“Am I Caller 100?” The Origins of Broadcast

Inventing Radio  Morse’s Telegraph (1840s)

  Allowed message transmission across distance   Morse code (1844)

 Radio waves   1867: James Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetic radiation   1887: Heinrich Hertz discovers “Hertzian Waves”

The Original “Wireless”  Narrrowcasting = point-to-point  Broadcasting = point-to-many

 Guglielmo Marconi (1894)   Wireless telegraphy wireless telephony radio   Marconi Company makes commercial success

Radio Starts  Reginald Fessenden (1890s)

 Created “one-to-many” transmission

 Christmas Eve, 1906 – “O Holy Night” broadcast   From Brant Rock, Mass. to ships off Atlantic Coast

 Lee De Forest – “Father of modern electronics”   Audion vacuum tube (1906)

 Picked up & amplified radio signals

Early Regulation  1910 – Wireless Ship Act

  All ships carrying >50 passengers & traveling >200 mi. off the coast MUST have wireless technology

 Radio Act of 1912   After Titanic sinking   All radio stations must have licensed call letters &

trained operators   Formally adopted SOS distress signal

The Business of Radio  1919 - RCA (Radio Corporation of America)

  GE’s private sector, government-run monopoly   Created in part due to security concerns of WWI

 KDKA: 1st Commercial Station (1920)   Frank Conrad’s amateur station, 8XK   Music & news 2x / week

 5 stations in 1921 >600 by 1923

Business of Radio  Revenue

  Advertising (8% of media ads)   Pay-for-play: Up-front pay from record companies to

play songs

 Payola   Promoters pay deejays to play records (1950s)   Guaranteed sales   Ongoing?

Radio Networks   AT&T’s power grab

  Opposed RCA’s monopoly (but had own!)   Made & sold own receivers   Began selling ads – “toll broadcasting”

  1926 - NBC (National Broadcasting Company)   RCA (50%), GE (30%), Westinghouse (20%)

  1928 - CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System)   William Paley   Paid affiliates $50/hr to carry programs

Radio Act of 1927  Problems

  Growing power concentration   Channel interference   Frequency usage

 Licensees did not own channels, but could use for “public interest, convenience or necessity”

 Federal Radio Commission (FRC)   Dictate stations & frequencies   Later FCC (Fed. Comm. Act of 1934)

Radio’s Golden Age   Immediate News   Live Music   Evening Programming

  Variety Shows  Quiz, etc.

  Genre Shows  Mystery, Comedy,

Western

  Sponsorship   Usually one company

 Cultural Mirror?   Reflects the times

The Power of Radio  War of the Worlds (1938)

Evolution of Radio  AM FM  Transistors = Portability

 Format Radio   Formula-driven   Use rotation   Management controlled

Radio Formats  News/Talk  Adult contemporary  Top 40  Country  Urban  Spanish-language  Not-for-profit

Evolution of Radio  Digital

  Internet radio  On-demand radio apps

  Satellite radio   Podcasts

  iTunes Radio

Modern Radio  Resistance to Top 40

  Experimental radio   “Background noise”

  Media multi-tasking  Drive Time over Prime Time  Specialization