Mm ch 08radio

Chapter 8

Radio: The Hits Keep Coming

Chapter Outline• History• Industry• Controversies

ContextPervasive

• 675 million radio receivers in use in the United States. 310 million people.

Influential• Americans spend, on average, three

hours every weekday and five hours every weekend listening to radio.

A Brief History of RadioEarly Development

• 1887: Heinrich Hertz experiments with wireless transmission of electricity.

• 1880s: Thomas Edison’s company, Consolidated Edison, wire the streets of New York while his The Edison Electric Light Company (which would later become General Electric) manufactured light bulbs for people to use with their new household current.

• Direct Current (DC) vs. Alternating Current (AC)

• Scientists determined that radio waves were transmitted across an electromagnetic spectrum.

A Brief History of Radio

Who is the Real Father of Radio?

• 1895: Nikola Tesla uses his Tesla coil to transmit radio signals. Right before he attempts to send a signal 50 miles, a fire destroys his lab.

• 1896: 20-year-old Italian Guglielmo Marconi combines other people’s parts to create primitive two-circuit radio system to transmit telegraph signals. He files for and receives a patent in England. In America, receives financial backing of Edison and Carnegie.

• 1897: Tesla files for patent on a superior machine, and receives it in 1900.

• Marconi keeps trying to take the patent right through revised applications but Tesla prevails.

• Then, in 1904, the U.S. Patent Office overturns Tesla’s patent without explanation.

A Brief History of Radio• 1906: Reginald Fessenden makes

the first voice transmission with a frequency generator of his own design.

• 1907: Lee DeForest invents the Audion (vacuum tube) to pick up and amplify radio signals

• 1917:U. S. enters WW I; Navy takes over radio industry for strictly military purposes.

• Navy trains 10,000 service personnel in the new technology.


The Radio Consortium• Navy begins to worry about foreign

influence over American airwaves. A law is passed limiting any foreign company to no more than 25 percent of an American broadcasting system.

• Two years after the war AT&T, Westinghouse, General Electric, and GE subsidiary RCA formed a consortium to take over the radio business in America by manufacturing radio receivers and setting up stations.

• The companies started out cooperating but soon became fierce competitors.


The First Broadcasters• Nov. 2, 1920: engineer and radio

enthusiast Frank Conrad announces over Pittsburgh’s KDKA that Warren G. Harding had won the U.S. presidential election.

•Toll broadcasting (AT&T)• Aimee Semple McPherson

Dr. John R. Brinkley

A Brief History of RadioJohn R. Brinkley and his “medical” career

• In 1918, after piecing together an MD from a string of unaccredited medical schools, Brinkley began his infamous “goat gland” operations, in which he inserted goat testicular glands into human patients willing to pay $750 ($10,500) for the privilege.

• Upon a trip to LA, he toured a radio station and decided radio would be a great marketing tool for his operations. He returned to Kansas, opened KFKB and broadcast local singers in between his medical talks. He recommended listeners with medical problems go to specific pharmacies, who paid him a fee.

• In 1930, after 43 deaths were attributed to his “cures,” the Kansas State Medical Board pulled his medical license. The FRC (FCC) pulls his broadcasting license.

A Brief History of RadioJohn R. Brinkley and Mexican Radio

• After an unsuccessful campaign for Gov. of Kansas, Brinkley moves to Del Rio, Texas, a border town.

• In 1931, Brinkley obtains a radio license from the government of Mexico and starts XER on the AM band. The station is so powerful it can be heard in Canada.

• Brinkley later used his growing profits to launch XERA. The signal was so strong it sent a signal over the North Pole and into Russia.

• The U.S. later banned cross-border links between U.S. radio stations and Mexican transmitters in what became known as the Brinkley Act.

• Brinkley died penniless in 1942.

Brinkley Mansion in Del Rio

A Brief History of RadioThe Rise of the Networks

• Broadcast network: a group of interconnected stations that share programming and a parent company that supplies programming to stations.

• When networks own and operate some of the local stations that they provide programming to, they are called owned and operated stations (O&Os).

