Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

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Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

• Chapter 5

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The Demise of Local Radio

• The consolidation of stations into massive radio
  groups like Cumulus and Clear Channel in the
  1990s and 2000s resulted in budget-cutting
  demands from the corporate offices and,
  ultimately, stations with less connection to
  their local audience.

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Maxwell and Hertz Discover Radio Waves

• James Maxwell
• Theorized the existence of electromagnetic waves
  (1860s)
• Believed a portion of these waves, later known as
  radio waves, could be harnessed to transmit
  signals
• Heinrich Hertz
• Proved Maxwells theories (1880s)
• Advanced the development of wireless communication

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Figure 5.1 The Electromagnetic Spectrum
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Marconi and the Inventors of Wireless Telegraphy

• Guglielmo Marconi
• Received a patent on wireless telegraphy in
  England in 1896
• Alexander Popov
• Made parallel discoveries in Russia
• Nikola Tesla
• Invented a wireless system in 1892
• Marconi used much of Teslas work.
• Deemed inventor of radio in 1943

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Wireless Telephony De Forest and Fessenden

• Lee De Forest
• Wrote the first Ph.D. thesis on wireless
  technology in 1899
• Primary interest was wireless telephony
• Biggest breakthrough was the development of the
  Audion
• Reginald Fessenden
• First voice broadcast

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Regulating a New Medium

• Radio Act of 1912
• Required licensing
• Adopted the SOS distress signal
• World War I
• Navy took control of radio.
• Corporate heads and government leaders conspired
  to make sure radio served American interests.

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Regulating a New Medium (cont.)

• The formation of RCA
• GE broke off negotiations to sell radio
  technologies to European companies, then took the
  lead in founding the Radio Corporation of America
  (RCA).
• RCA became a monopoly and gave the United States
  almost total control over the emerging mass
  medium of broadcasting.

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The Evolution of Radio

• Frank Conrad
• Established the first commercial broadcast
  station, KDKA, in 1920
• Charles Doc Herrold
• Began a station in 1909 that later became KCBS
• U.S. Commerce Dept.
• Licensed five radio stations for operation in
  1921

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The RCA Partnership Unravels

• ATT
• Broke its RCA agreements in 1922 in an attempt to
  monopolize radio
• Began making and selling its own radio receivers
• Started WEAF in New York, the first station to
  sell advertising
• Created the first radio network
• GE, Westinghouse, and RCA created their own radio
  group in response

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Sarnoff and NBC Building the Blue and Red
Networks

• David Sarnoff
• RCAs first general manager
• Created NBC, which was shared by RCA, GE, and
  Westinghouse
• The original telephone group became known as the
  NBC-Red network, and the radio group became known
  as the NBC-Blue network.

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Sarnoff and NBC Building the Blue and Red
Networks (cont.)

• NBC affiliates
• Paid NBC to carry its programs
• NBC sold national advertising.
• Emphasized national programming
• Sarnoff also
• Cut a deal with GM to manufacture car radios
• Merged RCA with the Victor Talking Machine
  Company

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Government Scrutiny Ends RCA-NBC Monopoly

• FTC charged RCA with violations of antitrust laws
  as early as 1923.
• RCA bought out GE and Westinghouses shares in
  RCAs manufacturing business.
• Government accepted RCAs breakup proposal before
  trial.

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CBS and Paley Challenging NBC

• First attempt at CBS failed
• William S. Paley
• Bought a controlling share in the company, and
  launched new concepts and strategies
• Hired PR guru Edward Bernays
• Used option time to lure affiliates
• Raided NBC for top talent
• Became the top network in 1949

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Bringing Order to Chaos with the Radio Act of 1927

• Radio Act of 1927
• Stated that stations could only license their
  channels as long as they operated to serve the
  public interest, convenience, or necessity
• Created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), which
  became the Federal Communications Commission
  (FCC) with the Communications Act of 1934

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Bringing Order to Chaos with the Radio Act of
1927(cont.)

• Activist FCC went after the networks in 1941
• Outlawed the practice of option time
• Demanded that RCA sell one of its two NBC
  networks
• NBC-Blue was sold and became the American
  Broadcasting Company (ABC).

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The Golden Age of Radio

• Early radio programming
• Only a handful of stations
• Live music daily
• 15-minute evening programs
• Variety shows
• Quiz shows
• Dramatic programs
• Most shows had a single sponsor.

