RADIO:

1

• RADIO
• Empire of the Air

2
An Innovative Medium

• Radio established the foundations of todays
  broadcast industry
• patterns of ownership and control
• the genre model of programming
• models for newsgathering and electronic
  journalism
• an example of how the function and format of a
  mass medium can change in order to survive

3
Technological Inventions

• Telegraph (1840s) and telephone (1870s)
• Hertz proved that electricity emitted
  electromagnetic waves that could carry sound
  (1880s)
• Marconi invented wireless telegraphy (1894) --
  used code, not voice
• established British Marconi (1897) and American
  Marconi (1899)

4
Technological Inventions

• Fessenden first to broadcast human voice on
  radio waves (1906)
• DeForest invented Audion vacuum tube (1907 )
• sold patent to ATT

5
Early experimental radio stations (1910s)

• educational, community-oriented
• Some at colleges and universities

6
Amateurs ham operators (1906-WWI)

• put together their own receiving sets attempted
  to tune in shipping messages and to transmit
  their own messages
• similar to todays computer hackers and cyberpunk
  cultures--on the cutting edge of new technology
• created a great deal of static and interference
  on the airwaves by their growing numbers

7
Majority of patents were held by

• General Electric (GE)
• Westinghouse
• ATT

Major users of the new technology

• Shipping Industry
• US Navy

8
Radio gets regulatedActs of Congress

• Wireless Ship Act of 1910
• to protect ship passengers
• gave the radio industry a boost in sales
• Radio Act of 1912
• Gave U.S. Dept. of Commerce the power to license
  private broadcasters and set guidelines for
  frequencies and power
• Radio Act of 1927
• established Federal Regulatory Commission (FRC)
  to regulate all forms of radio communication

9
After WWI, the real struggle to control the radio
industry began

• U.S. Navy seized American Marconi stations to
  eliminate foreign interests
• Amateur Radio League opposed Navy's control
• U.S. Government wanted to eliminate disputes
  between GE, Westinghouse, and ATT

10
RCA creates American supremacy in communications
technology

• Nationalistic -- no foreign companies allowed
• Marconi forced to sell transmitters, stations,
  and patents to RCA

11
David Sarnoff and the Battle over FM Radio

• Edwin Armstrong invented a feedback circuit in
  1913 he would use this to develop FM radio in
  the 20s and 30s.
• Sarnoff, head of RCA, fearing that enhanced radio
  would block the development of TV, acquired but
  did not use FM technology.
• Armstrong killed himself in 1954.
• By the 1960s, both TV and FM were flourishing.

12
The Golden Age of Radio

• Radio held a central position in most households
  through the 1930s and 1940s, offering most of the
  program types we now see in television
• drama
• comedy
• mystery
• variety

13
War of the Worlds (1938)

• Explosions on Mars
• Meteorite Lands in New Jersey
• The Martians Are Here!
• New Jersey in Flames

14
How Radio influenced TELEVISION

• single sponsorship system of commercial radio
• program segmentation and format
• liveness real time, sense of immediacy--tradition
  of broadcast news and sports
• continuing characters--gtidentification and
  attachment

15
HOW DID RADIO RE-INVENT ITSELF in the television
age?

• Alliance with music recording industry
• Rise of FORMAT and Top 40 radio (age of the disk
  jockey)
• National network radio programming
• Growth of TALK RADIO
• Internet Radio