"There is a print tradition, a manuscript tradition and all sorts of other traditions, but all the 'oral tradition' is is passing on information by mouth to ear, and it is a tradition that still happens today, although much compounded by modern technology."

I get that, but it's a jargon term, as Jim's quote fo Seeger demosntrates. My initial reaction to Pseud's OP was that to do serious original research one usually needs to understand the terminology that previous researchers have used.

But it is jargon and if what is meant is passing from person to person orally then 'oral transmission' is a compound where the two words still have, just about, their common English meaning. Needing to look up the etymology of 'tradition' and then ponder over what it might mean in the context is an extra step.