POPULAR RADIO AND THE ORIGINS OF BROADCASTING

Chapter 5

EARLY TECHNOLOGY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADIO Radio did not emerge as a full-blown mass medium until the 1920s, though the technology that made radio possible had been evolving for years

The telegraph and Morse code were the precursors to radio Morse code could dispatch complicated language codes, but it was unable to transmit the human voice

There was no efficient way to transmit telegraph signals between land and ships

MAXWELL AND HERTZ DISCOVER RADIO WAVES The key development in wireless transmissions came from James Maxwell, a Scottish physicist who in the mid-1860s theorized the existence of electromagnetic waves: invisible electronic impulses similar to visible light

Maxwell later theorized that a portion of the phenomena, later known as radio waves, could be harnessed so that signals could be sent from a transmission point to a reception point

German physicist Heinrich Hertz proved Maxwell’s theories in the 1880s

Hertz created a crude device that permitted an electrical spark to leap across a small gap between two steel balls. As the electricity jumped the gap, it emitted waves; this was the first recorded transmission of electromagnetic waves

MARCONI AND THE INVENTORS OF WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi read Hertz’s work and understood that developing a way to send high-speed messages over great distances would transform communication

Telephone and telegraph existed, but were limited by wires Marconi attached Hertz’s machine to a Morse code machine In 1896, he patented wireless telegraphy, and started the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company

1899, wires a signal across the English Channel, 1901 across the Atlantic Ocean

MARCONI AND THE INVENTORS OF WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY In Russia, Alexander Popov was making similar discoveries to Marconi However, Popov was an academic and not an entrepreneur, and Marconi go to the patent first

There’s also Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-Croatian inventor who immigrated to New York in 1894

Successfully demonstrated wireless technology in 1893. However, Tesla was overshadowed by Marconi, even thought Marconi used Tesla’s developments in his technology

For years, Tesla was not associated with the development of radio and never received money for it

In 1943—after Tesla’s death—the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Marconi’s wireless patent and deemed Tesla the inventor of radio

WIRELESS TELEPHONY: DE FOREST AND FESSENDEN Lee De Forest (who, in defiance of other inventors, called himself “father of radio”) wrote the first doctoral dissertation on wireless technology

Went head-to-head with Marconi reporting yacht races for the Associated Press

Both of them jammed each other so badly that officials ended up sending information with flags and hand signals

This event exemplified a problem that would persist throughout radio’s early development: noise and interference from competition for the finite supply of radio frequencies

A major difference between De Forest and Marconi was De Forest’s interest in wireless voice and music transmission, known as wireless telephony

WIRELESS TELEPHONY: DE FOREST AND FESSENDEN The credit for the first voice broadcast belongs to Canadian engineer Reginald Fessenden

Gave his first public demonstration on Christmas Eve, 1906 Broadcasting: The transmission of radio waves (and later, TV signals) to a broad, public audience

REGULATING A NEW MEDIUM The two most important international issues affecting radio in the first decade of the 20th century were ship radio requirements, and signal interference

In 1910, Congress passed the Wireless Ship Act, which required that all major U.S. seagoing ships carrying more than 50 passengers and traveling more than 200 miles off the coast be equipped with wireless equipment with a 100 mile range

The importance of this act was underscored by the Titanic disaster in 1912

Although more than 1500 people died in the disaster, wireless reports played a critical role in pinpointing the Titanic’s location, enabling rescue ships to save over 700 lives

RADIO WAVES AS A NATURAL RESOURCE Radio Act of 1912: Transmitting on radio waves would require licensing

Radio waves crossed state and national borders, they cannot be owned, they are a natural resource

All wireless stations must obtain radio licenses from the Commerce Department

Radio should provide a benefit to society in the form of education and public service

THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 1 American Marconi (a subset of British Marconi) was the largest wireless point-to-point communication system

By 1914 and the start of WWI, Americans (not in the war yet) began questioning whether they wanted a foreign company to wield so much power

GE and AT&T capitalized on this fear and began undercutting Marconi’s influence with the Navy

When the U.S. joined the war in 1917, the Navy closed down all amateur radio broadcasters and took control of key radio transmitters to ensure military security

After the war, the U.S. wanted to position itself as an international power, thus corporate and government leaders conspired to make sure radio communication would serve American interests

THE FORMATION OF RCA Private sector monopoly: A private company that would have the government’s approval to dominate the radio industry

GE agreed not to sell key radio technologies to European-owned companies, limiting those companies’ reach

GE then took the lead in establishing RCA (Radio Corporation of America) which soon acquired American Marconi and radio patents of other U.S. companies

