For hard-core music lovers, the Zune’s
a gem. It blows the iPod off the map in
music discovery and downloading.
Radio and the Origins of
Broadcasting
Novelty Stage
1. Samuel morse
 Telegraph (wires)
 Morse Code
Video of telegraph
Novelty Stage
what about wireless?
How do you transmit a signal
through the AIR?
Novelty Stage
2. James Maxwell
His equations theorized
that electricity, magnetism
and even light are all
manifestations of the same
phenomenon: the
electromagnetic field.
Novelty Stage
3. Heinrich Hertz
– Proved Maxwell’s theories
– Identified Electromagnetic waves
Novelty Stage
Hertz (Hz) can be used to measure any periodic
event; the most common use for hertz is to
describe frequency of rotation, in which case a
speed of 1 Hz is equal to one cycle per second.
4. THREE GUYS
Novelty Stage
WHO INVENTED THE DEVICE TO
TRANSMIT A SIGNAL THROUGH THE AIR (1894)
A. Guglielmo Marconi vs.
B. NiKola Tesla vs.
C. Alexander Popov
– Who invented Wireless telegraphy?
Novelty Stage
MARCONI
Marconi’s Invention (Dramatization)
HAD IMPLICATIONS FOR SHIP TO SHORE TRAVEL
Tesla
POPOV
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Novelty Stage
POPOV
(Dramatization)
Tele = far off
Graph= writing
Phone= sound
Telegraph
Telephone
Phonograph
WIRELESS TELEGRAPH
Novelty Stage
5. Reginald Fessenden
 Wireless telephony:
 transmitted voice and sound
Novelty Stage
6. Lee
De Forest
 Wireless telephony:
amplified sound
(monkey face)
Novelty Stage
Entrepreneurial Stage
Entrepreneurial Stage
 Ship-to-shore communication
Entrepreneurial Stage
 David Sarnoff and the Titanic
Entrepreneurial Stage
 “Wireless” became a huge hobby
Entrepreneurial Stage
"I remember it was 10 or 11 o'clock at night
and all at once, this voice appears. And I
remember letting out a yelp or a shout of
some sort and my dad, who had just gotten
out of the bath, came in wrapped in a towel to
make sure... that something hadn't happened
to me. I said, 'Dad, look, I hear this fellow
talking.'"
Some Key Developments…
 Radio Act of 1912
–You need a LICENSE to operate a
radio
 WWI
 Radio is an important war tool
 U.S. wants to control Global radio
Some Key Developments…
1915: Over 20 companies selling point-to-point
radio equipment:
e.g.
 AT&T (transmitters)
 General electric (U.S.) (Receivers)
 American Marconi (Britain) (both)

(marconi was the biggest and best)
Some Key Developments…
U.S. develops a “plan” to ensure powerful radio technology
would fall under U.S. control.
1. Establish new company, anchored by GE, called RCA
(Radio Corporation of America), To pool patents. RCA is
a private-sector monopoly.
2. Using GE, weaken British Marconi by not selling them key
components, and then BUY its american assets (american
Marconi)
3. Use RCA to oversee radio patents from GE, AT&T,
Westinghouse, American Marconi and the navy.
Standardization.
=The beginning of American domination over
communication technology
Some Key Developments…
• THE UK MODEL: In 1904, Great Britain
decides to develop A state-supported
broadcasting system.
• The UK Funds the BBC
(British Broadcasting Corporation)
Mass Medium Stage
Mass Medium Stage
• KDKA, Pittsburgh, 1920. “First” station
to broadcast music and talk (disputed)
• BROADCASTING
vs. POINT-to-POINT
• First ads, 1922
Radio: a DEMOCRATIC medium
•
•
•
•
•
•
Education
Religion
Workers
Businesses (jewelry stores)
Entertainment
News
(VIDEO “Radio Network Broadcasting”)
Tufts University, 1922
• Education
Mass Medium Stage
• KDKA, Pittsburgh, 1920. First commercial
radio station
• First ads, 1922
Assembling Radios, 1925
2 KEY NETWORKS
1. AT&T creates network of stations, linking
together with long distance lines
= BCA (Broadcast Corp. of America)
– AT&T SEES RADIO AS A WAY TO ENHANCE
TELEPHONE BUSINESS
NETWORKS
2. RCA creates a network as subsidiary, linked
with (INFERIOR) Western Union lines
= Radio Group (w/ GE and Westinghouse)
VIDEO: HOW TELEGRAPHS FUNCTION (WESTERN UNION)
NETWORKS
BROADCASTING CORPORATION
OF AMERICA (AT&T/BCA) superior
VS.
