Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and Beyond chapter 1

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
Beyondchapter 1

• Quick Facts
• First radio broadcast Reginald Fessenden,
  Christmas Eve, 1906
• First radio network company NBC, 1926
• First Top 40 radio broadcasts 1952
• First public demonstration of TV 1939 Worlds
  Fair
• Cost of first TV commercial 4 (1941)
• Cost of commercial minute in 2006 Super Bowl
  5.0 million

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• The Inventors
• Early inventors and inventions paved the way for
  the electronic mass media
• James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz demonstrated the
  existence of electromagnetic radiation

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Guglielmo Marconi - Experimented with radio
  transmitters and receivers. Eventually he
  developed a powerful wireless business
• Reginald Fessenden - tested his alternator on
  Christmas Eve, 1906. Demonstrated that voice
  could be transmitted over the ether.
• Fessendens alternator produced a continuous wave
  that was needed for the transmission of voice or
  music.

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Lee De Forest and the Invisible Empire
• De Forests Audion made it possible to amplify
  weak radio signals.
• DeForest wrote that he had discovered an
  Invisible Empire of the Air.
• The Audion helped make modern electronics
  possible
• (http//www.cedmagic.com/history/deforest-aud
  ion.html)

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Boardrooms and Courtrooms
• De Forests audion got him into patent trouble
  with the Marconi Company.
• British Marconi and its American subsidiary
  dominated radio.
• Radio before World War I was primarily
  point-to-point communication used like the
  telegraph.
• General Electric, ATT and Westinghouse were also
  interested in the radio business

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Radio Goes to War
• During World War I, the Navy took control of all
  radio operations in the U.S.
• The Navy assumed all responsibility for patent
  infringement and installed radio equipment in all
  of its ships.
• By the end of the war, technology had advanced
  rapidly as a result of the Navys actions.

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• The Birth of RCA
• Radio Corporation of America was formed after the
  war
• Took controlling interest of the American Marconi
  company
• Parent company was the General Electric Company
• Was in the business of point-to-point
  communication-- this was before broadcasting
  became popular

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• RCA entered into a cross-licensing scheme to
  solve the patent problems
• The RCA agreement allowed GE, ATT and
  Westinghouse to take advantage of each others
  discoveries.
• GE and Westinghouse would manufacture radio
  equipment, RCA would sell it and ATT would build
  transmitters

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Broadcastings Beginnings
• Radio burst on the scene in the 1920s because
• Thousands of hobbyists were trained in radio
  during the war
• Technological improvements made during the war
  gave radio better reception
• Business interests began to realize that
  broadcasting might make money

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• KDKA - Frank Conrad, a Westinghouse engineer,
  began experimental broadcasts in Pittsburgh.
• Westinghouse, RCA, GE and ATT started
  experimental stations
• Beginning of 1922, 28 stations actively
  broadcasting
• At the end of 1922, 570 stations on the air.
• Interference became a major headache

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Radios Fast Times
• Between 1920 and 1927 radio grew from a fad to a
  major industry
• ATT starts commercial advertising on WEAF in
  1923, soon other stations followed
• David Sarnoff started NBC in 1926. NBC begins
  radio network broadcasting, takes over ATTs
  stations
• CBS was formed in 1927 by William S. Paley
• Radio networks stimulated national advertising

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Broadcasting gets some rules
• The Radio Act of 1927 made some key assumptions
• The radio spectrum was a national resource.
  Individuals could not own frequencies
• Licensees would have to operate in the public
  interest
• Government censorship was forbidden

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• The Federal Radio Commission
• Congress established a temporary 5 member
  commission to regulate broadcasting in 1927
• The FRC was formed partly to solve the growing
  interference problems
• The Radio Act of 1927 was superseded by the
  Federal Communications Act of 1934. The FCC, a
  permanent body established to oversee regulation
  of wireless and wired communication, was
  established

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Radio Days and Nights 1930 - 1948
• Radio listenership skyrocketed during this period
  
