Alice Cantrell, age 12, of Annapolis, Ind., for her question:

ARE RADIOS BECOMING MORE POPULAR?

When the so called Golden Age of radio broadcasting ended in 1950, as people turned more and more to television, many thought that radio would become an unimportant communication medium with a very small audience. The opposite is true.

In 1952, Americans owned about 105 million radios. Today they own almost 400 million.

Since the 1950s, music has become the major form of radio entertainment. Talk shows and stations that broadcast nothing but news also help to make radio popular.

Portable radios also add to the popularity of the radio. Portable transistor radios amount to yearly sales of about 30 million which represents more than 60 percent of all radio sales.

Another thing that has boosted the radio's popularity: the automobile. In 1952, about 50 percent of all American cars had radios. Today, more than 95 percent of the cars on the road have radios.