Company

LOGO Radio Broadcasting

The Golden Age 1930 – early 1950s

Progress of Radio

ExperimentalEarly Era

Early Broadcasting

Golden Age

ScientistsResearchersUniversities

MilitaryGovernmentMaritimeUniversitiesHobbyists

Pioneer Broadcast Stations

Radio is dominant entertainment

1890 - 1910 1900 - 1920 1920 - 1930 1930 – 1953

Mass Media Market

Newspapers

Magazines/Books

Phonograph1877

Movies1904

Radio

1930s Mass Media Market

Radio Station Growth

Radio Stations - 1922

•

AM Radio Stations - 1946

FM Radio Station - 1958

Radio Stations - 2006

Rapid Growth

• 1922 – 100,000 sets sold; avg cost $50

• 1929 – Avg cost $100 –4 weeks salary4 weeks salary

• 1930 – Over ½ half of homes have a set

Ideas for Financing Radio

• Tax on radios

• Public tax

• Wealthy Contributors

• 1922 AT&T – Proposed a network • 1922 AT&T – Proposed a network supported by advertisers

• Toll Broadcasting – Would pay a few to broadcast

• WEAF (1922) 15 minute program pitching apartments

It Cost Money to Run a Station

• Radio News (1922) – “Advertising by radio cannot be done; it would ruin the radio business; for nobody would stand for it

• Herbert Hoover – “It is inconceivable that • Herbert Hoover – “It is inconceivable that we should allow so great a possibility to be drowned in advertising chatter.”

• Radio Broadcast – (1924) $500 for best essay – “Who is to pay for broadcasting and how?”

Major Source for Entertainment

• 1934 – 593 broadcast stations in U.S.

• 1935 – 67% of homes had radio sets; grows to 81% by 1940

• Networks provided 24 hours programming• Networks provided 24 hours programming

• Daytime – soaps, children’s Shows, music

• Primetime – dramas, comedies, quiz shows, specials & music

Networks

• David Sarnoff (RCA) suggested a co. specializing in programming

• Through negotiations got AT & T to get out of broadcasting and provide connectionsof broadcasting and provide connections

• RCA would manufacture receivers

• 1926 NBC goes on air with 4 hours of programming; 25 stations hooked up

• Two networks (NBC – Red & NBC - Blue

Other Networks

• Agents wanted to organize talent to NBC

• When shunned, they formed CBS (1927).

• WGN Chicago formed Mutual Broadcasting Network - 1936Broadcasting Network - 1936

Network Programming

• Soap Operas (38 daily in 1939)

• Comedy such as Amos & Andy (75% market share at high)share at high)

• Game & talk shows

• Variety

• Political

• News

The Nation Enters the ‘30s

Entering the 1930s

• 2,000 daily newspapers reached about 40-million readers

• 10,000 weekly

Approaching the 1940s

• Radio spreading hard news

• Newsreels provided visuals• 10,000 weekly

newspapers

• Advertising revenue approached $900-million

• Seen as a necessity

visuals

• 1934 -- advertising revenue ½ of 1929 high

• 1939 a number of dailies & weeklies disappeared

Music

• Programming targeted to national audience

• Similar to today’s TV blocks.• Similar to today’s TV blocks.

• Did not want recorded programs

A Radio Broadcast Day

• Sept. 21, 1939

• WSJV

• Washington, D.C.

• Music• Music

• News

• Game Shows

• Commentary

• Baseball

Power of Broadcasting

1. Presidential Election – 1932

2. Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping – 1932

3. Hindenburg – 1937

4. Orson Welles' Broadcast of War of the Worlds – 1938

5. Trouble in Europe

Radio News

• Only 4 network newscasts 1933

• 1930s crisis in Europe • 1930s crisis in Europe created market for news

•CBS received enormous praise for broadcasts from war torn Europe

War of the Worlds

• On the night of October 30, 1938, families everywhere were gathered around their radios for another episode of CBS’s Mercury Theater On The Air. The Mercury Theater On The Air. The evening’s episode was a radio adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic War Of The Worlds, in which the Earth is invaded from outer space. The story was familiar to many, but was about to be presented in a way that had never been heard before.

Competitive Environment

Newspapers Face Competition

� We fight the growing encroachment of our field by radio, only to have the news organizations to which we belong turn around and help the radio thumb its nose at our honest radio thumb its nose at our honest effort. Every bulletin we printed in our extra was second hand. The radio with the assistance of the Associated Press scooped us miserably. – Editor & Publisher 1928

Newspapers React

We cannot keep on selling news if we encourage others to give it away.

Newspaper Radio War

� American Newspapers Publisher Association Convention - 1933

� Stopped providing newspapers with bulletins and printing schedules.and printing schedules.

� Biltmore Agreement� Two 5-minute newscasts

daily� No spot news

� Press described it as a complete defeat for broadcasters

The War Years

The War Years

Edward R. Murrow

D-Day

Golden Age of Radio Fades

�In 1950s, more turning to TV for entertainment

�The “leftovers”

�Tried various strategies to off TV’s impact

�In Dec. 1955, Nielsen ratings did not list one evening radio program in top ten

�How could radio survive�Portability�Innovative programming�Recorded music�Top 40 format

Mass Media Market - 1950

Competing for Consumer Attention

TV TheatresRadio Newspapers Magazines& Books

Business Headlines

• 1951 – Business Week – Radio Rates Start to Crack

• 1952 - TV Is Hot on Radio’s Heels

• 1954 – Radio Network Revenue Down, • 1954 – Radio Network Revenue Down, Down, Down