“Video Killed the Radio Star” is an iconic song by The Buggles and was released in 1980 off their one and only album “The Age of Plastic” and is arguably their best song as well as their most well-known song. It is also one of my personal favorite songs. It’s a catchy tune with memorable lyrics and has a visually interesting music video.

The song, as the name suggests that video killed the radio star due to the rise in video entertainment making some feel like radio was becoming obsolete.  The song even mentions the idea of being over radio and too far into video to turn back as evident in the lyrics “In my mind and in my car. We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far.” The implications of those lyrics are that the mindset of those of the time were too far gone to accept the idea of video and radio coexisting and that video was or did kill radio. 

I do not agree with that notion of video killing radio, because I feel as if the two media outlets can coexist, and each has their own pros and cons.  

Video is a visual outlet and that makes it capable of a lot more things than what you can do on the radio, but radio also offers its own unique set of attributes. A lot of aspects of video were taken from radio and expanded on but its place of origin remains in radio.  

Phones have always been an important part of anything they’re apart of, especially radio and video, phone lines are constantly used on radio shows for guest interviews and callers chiming in to voice their opinions on the air. Video took the idea of using phones for caller inputs and would use callers for telethons which were marathons of callers calling into a show for fundraising activities. Video essentially took the basics of radio and expanded on it in interesting ways to make viewers more engaged in their products and broadcast.  

Video is evidently more visual than radio and for the time, it was taking over, expensive, while radios were a lot more cost efficient and accessible for more people.  

Radio is a more consistent and reliable source of information as handheld radios only require batteries while tv uses electricity if there was a power outage or a crisis going on, radio would be the most consistent outlet for spreading information. 

Radio will always have its place in our society for one reason or another it will have its justification for existing so although video is a powerhouse of a media outlet, video did not in fact kill the radio star.