love story to DJ Lee Moon-se. This scene is from the tvN drama ‘Reply 1988,’ which depicts the daily lives of a family of five in an alley in Ssangmun-dong, Seoul in the 1980s. The feelings of first love and unrequited love are also expressed through radio stories.
The radio program ‘Starry Night’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Starry Night’) is a long-running program that started in 1969 and was broadcast for 56 years. Famous hosts such as Lee Jong-hwan and Kim Ki-duk and popular celebrities such as Jo Young-nam and Lee Soo-man participated as DJs. Lee Moon-se became very popular as a DJ for 12 years starting in 1985. Under his guidance, the main character of the story became famous. Ok Joo-hyun, Lee Soo-young, etc. debuted as singers thanks to ‘Starry Night’.
Lee Moon-se’s ‘Starry Night’ was popular among teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s, but there were many popular radio programs before that. Kim Ki-duk of ‘2 O’clock Music Show’, Lee Jong-hwan of ‘Night Disk Show’, and Kim Gwang-han of ‘Golden Pops’ were famous as the ‘three major DJs.’
Although radio enjoyed its heyday, it was still considered an ‘old media.’ Radio, which began in the 1920s, was used to convey information and propaganda during World War I. With the advent of TV and the Internet, theories of a radio crisis have been raised.
Now, with the overflow of video content such as YouTube and OTT, different warnings are being issued than in the past.
The radio usage rate has decreased from 34.6% in 2010 to around 10% in the 2020s.
However, There is potential if the scope is expanded to ‘audio content’. According to a survey by the Korea Communications Commission, the radio usage rate in 2024 was 15.6%, mainly listened to by people in their 40s and 50s, but the online audio content usage rate was 18.4%. The usage rate of podcasts and audiobooks also increased.
The expansion of platforms is positive. In addition to FM radio, platforms such as podcasts, podcasts, and spoons are emerging, which are likely to attract the attention of younger generations.
In particular, podcasts that cover topics desired by listeners in depth are growing in influence as they suit the tastes of the modern public. The number of podcast listeners around the world is expected to be 580 million by 2025, and many young people also use it.
It is also an advantage to be able to encounter a variety of content. For example, according to Podbbang's ranking of popular podcasts, there are many programs that cover a variety of topics. Genres such as current affairs, economics, and world history do not overlap.