I know. This topic has been the subject of lots of discussions for quite some time, especially in recent years. This would be due to the increasing amount of technology in our society.

A lot of people say that it's "going down like newspapers" and others say that it's still very stable. Most of all, people just don't know anymore how long radio will be around for, in general.

I am currently studying radio and all other forms of mass media at Illinois State University. I know people in radio and I have also interned at a radio station. Soon, I will work part-time at a radio station and hopefully start my career in the business. This information doesn't guarantee that I know everything about the future of radio or the platform in general, but I'm just making sure you all know that I at least have some knowledge on the issue I'm writing about.

I've asked this same question at hand to many people in the radio business and now I want to address the question myself and say: I do not think that radio is "dying." Coming from someone who has seen the ratings and heard feedback from some radio listeners, it appears as though radio is only evolving and even in some forms, growing.

However, the media spectrum is very hard to predict. Some rating systems are hugely flawed. The traditional "Nielsen" ratings are changed now. It's much harder to get people to write any entries or take the time to express their views about certain radio stations. This means that "Nielsen" ratings aren't as accurate as they were in the past. However, The time spent listening and concurrent listeners of a station are still a good way to measure a stations popularity.

Let's think for a second. When you listen to the radio, you probably hear a station advertise about their social media platforms or sometimes even smartphone apps. These are huge indicators that show how radio is just greatly evolving. Not only just that, but recently you have the ability to simply say a command and have your amazon echo or another smart device automatically play a radio station for you. "Hey Alexa, play (insert station name here)." You probably have heard that at some point before, while listening to a station.

Like I mentioned earlier, radio just keeps evolving. You can listen in your car, on any smart device like phones or tablets or Amazon echoes, etc. It just keeps going.

A good friend of mine, who has been on the radio for many years now, has just gotten his radio show syndicated on a national level. What does this mean? It means that people are still listening. Their listenership for their program was good enough to compete on a national level in front of thousands and thousands of people.

Then, you have the advent of completely "online" radio stations like "Pandora" or "Iheart radio." This expands the demographics and size even more. Maybe all stations will be internet based in the future. Maybe not. This is where it gets hazy. Who knows where technology can take us?

It's easy to just say that "radio is dying," but in many cases, we don't stop and think about how it's only just changing to keep up with the times. We don't realize what the station goes through to keep up with the times. Internet radio stations are being created, traditional stations are still being played and the advertisers are still going to this medium for advertising opportunities.

The bottom line: People are still listening!