RCA pooled the necessary technology and patents to monopolize the wireless industry and expand American communication technology throughout the world

THE FORMATION OF RCA Many companies were pooled in order to ensure U.S. control over the manufacture of radio transmitters and receivers

Initially, RCA’s function was to ensure that radio parts were standardized by manufacturers and to control frequency interference by amateur radio operators. They were not yet allowed to manufacture equipment or operate radio stations under their own name

RCA’s most significant impact was that it gave the U.S. almost total control over the emerging mass medium of broadcasting

By pooling more than 2,000 patents and sharing research developments, RCA ensured the global dominance of the U.S. in mass communication

THE EVOLUTION OF RADIO

THE EVOLUTION OF RADIO In 1921, the U.S. Commerce Department officially licensed five radio stations for operation; by early 1923 more than 600 commercial and noncommercial stations were operating

By 1925, the “guts” of the radio were placed inside stylish furniture and marketed to households. 5.5 million radio sets were in use across America, and radio was officially a mass medium

BUILDING THE FIRST NETWORKS Network: A cost-saving operation that links a group of broadcast stations that share programming produced at a central location

In 1922, AT&T (which already had a government-sanctioned telephone monopoly) decided to break its RCA agreements in an attempt to monopolize radio as well

AT&T began making and selling its own radio receivers, and started the first radio station to regularly sell commercial advertisements

AT&T claimed that under the RCA agreements it had the exclusive right to sell ads The idea of promoting radio as a public service (like NPR today) ended when executives realized that radio ads offered another opportunity for profits long after radio-set sales had saturated the consumer market

BUILDING THE FIRST NETWORKS By the end of 1924, AT&T had interconnected 22 stations to air a talk by President Calvin Coolidge

In response, GE, Westinghouse, and RCA created a new network. This radio group had to use inferior Western Union telegraph lines because AT&T denied them access to telephone wires

By this time AT&T had sold its stock in RCA and refused to lease its lines to competing radio networks

This clash eventually led to a government investigation and settlement in 1925 The Justice Department redefined patent agreements. AT&T received a monopoly on providing the wires to connect radio stations nationwide in exchange for selling its network and not reentering broadcasting for 8 years (it actually lasted into the 1990s)

SARNOFF AND NBC: BUILDING THE “BLUE” AND “RED” NETWORKS After De Forest, David Sarnoff was among the first to envision wireless telegraphy as a modern mass medium

Sarnoff was a wireless operator at Marconi who helped relay information about Titanic survivors

Sarnoff was RCA’s first commercial manager. In 1921, at age 30, he became RCA’s general manager

SARNOFF AND NBC: BUILDING THE “BLUE” AND “RED” NETWORKS After RCA bought AT&T’s telephone group network, Sarnoff created a new subsidiary in 1926 called the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Shortly thereafter, the original telephone group (formerly AT&T network) became the NBC-Red network, and the radio group (formerly RCA, GE, and Westinghouse) became the NBC-Blue network

NBC affiliates, though independently owned, signed contracts to be part of the network and paid NBC to carry it’s programming

Network radio may have actually helped modernize America by de-emphasizing the local and regional in favor of national programs broadcast to nearly everyone

SARNOFF AND NBC: BUILDING THE “BLUE” AND “RED” NETWORKS David Sarnoff’s leadership at RCA was capped by two other negotiations that solidified his stature as the driving force behind radio’s development as a modern medium

1. He cut a deal with GM to start manufacturing car radios2. He merged RCA with the Victor Talking Machine Company, which

came to be known as RCA Victor until the 1960s. The merger gave RCA control over Victor’s records and recording equipment, making the radio company a major player in the sound recording industry

GOVERNMENT SCRUTINY ENDS RCA-NBC MONOPOLY By the late 1920s, the government began scrutinizing NBC and its growing control over radio content

The government had originally sanctioned a closely supervised monopoly for wireless communication, but following the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the public became increasingly distrustful of big business

RCA acted quickly to eliminate its monopolizing partnerships RCA bought out GE’s and Westinghouse’s remaining shares in RCA’s manufacturing business so that RCA would compete directly against them, encouraging competition

CBS AND PALEY: CHALLENGING NBC The Columbia Phonograph Company (a record company), looking for a way to preempt the RCA-Victor merger (its major competitor), launched the new CPBS (Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System)

After losing $100,000 in the first month, the record company pulled out. Later, CPBS dropped the word “phonograph” from its title, creating the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

In 1928, William Paley (owner of a Philadelphia cigar company) bought a controlling interest in CBS to sponsor their cigar brand

CBS AND PALEY: CHALLENGING NBC Option time: CBS paid affiliates $50 per hour for an option on a portion of their time. Theoretically, CBS could now control up to 24 hours of programming on a station