• Most stations in a network are network affiliates, local stations that are not owned by, but have a contractual relationship with the network.


• The first radio network was born in 1923 when AT&T connected its New York and Boston stations.

• In 1926, RCA’s David Sarnoff formed the first two national radio networks, NBC Red and NBC Blue, and dominated the industry.

• Network radio helped unify the country by providing an experience in which people coast-to-coast were listening to the same programs at the same time.

• In 1927 William Paley bought the money losing Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from the Columbia Record Company. By the end of WW II CBS was the acknowledged leader of radio news.


• In 1934 a coalition of independent stations that were not affiliated with the major networks formed The Mutual Broadcasting System.

• ABC was created in the mid-1940s, when the government forced RCA to sell one of its networks. RCA sold NBC Blue to a group of people led by Edward Noble, the owner of Lifesavers Candy Company.

• Network affiliates were originally linked to network headquarters through telephone lines but since the 1970s have been linked by satellite.


Early Programming• Radio networks invented formula dramas,

situation comedies, soap operas, game shows, musical variety, talk shows, broadcast news and sports.

• Because of spectrum scarcity radios were a jumble of static as broadcasters interfered with one another.

Regulation of radio

• Radio Act of 1912 required ships at sea to leave their radio on 24 hours a day and required federal licensing of all radio transmitters.

Regulation of radio

• The Radio Act of 1927 established the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), limited number of broadcasters, assigned frequencies, revoked licenses of broadcasters who did not in comply.

• Also required the broadcaster to operate in the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

• Call letters would begin with W east of the Mississippi River, K to the west.

• Communications Act of 1934 FRC became Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with authority over interstate telephone, telegraph and radio communication.


Edwin Armstrong And The Birth of FM• AM, or amplitude modulation, created

its signal by changing (modulating) the power (amplitude) of the carrier wave. AM radio tended to have static and a poor sound quality for music.

• Scientist Edwin Armstrong believed that FM, or frequency modulation waves that created their signal by modulating the speed (frequency) at which the wave traveled, would be of higher quality. He first demonstrated FM in 1936.


The Golden Age of Radio• Radio’s golden age lasted from the

1930s until just after WW II. • Talk shows were broadcast in the

morning and soap operas in the afternoon. Musical shows featured big bands with singers like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

• Comedy shows featured Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and a fictional team named Amos and Andy.

• Radio dramas included, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, and The Green Hornet.

A Brief History of Radio•Original plays like “War of the

Worlds” were regularly broadcast and popular game shows included Truth or Consequences.


•After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, 60 million people tuned in to hear President Roosevelt’s address to Congress.

•FDR used frequent “fireside chats” to broadcast encouragement during the war. Americans felt as if he were in the room with them, like a friend or neighbor.

A Brief History of Radio•When the drama, comedy and

game shows moved to television, however, radio needed help in order to survive.

•By 1958 the radio industry was using the superior sound of FM to compete with television.


The Transistor Portable • A second development that helped radio

compete with television was the transistor, a miniature version of the vacuum tube, which made radio portable.

• The first transistor portable radios were introduced in 1954, and by the 1960s they were cheaper than conventional vacuum tube radios.

• The portable radio became a virtual outgrowth of the American teenager’s ear as radios were taken to the beach, the corner hangout, or to the park.


Format Radio• Format radio, a consistent programming

formula that creates a recognizable sound and personality for a station, was the third development that allowed radio to survive television’s popularity.

• Station owners like formats because they encourage listener loyalty. Advertisers like them because they enable ads to target audiences with specific needs and buying habits.

• Top 40 was one of the most popular formats.• Format programming led to the payola

scandals of the 1950s when record promoters paid disc jockeys to play certain records.


Concentration and Fragmentation• Today’s 13,750 stations define themselves

with increasingly narrower formats. • Clear Channel Communications owns 1,200

of the largest and most profitable radio stations in the U.S. Several other companies own hundreds of stations.

