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TRUTH: The Wheel Is Still Pretty Viable!
10 Technologies That Went Extinct While Radio Didn’t.
Over the last 25 years, we’ve watched essential innovations
collapse under the weight of progress, one after the other.
1. Fax Machines
- Replaced by email, PDFs, and digital signatures.
- While fax lost its purpose, radio expanded its purpose —
reaching us on apps, smart speakers, car dashboards, and still
in our ears every day.
2. Video Rental Stores
- Killed by Netflix and on-demand culture.
- Unlike Blockbuster, radio embraced digital: podcasting,
streaming, and content on-demand without losing its live, local
identity.
3. The iPod
- Its single-purpose utility got absorbed into smartphones.
- Radio isn’t just music. It’s news, personality, real-time
relevance — a multi-purpose platform that tech can’t just
“absorb.”
4. Pagers
- Then cell phones arrived. Game over.
- Mobile didn’t kill radio - it gave it wings. Your favorite
station is now in your pocket 24/7.
5. Encyclopedia Britannica in Print
- The internet made it obsolete overnight.
- While Britannica became a static relic, radio thrives on
immediacy - updating by the minute, not the edition.
6. CDs
From million-sellers to bargain-bin leftovers.
- Streaming changed the way we consume music forever.
- People still crave curation, personality, surprise — radio
delivers what algorithms can’t: live, local humanness.
7. Camcorders
Used to be in every family’s travel bag.
- Smartphones made them redundant.
- Radio isn’t a one-function gadget. It’s live, emotional,
connective, and not something you can replace with an app.
8. Landlines
- Mobile phones made them irrelevant.
- Radio didn’t cling to hardware — it evolved with the hardware.
In cars, phones, homes, and wearables - available
everywhere you go.
9. PalmPilot / PDA
- A brilliant idea that didn’t scale.
- Radio scaled beautifully. It went from local towers to global
reach, while staying rooted in communities.
10. MySpace
- Outpaced by better UX, smarter networks, and Facebook’s
dominance.
- Radio keeps reinventing — new formats, new talent, new
ways to listen - without ever losing its core: real-time human
connection.
All these technologies were big, beloved. But none of them could
do what radio did:
- Adapt
- Evolve
- Stay relevant
- Stay human
Radio isn’t dying. It is doubling down on live connection, local
trust, and multi-platform access.
Time to celebrate radio’s incredible wheel-like ability to outlive
all comers!

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