Some affiliates received thousands of dollars per week merely to serve as conduits for CBS programs and ads (CBS is selling ads and making money)

NBC was still charging some affiliates as much as $96 a week to carry network programs, therefore the CBS offer was extremely appealing

By 1933, CBS had more than 90 affiliates, many defecting from NBC CBS developed news programming and entertainment shows, finally surpassing NBC as the highest-rated network in 1949 (at the very end of big-time radio)

BRINGING ORDER TO CHAOS WITH THE RADIO ACT OF 1927 In the 1920s, the battle for more frequency space and less channel interference intensified

1926—based on the existing Radio Act, Herbert Hoover (Commerce Secretary) only had the power to grant licenses, not to restrict stations from operating

200 new stations clogged the airwaves, creating a chaotic period in which nearly all radios had poor reception. By 1927, sales of radio sets had declined sharply

Radio Act of 1927: Licensees did not own their channels but could only license them as long as they operated to serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity”

BRINGING ORDER TO CHAOS WITH THE RADIO ACT OF 1927 Federal Radio Commission (FRC): Later became the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A powerful regulatory agency with jurisdiction over radio, telephone, and telegraph industries (and later TV, cable, and the internet)

In 1941, the FCC went after the networks. Declaring that NBC and CBS could no longer force affiliates to carry programs they did not want, the government outlawed option time

The FCC also demanded that RCA sell one of its NBC networks. RCA eventually sold NBC-Blue, which became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

THE GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO Many programs on television today were initially formulated for radio

The first weather forecasts and farm reports on radio began in the 1920s

Regularly scheduled radio news analysis started in 1927 (WEAF, Brooklyn)

The first regular network news analysis began on CBS in 1930

EARLY RADIO PROGRAMMING Among the most popular early programs on the radio, variety shows—developed from stage acts and vaudeville—were considered experimental

Variety shows featured classical music, minstrel shows, comedy sketches, and dramatic readings. Stars from vaudeville, musical comedy, theater, and opera would make guest appearances

By the 1930s, studio-audience quiz shows had emerged Dramatic programs—mostly radio plays that were broadcast live from theaters—developed as early as 1922. Colgate-Palmolive bought a popular drama and began selling soap products, giving the genre its distinctive nickname…

Most radio programs had a single sponsor that created and produced each show

RADIO PROGRAMMING AS A CULTURAL MIRROR The situation comedy began on radio in the mid 1920s Amos’n’Andy launched the idea of the serial show—a program that featured continuing story lines from one day to the next. The format was soon copied by soap operas and other radio dramas

In 1951, it made a brief transition to TV, becoming the first TV series to have an entirely black cast

Amid a strengthening Civil Rights movement and a formal protest by the NAACP—which argued that “every character is a clown or a crook,” CBS canceled the program in 1953

THE AUTHORITY OF RADIO The most famous single radio broadcast of all time was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds

Orson Welles produced, hosted, and acted. On Halloween eve in 1938, Welles aired the Martian invasion novel in the style of a radio news program

For people who missed the opening disclaimer, the program sounded like a real news report, with eyewitness accounts of battles between Martian invaders and the U.S. Army

The program created a panic that lasted for several hours. Men reported to the National Guard to prepare for battle, and calls jammed police switchboards across the nation

In the aftermath, the FCC called for stricter warnings both before and during programs that imitated the style of radio news

RADIO REINVENTS ITSELF

RADIO REINVENTS ITSELF Older media forms do not generally disappear when confronted by newer forms. Instead, they adapt

Radio threatened sound recording in the 1920s, so the recording industry adapted

In the 1950s, television threatened radio, so radio adapted

TRANSISTORS MAKE RADIO PORTABLE Transistor: Small electrical devices that could receive and amplify radio signals. Used less power, more durable, less expensive, and tiny. Developed in 1947

Texas Instruments marketed the first transistor radio in 1953 for about $40. Sony introduced the pocket radio in 1957

The development of transistors let radio go where TV could not—to the beach, to the office, and into nearly all new cars

THE FM REVOLUTION AND EDWIN ARMSTRONG FM: Frequency modulation. Offers static-free radio reception, as well as greater fidelity and clarity than AM, making it ideal for music

AM: Amplitude modulation. Stresses the volume of radio waves Edwin Armstrong discovers and develops FM radio in the 1920s. Backed by Sarnoff (NBC) he started an FM station on top of the Empire State Building. Sarnoff, wanting to protect NBC’s TV and AM radio empire, decided to shut down the station

