Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting
b. Past-present-future
a. Maxwell and Hertz
1. Maxwell theorizes electromagnetic waves, which are invisible electronic impulses, going on to say that a smaller portion of these, known as radio waves could transmit signals between points, in the 1860s.
2. Heinrich Hertz in the 1880s creates a device to prove Maxwells theory by causing electricity to jump a small gapped distance, emitting waves and this creating the first recorded transmission, and reception, of Maxwell’s electromagnetic wave.
b. Marconi and telegraphy-In 1894, Marconi attaches Hertz’s spark-gap transmitter to a Morse telegraph key to create wireless telegraphy, which he patents in 1896, being immensely useful to military and commercial shipping for communication.
c. De Forest and Fessenden
1. Lee De Forest sets up the Wire Telephone Company in 1902, competing with Marconi, but with an interest in wireless voice and music transmission, leading to wireless telephony
2. De Forest develops the triode vacuum tube, known as Audion, detecting and amplifying radio waves.
3. Dec. 24, 1906 GE engineer Fessenden makes fiest public broadcast demonstration. This begins broadcasting-transmitting radio waves to a public audience, as opposed to the former narrowcasting from person to person
d. Regulating a medium
i. Radio waves
-the Radio Act of 1912 came into light post-Titanic, stated that radio waves could not be owned, but to broadcast required a license.
ii.World War 1
-1917 American entering of WWI oversaw airwave security by shutting down amateur radio stations and seizing main transmitters.
iii.Formation RCA
1. Formed in 1919, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) acquired various radio and wireless patents from the navy, AT&T, GE and Marconi, which monopolized the industry, as well as ensured United States control over transmitters and recievers.
2. Government regulations required that no more than 20 percent of RCA could be held by foreigners. Regulations would later be raised to 25 percent in 1927
3. With RCA, the United States were the only country that placed broadcasting in the hands of commercial care, as opposed to government or military.
Evolution of radio
a. RCA unravels
1. AT&T phone company decided to break off agreements with RCA and start selling their own version of radio receivers and monopolize radio all together.
2. Additionally, AT&T’s plan was to take over radio as we knew it back in the 1920s and it looked like they were on their way to achieving this through the creation of the very first network in 1923 with its companion WEAF
3. On the contrary, however, AT&T’s strategy backfired on them two years after the network was created when they received a ban from broadcasting from the government in 1925 for eight years that actually lasted through the 1990s.
b. Sarnoff/NBC and blue/red
1. David Sarnoff was the one of the first individuals to see wireless telegraphy as a current mass medium and was involved in the creation of RCA in the year 1919.
a. He became the commercial manager as soon as RCA was put together.
2. After seven years of RCA being in existence, Sarnoff decided to create the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and eventually the NBC-Blue network (radio group) and the NBC Red network (originally owned by GE, Westinghouse and RCA)
3. Sarnoff helped to make network radio into a national phenomenon and NBC by 1927 was broadcasting all across the United States.
c. Government end RCA/NBC
1. The government became upset with RCA/NBC and Sarnoff while accusing them of exercising more control than necessary over programming and broadcasting
2. As a result of these charges issued by the government, RCA was forced to break up its monopoly with NBC but they still were able to compete against GE and Westinghouse.
d. CBS/Paley challenge NBC
1. CBS (Colombia Broadcasting System), wanted to break the string of companies being unsuccessful in their attempts to compete with Sarnoff and NBC.
2. This happened when William Paley, the son of an owner of a cigar business, bought into CBS, hired Edward Bernays, a public relations guru, and came up with a concept of option time.
3. This concept would lead to the success of CBS, its ability to control the radio time of its affiliates, and its strong influence on other affiliates to join.
a. CBS at one time had more than 90 affiliates, surely giving NBC some competition to deal with.
e. Radio Act of 1927
1. This was an act that was formulated to help restore the airwaves back to order as they were being clogged by new radio stations and radio set sales were declining significantly.
