Radio History

1
Radio History

• MIT2000

2
Early Radio Main Themes

1. Wired/Wireless
2. Bi-directional one to one
3. Uni-directional
4. Central transmitter to passive receivers
5. broadcasting
6. Public interest/commercial interest
7. Culture/Community Formation

3
Radio/Technology

• Radio waves
• electro-magnetic energy, radiating in waves
• Heinrich Hertz (1888)
• lab experiments
• telegraph without wires (Hertzian waves)

4
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)

• Land-Ship
• Trans-Atlantic signal (1901)
• Marconi Wireless Telegraph Signal Co
• trans-Atlantic
• first commercial service

5
Reginald Fessenden (1866-1932)

1. first voice transmission
2. radiotelephone(1900)
3. Shore-to-ship broadcast 1906

6
Early Radio-Telegraph

• Morse Code
• Shipping/distress calls
• Titanic (1912)
• Simultaneity of Experience
• Worldwide Network

7
Amateur Radio

• Technical expertise
• home-made radio sets
• Exploratory listening-distance
• Middle-class boys/men
• Unregulated frequencies
• Bi-directional

8
Amateur Radio

• Pranks
• All Titanic Passengers Safe
• Obscene/false message
• Lots of radio traffic
• Radio Act of 1912 (US)

9
World War I (1914-18)

• Military control
• Naval/ Shell-spotting
• Ban citizen use
• Post-1918, oppose
• amateur uses
• foreign ownership

10
Early Broadcast Radio

1. One-to-one
2. DXing, 1920-1924
3. Voice/sound
4. One-to-many Broadcasting
5. (Telephone Broadcasters)
6. Frank Conrad/KDKA, 1920
7. XWA, Montreal, 1920
8. RCA, 1921

11
Early Radio

1. 1921 2 radio stations
2. 1925 100s in US/CDA
3. Dept stores churches newspapers universities
4. Non-commercial origins
5. Public interest/limited spectrum

12
Network Radio ATT (1925)

1. 25-station network
2. long distance lines
3. sell time on transmitters, air time, to
   advertisers
4. purchase blocks/ provide own programming

13
Content/Culture Commercial Radio

• NBC (1926-)
• public service
• high-brow
• non-sponsored programming
• Symphony theatre, etc.

• CBS (1928-)
• more advertising
• ad agencies produce shows
• soaps crime dramas
• lowest common denominator

14
Programming

1. Music classical dance bands (Tommy Dorsey)
2. Variety Shows (Bob Hope)
3. Drama
4. daytime serial Guiding Light
5. evening anthology Mercury Theater on the Air
6. Childrens Shows
7. Comedy Li'l Abner Amos n Andy

15
Radio as Mass Medium, ca. 1935

• US
• Private ownership (NBC, CBS)
• Advertising-supported
• Popular fare

• UK
• BBC government-run monopoly
• Taxes, license fees
• High-brow/cultural uplift

16
Radio in Canada

• Radio-Telegraph Act, 1913
• Dept. Marine Fisheries
• XWA, first license (1919)
• 1 licence fee per set

17
CDN Radio

• 1928 60 stations
• low power intermittent service
• Roy Thomson, CFCH
• minimal regulations
• diverse ownership
• selling radio sets
• Edward S. Rogers
• Entertainment/Commercial

18
Networking CNR Radio Dept

1. first network, mid-1920s
2. concerts, operas, plays, health talks, grain
   price reports
3. 3 hours weekly, 1929

19
US Radio in CDA

1. Radio-wave interference
2. US listening (80)
3. NBC w/ Montreal affiliate
4. Can CDN radio compete?

20
Road to Public Ownership

1. Royal Commission on Broadcasting, 1928-29
2. Canadian Radio League, 1930
3. Graham Spry
4. The State or the United States

21
Aird Commission Recommendations, 1929

1. state broadcasting organization, modelled on BBC
2. foster national spirit/citizenship
3. nationalize private radio stations, with
   compensation
4. defensive expansionism

22
Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, 1932

1. State monopoly on network broadcasting
2. Extend radio coverage
3. Produce/transmit programs
4. Purchase/construct stations/transmitters
5. CRBC stations//private stations
6. Partisanship

23
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1936

1. More autonomy
2. Assured funding
3. Dual function

24
CBC Carrier/Content

1. 8 stations 16 private affiliates
2. Strong transmitters
3. US/UK shows (entertainment, talk)
4. Canadian content
5. The Happy Gang NHL

25
The Barrelman

1. Joey Smallwood
2. NFLD Folk Tradition
3. ethnic nationalism
4. foreign consumerism
5. imagined community
6. modernity

26
Peculiar Hybrid of CDN Radio

• Commercial interest
• Corporate power
• NBC/CBS
• Low-Brow Culture
• Entertainment
• Advertising-supported

• Public Interest
• The State
• BBC/CBC
• High-Brow Culture
• Educational
• Tax/license fee supported

27
Midterm Exam 23 Feb, 7-9pm

• Section 1 (5X5 25 points)
• Identify/Significance of 5 of 8 terms, concepts
• Section 2
• 15 multiple choice questions (15 points)
• 2 hours
• Closed Book
• Covers Lectures and Readings

28
Sample Question The State or the United States

• Graham Spry chairman Canadian Radio League
• early 1930s lobby for Aird Commission
  recommendations re public broadcasting
• McChesney article
• culminate in 1932 est. of Canadian Radio
  Broadcasting Commission

29
The State or the United States

• State government as bulwark against US
  broadcasting which predated broadcasting in
  Canada
• high culture/ low culture
• Canadian sovereignty /US cultural/economic
  imperialism