Armstrong forged ahead without Sarnoff By 1949, there were 700 FM stations The FCC moved FM’s frequency band on the electromagnetic spectrum, rendering many prewar FM receivers useless

THE FM REVOLUTION AND EDWIN ARMSTRONG Tired of endless lawsuits and failure, Edwin Armstrong committed suicide in 1954

In the early 1960s, the FCC opened up more spectrum space for the superior sound of FM radio

AM stations had greater reach, but they could not match the crisp fidelity of FM radio, which made FM preferable for music

In the 1970s, about 70 percent of listeners tuned exclusively to AM radio

By the 1980s, FM surpassed AM in profitability In the 2010s, 75 percent of listeners prefer FM radio The development of FM saved radio, and allowed it to adapt after the advent of TV

THE RISE OF FORMAT AND TOP 40 RADIO Format radio: Management rather than DJs controlled programming each hour

Program managers noticed that certain songs were played over and over again in jukeboxes, and wanted to use these “hits” more frequently in radio

Rotation: Playing the top songs many times during the day Top 40 Format: Forty most popular songs as measured by radio sales Managers didn’t want dead air and encouraged DJs to talk over the beginning and end of each song

Only songs that are popular get played, other good songs get ignored Many DJs quit because they considered radio an art form, but program managers won out because format radio made more money

RESISTING THE TOP 40 The expansion of FM radio in the 1960s created more room for experimenting, particularly with classical music, jazz, blues, and non-top 40 rock songs

Progressive rock emerged as an alternative to conventional formats Noncommercial and college radio stations had student DJs and managers, and rejected Top 40 format in favor of lesser-known music

Experimental FM stations offered a cultural space for hard-edged political folk music and rock music that commented on Civil Rights and the Vietnam War.

Album-oriented rock: Progressive rock was copied, tamed and absorbed by bands like Queen, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and AC/DC (now known as classic rock)

THE SOUNDS OF COMMERCIAL RADIO

THE SOUNDS OF COMMERCIAL RADIO Most large markets today include more than forty stations that vie for listener loyalty

Some personalities (Glenn Beck, Ryan Seacrest, Rush Limbaugh) are nationally known, but at most stations it is the local DJs who are the stars

Radio has become a secondary medium that follows the rhythms of daily life, people don’t tune in to listen at certain times

The heaviest listening now occurs during drive time, rather than in the evenings when people are at home

Stations today are very specialized

FORMAT SPECIALIZATION More than 40 different radio formats, plus variations, serve diverse groups of listeners

Formats (and advertisers) target audiences according to their age, income, gender, or race/ethnicity

About 10 percent of stations across the country switch formats each year in an effort to find a formula that generates more advertising money

NEWS, TALK, AND INFORMATION RADIO By 2014, more than 2,183 stations carried the format—more stations than any other format

It is the most dominant format on AM radio, and the second most popular by number of listeners (country is #1)

This format is more expensive to produce than a music format, but it appeals to advertisers looking to target middle- and working-class adult consumers

MUSIC FORMATS Adult contemporary: An eclectic mix of news, talk, oldies, and soft rock Contemporary hits: Otherwise known as top 40, appeals to many teens and young adults, focuses on pop singles

Country: The most popular format in the nation, the default format if there is only one station in a small town

Urban contemporary: Targets a wide variety of African-American listeners, primarily in large cities. Plays pop, dance, rap, R&B, and hip-hop

Spanish language: One of radio’s fastest growing formats, concentrated mainly in large Hispanic markets like Miami, Houston, New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas

Classic rock: Favorites from the mid 1960s through 1980s for the baby-boomer generation

NONPROFIT RADIO AND NPR Although commercial radio dominates the radio spectrum, nonprofit radio maintains a voice

Over the years, many nonprofit radio stations have sold out to for-profit owners

Today, more than 3,000 nonprofit stations operated, most of them on the FM band

THE EARLY YEARS OF NONPROFIT RADIO 1948: Two government rulings aided nonprofit radio1. The government began authorizing noncommercial licenses to

stations not affiliated with labor, religious, education, or civic groups.

2. The FCC approved 10-watt FM stations with about only a seven mile broadcast range, allowing more people (students) to participate in radio

CREATION OF THE FIRST NONCOMMERCIAL NETWORKS In the 1960s, NPR and PBS were created as the first noncommercial networks, designed to be used as educational tools

Over the years, public radio has faced waning government support and the threat of losing its federal funding

Public radio stations have started to rely more on private donations, which could cause some public broadcasters to steer clear of controversial subjects

Noncommercial radio generally follows the format style, however, they may switch formats throughout a single day, sometimes playing music, sometimes talk, sports, news etc.