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Radio Programming as a Cultural Mirror

• The most popular comedy by the 1930s was Amos n
  Andy
• Stereotyped black characters as shiftless and
  stupid
• Created the idea of the serial show
• Moved to TV and was the first show with an
  entirely black cast
• Canceled in 1953 amid the strengthening Civil
  Rights movement

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The Authority of Radio

• War of the Worlds
• Broadcast by Orson Welles on Halloween eve in
  1938 in the style of a radio news program
• Created a panic in New York and New Jersey
• Prompted the FCC to call for stricter warnings
  before and during programs imitating the style of
  radio news

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Transistors Make Radio Portable

• Transistors
• Small electrical devices that could receive and
  amplify radio signals
• More durable and less expensive than vacuum
  tubes, used less power, and produced less heat
• Led to the creation of small pocket radios
• Made radio portable

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The FM Revolution and Edwin Armstrong

• FM (frequency modulation) radio
• Discovered and developed by Edwin Armstrong in
  the 1920s and 1930s
• Greater fidelity and clarity than AM (amplitude
  modulation) radio
• Lost RCAs support to TV
• FCC opened up spectrum space for FM in the 1960s
• Surpassed AM radio by the 1980s

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The Rise of Format and Top 40 Radio

• Format radio
• Formula-driven radio
• Management controls programming
• Developed by Todd Storz in 1949
• Used rotation
• Led to the development of the Top 40 format
• Creation of the program log and day parts

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Resisting the Top 40

• Expansion of FM in the mid-1960s created room for
  experimenting.
• Progressive rock
• Experimental stations playing hard-edged
  political folk music
• Album-oriented rock (AOR)
• General classic rock

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The Sounds of Commercial Radio

• Listeners today are unlike radios first
  audiences in several ways.
• Radio has become a secondary or background
  medium.
• Peak listening time is during drive time rather
  than prime time.
• Stations are more specialized.

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Format Specialization

• Variety of formats
• News, talk, and information
• Music formats
• Adult contemporary (AC)
• Contemporary hit radio (CHR)
• Country
• Urban contemporary
• Spanish language
• Classic rock
• Oldies

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Figure 5.4 Most Popular U.S. Radio Formats, Ages
12
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Nonprofit Radio and NPR

• Early years of nonprofit radio
• In 1948, the government began authorizing
  noncommercial licenses and approved 10-watt FM
  stations.
• First noncommercial networks
• Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
• National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public
  Broadcasting Service (PBS) mandated to provide
  alternatives to commercial broadcasting

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New Radio Technologies Offer More Stations

• Satellite radio
• XM and Sirius merged to become Sirius XM Radio in
  2008.
• Accessible through satellite radios, mobile
  devices, and cars with a satellite band
• HD Radio
• Enables multicasting by AM and FM broadcasters
  and provides program data

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Radio and Convergence

• Internet radio
• Broadcast radio stations now have an online
  presence.
• Online-only radio stations like Pandora growing
  in popularity
• Podcasting and portable listening
• A popular way to listen to radio-style programs
  on a computer or portable music device

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Local and National Advertising

• Radio advertising
• Comprises 8 of media advertising
• Industry revenue has dropped, but the number of
  stations keeps growing.
• Only 20 of budget goes toward programming costs.
• National networks provide programming in exchange
  for time slots for national ads.

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Manipulating Playlists with Payola

• Payola
• Record promoters paying deejays to play
  particular records
• Rampant in 1950s
• In 2007, four of the largest broadcasting
  companies agreed to pay 12.5 million to settle a
  payola investigation by the FCC.

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Radio Ownership From Diversity to Consolidation

• Telecommunications Act of 1996
• Eliminated most ownership restrictions in radio
• Combined, Clear Channel, Cumulus, and CBS
• Own roughly 1,500 radio stations (more than 10
  of all radio stations)
• Dominate the fifty largest markets
• Control about one-half of the entire radio
  industrys 17.4 billion revenue

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Alternative Voices

• In the 1990s, activists set up pirate stations
  to protest large corporations control over
  radio.
• In 2000, the FCC approved noncommercial low-power
  FM (LPFM) stations to give voice to local groups
  lacking access.
• Prometheus Radio Project
• Educates about low-power radio

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Radio and the Democracy of the Airwaves

• Influence of radio in the formation of American
  culture cannot be overestimated.
• Early radio debates
• Requirement to operate in the public interest,
  convenience, or necessity
• Trend of radio moving away from its localism