The History of Radio

1
The History of Radio
2
The History of Radio

• The 1800s Earliest Broadcasting
• Maxwell (Theorized the existence of
  electromagnetic waves as luminous ether.)
• Bell (Transmitting sounds by telegraph in 1877.)
• Hertz (Invented the spark-gap detector which
  verified the existence of electromagnetic waves.)
• Marconi (Invented radio in 1895. First radio
  company in London, 1897.)

3
The History of Radio

• 1900-1930 The Industry Gets Started
• Who Was First? (KDKA in 1920).
• RCAs Risk (Sarnoff, NBC, 1922 World Series).
• CBSs Move (New York Philharmonic and
  Philadelphia Symphony orchestras join with the
  Columbia Phonograph Company).
• William S. Paley (the Tiffany Network).

4
The History of Radio

• Communications Act of 1934 Federal law bringing
  most telecommunications under oversight of one
  agency and board of commissioners.

5
The History of Radio

• 1930-1945 Pivotal Historical Period
• Great Depression in 1929, with more one-third of
  the work force jobless
• a growing number of Americans tuned in their
  radios for relief and psychological support.
• Franklin D. Roosevelts fireside chats
• http//www.history.com/audio/fdrs-fireside-chat-on
  -dust-bowlfdrs-fireside-chat-on-dust-bowl

6
The History of Radio

• 1930-1945 Pivotal Historical Period
• War of the Worlds
• Actor Orson Wells narrated a 1938 Halloween tale
  of Martians landing in New Jersey, based on H.G.
  Welles War of the Worlds. The shows disclaimer
  failed to register with Americans already primed
  for disaster on the eve of world war.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vXs0K4ApWl4g

7
The History of Radio

• 1945-1960 The Golden Age
• AM Radio Still Thriving
• 78 and 33 1/3 RPM Records
• Transistors Make Radios Smaller
• Formats Rotating Blocks to Top 40

8
The History of Radio

• 1960-1980 Radios Transformation
• FM Increases Popularity
• April 1961 FCC approval of Zenith-GE standards
  for FM broadcasting. The FCC mandates that
  stations needed to generate new content for FM
  bands.

9
The History of Radio

• 1960-1980 Radios Transformation
• Public Radio Act of 1967
• After the adoption of the Public Broadcasting
  Act of 1967, the FCC licensed more than 1,500
  radio stations as noncommercial educational.
  Many of these stations would receive federal
  money distributed through the Corporation for
  Public Broadcasting a fact that annoyed
  commercial broadcasters envious of such
  subsidies.

10
The History of Radio

• 1980-Present Radio Challenges
• Talk Radio
• A Chance to Talk Back
• Personalities
• Relaxed Rules on Ownership
• 1980 Deregulation
• More Stations per Owner
• Localism and Profits
• Satellite Radio

11
1987 Repeal Fairness Doctrine

• A requirement that stations provide equal time
  to all parties regarding important public issues
  and equal access to airtime for all candidates of
  public office.
• As a result Extremely partisan radio and
  television programming.
• Narrowcasting
• Media Segmentation

12
The History of Radio

• The Digital Future
• Radio
• Digital Broadcasts
• Internet Streaming