NEW RADIO TECHNOLOGIES OFFER MORE STATIONS Over the past decade or so, two alternative radio technologies have helped expand radio beyond its traditional AM and FM bands and bring more diverse sounds to listeners: Satellite and HD (digital) radio

SATELLITE RADIO Subscription based radio service which started out with two companies: Sirius and XM

These two companies merged in 2008 in order to stop battling for listeners and start making profits

Many different channels are available U.S. automakers now equip most new cars with a satellite band in order to promote further adoptions of satellite radio

SiriusXM now has more than 25 million subscribers

HD RADIO HD radio: A digital technology that enables AM and FM radio broadcasters to multicast up to three additional compressed digital signals within their traditional analog frequency

Listeners need a radio with the HD band, which brings CD quality digital signals

HD radio also provides program data, such as artist name and song title, and enables listeners to tag songs for playlists that can later be downloaded and purchased on iTunes

RADIO AND CONVERGENCE Like every other mass medium, radio is moving into the future by converging with the internet

Internet radio allows for much more variety in radio, which is reminiscent of radio’s early years

Podcasts bring back such content as storytelling, instructional programs, and local topics of interest

INTERNET RADIO Internet radio emerged in the 1990s, and consists of two forms1. An existing FM, AM, satellite, or HD station streaming a simulcast

version of its on-air signal over the internet2. A specific station that is designed exclusively for the internet

PODCASTING AND PORTABLE LISTENING Podcasting: A combination of the words iPod and broadcasting, refers to the practice of making audio files available on the internet so listeners can download them onto their devices

Podcasting has led to a resurgence in portable listening (like the old days of transistor radio)

THE ECONOMICS OF BROADCAST RADIO

THE ECONOMICS OF BROADCAST RADIO Radio continues to be one of the most used mass media, reaching about 92 percent of American teenagers and adults every week

Because of radio’s broad reach, the airwaves are very desirable real estate for advertisers, who want to reach people in and out of their homes, for record labels who want their songs played, and for stations owners, who want to create large radio groups to dominate multiple markets

LOCAL AND NATIONAL ADVERTISING About 10 percent of all U.S. spending on media advertising goes to radio stations

Gross advertising spending for radio are more than $17.6 billion Unlike TV, in which nearly 40 percent of a station’s expenses goes towards buying syndicated programs, local radio stations get much of their content free from the recording industry

Only about 20 percent of a typical radio station’s budget goes toward covering programming costs

However, the recording industry wants to move towards a model where radio broadcasters are charged royalties for playing music on the air

LOCAL AND NATIONAL ADVERTISING When radio stations want to purchase programming, they often turn to national network radio, which generates more than $1 billion in ad sales annually by offering dozens of specialized services

Westwood One is the nation’s largest radio network service They provide top-of-the-hour news, as well as talk programming, or music programming

MANIPULATING PLAYLISTS WITH PAYOLA Despite congressional intervention in the 1950s, payola has persisted, although to a smaller degree and in secret

In 1986, NBC News broke a story about independent promoters who had alleged ties to organized crime. A subsequent investigation led major recording companies to break most of their ties with independent promoters. Prominent record labels had been paying such promoters up to $80 million per year to help records become hits

In 2007, four of the largest broadcasting companies—CBS Radio, Clear Channel, Citadel, and Entercom—agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle an FCC payola investigation

In 2010, Univision Radio paid $1 million to settle allegations of payola and end an FCC investigation

RADIO OWNERSHIP: FROM DIVERSITY TO CONSOLIDATION The Telecommunications Act of 1996 eliminated most ownership restrictions on radio

From 1995 to 2005, the number of radio station owners declined from 6600 to 4400

Previously, a media company could not own more than 7 AM, 7 FM, and 7 TV stations nationally, and could only own one radio station per market

Example: Townsquare Media, launched in 2010, grew to 312 stations by 2014 by focusing on acquiring stations in midsize markets

The top 3 commercial groups—iHeartMedia, Townsquare, and Cumulus—control at least one-third of the radio industry’s revenue

ALTERNATIVE VOICES Pirate radio stations: Independent, unlicensed stations broadcasting at low power

Low-power FM (LPFM): a class of 100-watt stations (reach about 5 miles) that give local groups access to radio. Groups include high schools and colleges, religious groups, Native American tribes, and museums

RADIO AND THE DEMOCRACY OF THE AIRWAVES For all its national influence, radio is still a supremely local medium However, trends in ownership have moved radio away from its localism, as radio groups often manage hundreds of stations from afar

With a few large broadcast companies now permitted to dominate radio ownership nationwide, how much is consolidation of power restricting the number and kinds of voices permitted to speak over the public airwaves?