Popular Radio and the
Origins of
Broadcasting
Chapter 4
“If you don’t have access and ownership
and control of a media system, you really
don’t exist. You don’t matter in terms of
being citizens in a democracy who are
entitled to the ability to tell, and have a
conversation about, your own stories.”
— Loris Taylor, executive director of Native
Public Media, an advocacy group for the country’s
thirty-three American Indian–owned public stations
Figure 4.1
Forerunners
Telegraph (1840s) and telephone
(1870s)
 Marconi




Invented wireless telegraphy (1894)—used
code, not voice
Built upon the work of Hertz
Established British Marconi (1897) and
American Marconi (1899)
Lee De Forest


Wrote the first Ph.D thesis on wireless
technology in 1899
Biggest breakthrough was the development
of the Audion, or triode, vacuum tube.


Tube detected radio signals and then amplified
them.
Invention greatly improved ability to hear
speech, music on receiver set.
Congress Acts

Radio Act of 1912



WWI: Congress gives radio to navy





Limits amateur radio operators
Standardizes radio procedures in crisis
Navy drafts/hires young technicians
Consolidates patents
Controls frequencies
U.S. domination
Formation of RCA monopoly
The Evolution of
Commercial Radio
 5 stations in 1921
600 in 1923
 550,000 sets
 1922: WEAF (NYC) operates “toll” station.
 An “ad” is the first income-producer.

Herbert Hoover decries.
 But nobody wants to pay a license fee.

In 1923 AT&T broadcasts simultaneously to
WEAF and WNAC (Boston).
 Creates first “network”
 By 1924, AT&T has 22 stations linked and denies
rival RCA phone rights.

“I believe the quickest way to kill
broadcasting would be to use it for
direct advertising.”
—Herbert Hoover
NBC Red and NBC Blue



David Sarnoff
First network as we know it (affiliate contracts)
Network:
 Moves radio from point-to-point to mass
medium
 Creates programming cost effectiveness
 Makes news national, not local


1927: 30 million hear Lindbergh’s
triumph on one of 6 million radios.
Larger budget buys better talent.
Competition for Sarnoff






First attempt at CBS failed.
William S. Paley bought CBS.
New concepts and strategies
Option time lured affiliates.
Paley hired PR guru Bernays.
By the 1930s, CBS competitive with NBC
Frequency Chaos


1927 Radio Act defines broadcast regulations.
 Too many stations and poor reception
 Act created commission to monitor airwaves
for “public interest, convenience, or necessity.”
1934 Federal Communications Act
 Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
monitors radio, telephone, and telegraph.
 Today FCC covers television, cable, and the
Internet.
Radio’s Golden Age

Shapes television’s programming
future





Sitcoms
Anthology dramas
Quiz shows
Soaps
Radio pioneers single-sponsor
programming.
Orson Welles

War of the Worlds, Welles’s radio broadcast
1938



Radio version of H. G. Wells’s novel
Shows power of radio to compel
 Created mass panic along the Northeast coast
 New Jersey citizens shot up a water tower
thinking it a Martian weapon.
Welles forced to recant before Congress
Radio Reinvents Itself


AM vs. FM
Niche marketing

Programming specialization






Talk radio
Format music (Top 40)
Deals with record companies
Better, cheaper technology
Portability
Efficient network alliances
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.3
Radio Today

Most programming locally produced




Secondary, or background medium
Specialized stations with particular formats


Local deejays are the stars.
Some national personalities
 Ex. Adam Corolla, Rush Limbaugh
Ex. News/talk, adult contemporary, country
Heaviest listening hours drive time
Figure 4.4
PBS and NPR





Established by Public Broadcasting Act and
Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1960s
Nonprofit, heavily government subsidized
NPR: distinctive niche in radio news
PBS: educational and children’s
programming
Under constant attack from conservatives
“NPR has transformed itself from rag-tag
alternative radio into a mainstream news
powerhouse with more bureaus worldwide
than the Washington Post and 26 million
listeners a week – twice as many as a
decade ago.”
-Washingtonian, 2007
Radio Goes Digital

Internet radio


Satellite radio


XM and Sirius
Podcasting


Small and nonprofit stations pay smaller
royalty fees.
Free content, mostly spoken word
HD Radio

Broadcasters can multicast additional digital
signals within their traditional analog
frequency.
The Return of Payola

Payola rampant in 1950s

Alternative, pay-for-play, emerged in 1998

In 2007, four of the largest broadcasting
companies agreed to pay $12.5 million to
settle a payola investigation by the FCC.
Radio Ownership since 1996

Telecommunications Act of 1996 eliminated
most ownership restrictions in radio.

As a result, from 1996 to 2004, the number of
radio station owners declined by 34 percent.
What Clear Channel Owns
Radio Broadcasting (U.S.)
• Over 1,100 radio stations
(275 stations were for sale
in 2008)
• Premiere Radio Network
(syndicates radio programs)
• Format Lab
International Radio
• Clear Channel International
Radio (Joint Partnerships)
– Australian Radio Network
– The Radio Network (New
Zealand)
– Grupo Acir (Mexico)
Advertising
• Clear Channel Outdoor
Advertising
– North American Division
– International Division
Media
Representation
• Katz Media Group
Marketing Video
Production
• Twelve Creative
Satellite
Communications
• Clear Channel
Satellite
Broadcast Software
• RCS Sound Software
Information Services
• Clear Channel Total
Traffic
Network
• Clear Channel
Communications
News
Networks
Radio Research and
Consultation
• Broadcast Architecture
Trade Industry
Publications
• InsideRadio.com
• TheRadioJournal.com
• The Radio Book 6418
Democracy and Radio
Will consolidation of power restrict the
number and kinds of voices permitted
to speak over public airwaves?