2. Under this act, licensees could only license radio channels only if they served the “public’s interest, convenience or their necessities.”
3. The act also created a commission in 1927, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC)
a. However, in 1934, the creation and passage of the Communications Act of 1934 allowed the FRC to change its name to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
f. Golden Age radio
1. Radio during this era saw the first weather broadcasts and news broadcasts in the 1920s and 1930, respectively.
a. The first news anchor on radio stayed on radio for an astounding forty-four years
b. The first news analysis was in 1927 when a Brooklyn Eagle reporter by the name of H.V. Kaltenborn gave commentary through AT&T’s partner WEAF (For more information concerning Kaltenborn, use the following link provided: http://www.otr.com/kaltenborn.shtml.)
i. Early radio – Some of the early radio programs in the 1920s included the hit TV show The Ed Sullivan show, The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger to name a few. Additionally, quiz shows with an actual studio audience came about in 1930. Furthermore, most of these shows had just one sponsor that was responsible for making each show.
ii.Cultural mirror
iii.Authority
Radio reinvents Itself
a. Portable radio
b. FM and Edwin Armstrong
c. Format and Top 40
d. Resisting Top 40
The sounds of commercial radio
a. Format specialization
i. News, Talk Information
ii. Music formats
b. Storytelling
c. Non-profit radio and NPR
i. Early years
ii. First noncommercial networks
Media literacy and process[1] (p.180)
-This excerpt is exploring the dimensions of public radio
-What types of stories are told, and do these stories receive particular attention because of the funding provided by different sponsors?
-Explore the balance between reporting and opinion
d. New technologies offer stations
i. Satellite Radio
-Two primary companies: Sirius and XM
-Merger created single provider in 2008: SiriusXM
-Offers huge number of categories
-Nearly 23 million subscribers in 2012
ii. HD radio
-Provides program data: song, artist
-Enables listeners to tag songs for playlists
-Becoming more widespread as automakers include HD in most new model cars
Radio and convergence
i. Internet radio
-Radio is moving into the future by ‘converging’ with Internet
-Allows for more variety – back to radio’s roots
-Listeners create individualized stations – Filtering at its finest
-Several issues dealing with royalties: price, negotiation, split
-Webcaster Settlement ActClick here for more information and the exact text of the Webcaster Settlement Act.
ii. Podcasting, portable listening
-Introducing a way for people to download programs and listen to them at a later time.
-Helping broadcasters reach younger generations, however NAB has been lobbying FCC to include FM capability in all phones. This would help the radio broadcasters by putting them on the same level as non-broadcasting competitors like Pandora.
-Podcasts have helped bring back content like storytelling and instructional programs that have been missing in corporate radio.Cool video on storytelling HERE
Economics of Broadcast Radio
a. Local and National Advertising
-About 8% of U.S. media advertising goes to radio stations.
-30 second radio advertisements can cost $1,500 in larger markets, while it can only cost a few dollars in smaller markets.
(CMF, p. 184).
b. Manipulating playlists with Payola
-Payola is a system where D.J.'s are payed to play specific records/songs.
-There have been several payola laws set in place to prevent D.J's from being bribed to play certain records.
c. Diversity of consolidation
-Telecommunications Act of 1996- changed the rules of who owned public airwaves. This Act allows individuals to own as many radio stations they want depending on the market. (The consequences of this act have been substancial)
d.Alternative voices
-Large corportations began to take of the airwaves in 1990's which was protested by "pirate" radio stations.
-Low power FM- Give local groups a voice who can't access public radio.
Radio and Democracy
-Radio has had a significant impact on American culture through many facets (music, comedy, soap operas, talk radio, etc.)
-The public needs to continue to play a role in radio to make sure media maintains democracy.
References:
- ↑ Campbell, Martin, and Fabos (2013). Media and Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age. Bedford St. Martin's: New York.