• Advertising revenues increased from 40 million
  in 1930 to 506 million in 1948
• Radio network affiliates increased from 131 in
  1930 to 1,104.
• Radio became the number one source of home
  entertainment

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Armstrong Invents FM
• Edwin Armstrong invents FM in 1933
• FM sounds better and has less static than AM
• RCA s David Sarnoff decided not to support the
  new innovation, wanted to focus on television
  instead
• World War II halted the development of FM
• FCC changes the FM band

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Radio Programs
• Radio network programs were primarily music /
  variety programs
• Big Bands became popular
• Amosn Andy, considered racist today, was a huge
  hit starting in 1929
• Radio news grew in importance during the second
  world war
• Comedy teams develop situation comedies, soap
  operas gain audiences, evening dramas flourish

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Television
• NBC introduces television at New York Worlds
  Fair (1939)
• Development costs are a staggering 156 million
• RCA television is an all electronic scanning
  system largely credited to the work of two
  inventors
• Vladimir Zworykin
• Philo Farnsworth
• Further development of television is interrupted
  by World War II.

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Television Development and Freeze
• 1948 FCC freezes TV licenses to study the future
  of the field
• The Sixth Report and Order - issued in 1952
  addressed several important issues
• Table of channel assignments is constructed
• The FCC opens up the Ultra High Frequency band
• Standards for color television are set
• Educational television channels are set aside

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Radios Period of Adjustment
• TV has an impact on radio
• Radio network decline as popular shows move to TV
• Radio stations began to turn to specialized
  audiences
• TV brought the radio and record industry closer
• Radio stations became more dependent on local
  revenue

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Televisions Growth Curve 1950-2005
• Year Stations homes w/TV Employees
• 1950 98 9 9,000
• 1970 862 95 58,400
• 2005 1,749 99 180,000

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• New Wrinkles
• 1954 - RCA introduces color TV sets
• 1956 - Ampex introduces videotape recording
• 1961 - Congress passes the All-Channel Receiver
  Bill
• 1962 - Telstar first communications satellite is
  launched
• Community Antenna TV starts in rural communities

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Hollywood and Programming
• 1958 DuMont television network goes dark
• ABC mergers with United Paramount Theaters
• Disney signs with ABC to produce programming
• Big Money quiz shows popularity end as
  revelations about rigging become public
• Westerns are very popular
• Nightly newscasts are only 15 minutes long

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Stability for TV 1963-1975
• UHF gets a boost when cable has to carry all
  local stations in a market
• Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 creates PBS
• 1971- Congress bans cigarette advertising on
  television and radio
• Television with violent content becomes popular
  in the 1960s
• Escapist comedies and television in the late
  1960s give way to more realism with MASH and All
  In The Family

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Changes for TV 1975-1999
• Growing popularity of cable provides competition
  for broadcast television
• Videocassette recorders become popular items
• The Fox Network starts broadcasting in 1987
• Mergers cause all the major TV networks to change
  hands
• In 1980 Cable News Network forces TV nets to
  re-exam their news operations
• WB and UPN networks start in the 1990s

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Technological Advances
• Electronic News Gathering (ENG) revolutionizes TV
  coverage
• Satellite New Gathering extends ability to
  broadcast from nearly anywhere in the world
• Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) systems
  introduced
• Emergence of the Internet and World Wide Web
• FCC mandates digital television broadcasting

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Radio in the Video Age
• The transistor makes radio a truly portable
  medium in the 1950s
• 1972 - FM had overtakes AM as the most popular
  radio band
• During the 1970s radio networks started to
  re-emerge
• Formats become highly specialized, appealing to
  very specific demographic audiences
• 1996 Telecommunications Act allows consolidation

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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• Broadcasting in the 21st Century
• The economic recession coupled with the terrorist
  attack of September 11, 2001 has caused
  advertising declines
• XM and Sirius satellite radio joins AM and FM,
  providing new channels and formats
• Internet has impact on broadcasting
• iPods open the way for podcasting
• DVDs continue to grow in popularity
• Convergence of media continues

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Broadcasting, Cable, the Internet and
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