Why Radio Is Human and Everything Else is Sort Of

East Coast Radio Durban SA’s slug-line doesn’t mention decades, better variety, or at-work. Instead, the station positions itself only as “Here with You” When I last heard ECR, they were giving away tickets to an upcoming charity 5k, “Walk This Way,” and airing calls from eager listeners as if they were giving away concert tickets.

Travis Bussiahn is the Programming/Content Manager of the Adult CHR as well as its online only sister East Coast Gold. Here is a Ross on Radio guest article that originally appeared in South Africa’s The Media Online, followed by monitors of the two stations.

In a Tangled Web of Wires, a Heartbeat Still Throbs. 

We content and marketing folk, we strut our stuff with borrowed lexicons. Human echo chambers of recycled expertise. With borrowed anointings, we peddle hard facts, theories, and artificial intelligence. The right to release the next big revelation on our peers and colleagues is ours. I’m particularly good at this when it’s required of me.

We pore over our digital trackers. We marvel at how we’ve optimised spend on Meta and Google (or how much Meta and Google have gotten us to spend). But deep down, there’s a hankering for something more, something that can’t be quantified or calculated. (It’s also why the humans aren’t clicking on your ads as much you’d like, they might be bots.)

We search to cure it, watching live feeds of dancing wannabes on TikTok, flooding them with emojis and veiled comments. Grabbing a cuppa joe and scanning an article on the latest RPG, global crisis, or Premiere League transfer rumour, ignoring the display adverts (sometimes our own) as we scramble for content that means something.

Perhaps, here at the crossroads of the information superhighway where the detritus of the digital deep forest meets the search for the human soul of storytelling you’ll find something. It’s here, in this unlikely convergence, as you read this online, that I remind you of a beacon of humanity—radio.

You’re driving, the digital display of your car’s dashboard or phone display jumps from tune to tune (like your CDs used to), podcast to playlist, algorithm to algorithm. Yet, you reach for the dial, tuning into the radio. There’s an intrinsic allure to the airwaves. An unspoken pact of authenticity between the broadcaster and you. It’s visceral. It’s real. And it’s refreshingly human in a world digitised to the nth degree.

I’m not here to bash “the digital.” I’ve spent a lot of my life doing remarkable stuff with it. But the digital world is a hall of mirrors reflecting what we want to see, and not necessarily what we need to hear. Radio doesn’t play that game. It doesn’t echo; it speaks. It doesn’t reflect; it reveals. It’s the antidote to the synthetic tangle we’ve composed in our online lives. It also makes people more likely to click on your digital stuff, by the way.

Right now, I can hear the digital pundits shouting from their virtual rooftops about metrics, engagement, and ROI. “Give us the hard facts,” they’re saying. There’s a bunch of hard facts to prove the efficacy of radio, especially when combined with digital. My own experience in being one of those digital pundits, speaks to this too. Radio makes humans click. It’s the ultimate Recaptcha. 

But the heart of the matter is more than numbers on a screen or impressions in a report. It’s the laughter of a radio host spilling over the morning airwaves. The solemn silence as a community mourns together on the drive home. The shared excitement as a song premiere unites thousands in simultaneous anticipation. A platform that builds brands better than most others do. That, my friend, is the soft whisper of humanity that radio murmurs.

There was a time when I was a master of the airwaves, spinning yarns for any and all who’d lend an ear. Not for fame or fortune, not for likes or follows, but for the sheer, unadulterated joy of storytelling. Radio’s the same—it doesn’t boast; it doesn’t need to. Its currency isn’t virality; it’s connection. In the digital age, where content is king, radio remains the humble storyteller. Weaving narratives that resonate with the core of our human experience.

Community managers and digital strategists craft content for an audience they rarely see or feel. Yet, those who understand the soft power of radio know that the true measure of content isn’t quantified in likes or shares. It’s in the quiet moments of reflection, in the knowing nods, in the stories that linger long after the broadcast ends. In a digital era that idolises the artificial, radio stands as the last bastion of the authentic.  

Radio, in its timeless simplicity, is the underdog of the media world, thriving in a space where others merely exist. It proves, time and again, that the heart of communication isn’t a metric to be measured, but a connection to be cherished. While the digital domain expands, radio endures, steadfast in its role as the guardian of human connection. And in this ever-accelerating world of technology, perhaps radio isn’t just human; it’s the essence of humanity itself.

Here’s East Coast Radio from afternoons in late April:

• Kenya G, “Strangers”
• K-Ci & Jojo, “All My Life”
• George Ezra, “Anyone for You”
• Alicia Keys, “If I Ain’t Got You”
• MiCasa, “Feeling You”
• Hozier, “Too Sweet”
• Lizzo, “2 B Loved (Am I Ready?)
• David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good”
• Pussycat Dolls, “I Hate This Part”
• Blondie, “Maria”
• Alan Walker, “Who I Am”

Here’s East Coast Gold just after 7 p.m. on May 1:

• Men At Work, “Who Can It Be Now”
• Dream Merchants, “The Rattler”
• Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark”
• Neil Diamond, “Desirée” 
• Blood, Sweat & Tears, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”
• Scandal, “The Warrior”
• 10cc, “The Things We Do for Love”