TV

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TV
Radio is any intelligence, message, signal,
power, picture, or communication of any nature
transferred by electrical energy from one point
to another without the aid of any wire connecting
the points. - 1927 Radio Act
Anticipated by 1920s
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TV
A Battle Over Standards
AM
FM
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TV
A Battle over Technical Standards
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RCA
VHF
AM Sound
BW
30 Frames/441 Lines per second
David Sarnoff
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Regulatory Battle
1945 RCA wins Battle
30 Frames/525 Lines/FM Sound
No UHF No Color No 80 Channels
1948 License Freeze
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TV Economics
Who better to patrol this powerful medium?
Networks or Sponsors?
Tipping Point Quiz Show Scandals, 1958-1959
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TV Economics
NETWORKS
Advertisers
Independent
Viewers
Affiliates
Studios
Owned Operated
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TV Politics
I have confidence in your health. But not in
your product. I am here to uphold and protect
the public interest. What do we mean by "the
public interest?" Some say the public interest
is merely what interests the public. I
disagree. When television is good, nothing--not
the theater, not the magazines or
newspapers--nothing is better. But when
television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you
to sit down in front of your television set when
your station goes on the air and stay there
without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit
and-loss sheet or rating book to distract
you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until
the station signs off. I can assure you that you
will observe a vast wasteland.
Newt Minow, FCC
Chairman, 1961
The Power of Rendering Visible
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LOP Least Objectionable Programming
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TV Race
"I didn't mind playing a maid the first time,
because I thought that was how you got into the
business. But after I did the same thing over and
over, I resented it. I didn't mind being funny,
but I didn't like being stupid. Hattie McDaniels
What is pleasing to a white MC audience?
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Racial Incorporation
In TV Entertainment
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Question
How does TV re-present success for
African-Americans?
In television representations of blacks, the
historical realities of slavery, discrimination
and racism or the persistent struggles against
domination are displaced and translated into
celebrations of black middle class visibility and
achievement. Herman Gray (p. 378)
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Question
Chicago Local TV News, 1997 (n 259)

• How does TV represent African American failure?

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Question
How might change happen?
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Consequences
Privatization
Misapprehension
Celebration
Exclusion