RADIO GROUP (RCA) inferior
Mass Medium Stage
• Government cracks down on AT&T FOR
MONOPOLIZING RADIO COMMUNICATIONS, forces
it to sell network (DATE)
• RCA organizes two networks as
– NBC Red (AT&T lines)
– NBC Blue (Western Union lines)
=NATIONAL BROADASTING CORPORATION (NBC)
Mass Medium Stage
• CBS, 1928. William Paley uses option time
to woo affiliates from NBC.
• ABC, 1941. FCC outlaws option time. forces
RCA to sell one of its NBC networks, which
becomes ABC.
• By 1940s, NBC, CBS, and ABC established
as Big 3 networks.
Radio Rules
• Radio Act of 1912: required a license
• Radio Act of 1927: Establishes FRC and
standard of operating in the “public interest,
convenience, or necessity” (PICON)
• Communications Act of 1934:
– Establishes FCC, keeps PICON standard.
– Congress endorses commercial radio.
COMMERCIAL RADIO DISPUTED
“Can’t something be done about the tremendous
quantity of rotten advertising coming over the
radios?PLEASE! I know beyond all doubt that a very
very large majority of people of this country do not
want the time we are getting as entertainment...I will
say that I have heard it discussed in many sections,
many even going to the extent of trying to arrange
community boycotts of products advertised over the
radio”
--1931
Radio Culture: 1930s
golden age of radio
• People across America were sharing the
same stories (creating consensus narratives)
– E.g., Inner Sanctum
– Amos N’ Andy
– Roosevelt fireside
chats
– War of the Worlds
Hindenburg Disaster, 1937
(video)
Clear Channels
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
WSM 650 (Nashville)
WFAN660 (New York)
WMAQ 670 (Chicago)
WLW 700 (Cincinnati)
WOR 710 (New York)
WGN 720 (Chicago)
WSB 750 (Atlanta)
WJR 760 (Detroit)
WABC 770 (New York)
WBBM 780 (Chicago)
WBAP 820 (Fort Worth)
Clear Channels
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
WCCO 830 (Minneapolis)
WHAS 840 (Louisville)
WWL 870 (New Orleans)
WCBS 880 (New York)
WLS 890 (Chicago)
WBZ1030 (Boston)
WHO 1040 (Des Moines)
WWWE 1100 (Cleveland)
WHAM 1180 (Rochester)
WOAI 1200 (San Antonio)
WGMP 1210 (Philadelphia)
KIRO 710 (Seattle)
Clear Channels
•
•
•
•
KFI 640 (Los Angeles)
KDKA 1020 (Pittsburgh)
KMOX 1120 (St. Louis)
KSL 1160 (Salt Lake City)
Why the “W” and the “K”??
Radio Culture
 Radio’s survival in the wake of TV
 Format radio
Todd Storz,Omaha, Top 40 format
Radio Deejays/Payola
Radio Culture today
There evolved a variety of formats: each one
geared to a SPECIFIC target audience
News/Talk, 18%
Adult Contemporary, 14%
CHR, 11%
Hispanic, 10.2%
Urban, 9.9%
Country, 9%
Rock, 8.2%
Oldies, 5.7%
Other, 14%
Radio OWNERSHIP
FCC OWNERSHIP CONSTRAINTS
 1950-80: 7 AM, 7 FM, 7 TV Stations
 Late 1980s: 20 AM, 20 FM, 12 TV Stations
 1996 Telecommunication Act:
You can’t reach 35% of national audience
 2003: You can’t reach 45%
FCC used to enforce BROADCAST DIVERSITY
(NOT ANYMORE)
Radio ownership
• Clear Channel owns:
Over 1,190 stations
Premiere Radio network (syndicates
programs to 6,500 other stations
240 international stations
40 TV stations
Largest Billboard/outdoor sign business
Largest live event promoter
SFX (talent and sports star agency)
Broadway, Cable, network, films
Radio ownership
Empire of the air/video (7:40)
Radio Culture
• Pirate Radio/Low Power FM
• National Public Radio
– PBS: 1968
– NPR: 1970
• BBC
• Satellite Radio: XM and Sirius (merge is
on the cusp of approval)
• Zune, etc.
Radio Culture
Internet radio services
PANDORA
Last.fm
Launchcast (yahoo)
Rhapsody (Realnetwork)
Guideposts
Pitchfork
Emusic
If Pandora and other customizable services
take off (and so far that’s a big if), they could
shift the balance of power not just in how
music is consumed, but in how it is made.
“You now have music fans that are
completely enabled as editorial voices,” said
Michael Nash, senior vice president for digital
strategy and business development at
Warner Music Group, one of the four major
music conglomerates. “You can’t fool those
people. You can’t put out an album with one
good single on it. Those days are over.”
But if fans become their own gatekeepers, the
emerging question is what sort they will be.
Will they use services like Pandora to refine
their choices so narrowly that they close
themselves off to new surprises? Or will they
use the services to seek out mass shared
experiences in an increasingly atomized
music world?