Chapter 4 RADIO : Empire of the Air

RADIO ESTABLISHED:  the origin and foundations of today’s broadcast industry  patterns of ownership and control  the genre model of comedy and drama 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

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)

Technological Inventions  Fessenden: first to broadcast human voice on radio waves (1906)  DeForest: invented Audion vacuum tube (1907 )  sold patent to AT&T

Early experimental radio stations (1910s)  educational, community- oriented  at some colleges and universities

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 today’s 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

Majority of patents were held by:  General Electric (GE)  Westinghouse  AT&T Major users of the new technology: zShipping Industry zUS Navy

 Why did the government need to regulate the new radio industry?  What steps did it take?

ACTS OF U.S. 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

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 AT&T

Purpose in forming RCA: to create American supremacy in communications technology  Nationalistic -- no foreign companies allowed  Marconi forced to sell transmitters, stations, and patents to RCA

FORMATION OF NETWORKS  RCA patents pool was legally questionable under antitrust law  In 1923, the FTC formally charged RCA with monopolistic practices  The parties settled out of court

David Sarnoff and TV  Edwin Armstrong invented a feedback circuit in 1913; he would use this to develop FM radio in the `20s and `30s.  Sarnoff, fearing that enhanced radio would block the development of TV, acquired but did not use Armstrong’s invention.  Armstrong, despondent, killed himself in  By the 1960s, both TV and FM were flourishing.

NBC went on the air in 1926 with 25 affiliated stations  affiliate: a station connected to the network but not owned by it  legally, no single company could own more than 7 radio stations  NBC was, in fact, becoming another monopoly

GOVERNMENT REGULATION: The Radio Act of 1927 established Federal Regulatory Commission (FRC) to regulate all forms of radio communication

PURPOSE OF U.S. BROADCASTING: to attract audiences for advertisers  “Delivering” consumers to sponsors  Programming produced as "bait" for consumer  Most radio programs (except news and public affairs) were produced and controlled by sponsors: called single- sponsor system

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

War of the Worlds (1938)  Explosions on Mars  Meteorite Lands in New Jersey  The Martians Are Here!  New Jersey in Flames

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-->identification and attachment

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