Digital Radio• In digital radio, transmitted sounds are

assigned numbers that take up less air space than analog waves. This results in a crisp clear signal and means that more format choices can be offered.

• Digital signals radiate from satellites, the Internet, and from local stations.


Webcasting• As of 2007, around 10,000 radio stations

had broadcast Web sites, enabling web surfers to tune into radio anywhere in the world. There were also dozens of Web-only broadcasters, which had no over-the-air operations.

Local Digital: HD Radio • Local stations are also adopting digital

radio which prepares them for the day when high definition or HD radio becomes popular.

• According to equipment manufacturers, HD radio, which requires an HD receiver, brings FM-quality sound to AM stations and CD-quality sound to FM broadcasts.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry

Top Formats by Audience Listening Preference


Dayparts• Dayparts are how radio divides the day.• Morning Drive time: 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. • Midday: 10a.m. to 3 p.m.• Afternoon Drive time: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.• Evening: 7 p.m. to midnight.• Overnight: midnight to 6 a.m.

• A station’s top on-air personalities such as Howard Stern or Don Imus are programmed during drive times, which are the prime time of radio programming. This audience might also be given more traffic, weather, and news reports.


Talk/News Formats•Talk radio, had around 170 stations

in 1987. By 2007 that number had grown to more than 1,300 stations. The format appeals especially to working and middle-class adults who are over 35, and appreciate outspoken opinions of the show’s hosts.

•News formats attract a somewhat more upscale audience by providing a formula that listeners can rely on for information.


•The formula never varies at WINS, a popular New York City all-news station:•Complete news update every 22 minutes.

•Time every 3 minutes. •Weather every 5 minutes.•Traffic every 10 minutes.•Sports at 15 minutes before and after every hour.


The Format Clock listeners listening is foremost in the mind of radio programmers.• The FCC requires station identification

at the top of every hour, and the station’s business office will require that a certain number of commercials air.

• Contests and other types of promotions designed to get audiences to listen at key ratings times of day have also become staples of most format clocks.• Each segment of the programming hour

is part of an overall strategy because keeping


Ratings• Print media can actually count the number

of newspapers and magazines sold, but broadcast media have to rely on sampling, by which a small percentage of the audience is chosen to represent the behavior of the rest of the audience.

• Stations use the results to prove to advertisers the number and types of people listening.

• Out of the $13 billion in radio advertising spent in a typical year, $9 billion will be for local spots.


Groups• Group owners have two or more stations.• The Telecommunications Act of 1996

allows a group to own eight stations in larger cities and up to five in smaller markets, with no limit on the total number.

Program Providers• Today, most program providers call

themselves radio networks. • Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of

the Clear Channel Radio Group, is a large program provider.


Public Radio• Congress set up National Public Radio in

1970 in order to interconnect public, or noncommercial stations and produce programs for them to use. Stations derive their income from listener memberships and corporate underwriting.

• Government funding was reduced drastically during the 1980s. Critics fear that stations will not offer programs that critically examine donor corporations.

• In most other countries, public radio stations are owned and operated by the government and are more dominant than commercial stations. Public stations in England and Japan are supported through mandatory use fees.


Station Personnel• On-air talent includes talk show hosts,

news, feature and sports reporters and disc jockeys.

• The program director, sometimes called the music director, determines the station’s playlist, which typically includes three dozen new singles, or “currents.” A hot current will be placed in “heavy rotation” airing four or five times a day.

Audience• Most listeners want a station to be

dependable and are loyal to just two or three stations.

• Radio has also introduced listeners to music outside their own ethnic and regional origins.

ControversiesThe Effects of Concentration

• Critics are concerned that concentration of ownership may cut down on the number of different voices that are heard on the important debates of the day.

• When government rules limited the number of stations a network could own, listening choices multiplied. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 essentially did away with such restrictions and now more radio outlets are being placed into fewer hands creating potential conflicts of interest.

• Disney was once criticized for refusing allowing its Disney-owned ABC radio networks to air news reports critical of its Disney-owned theme parks.

ControversiesHomogenized Programming

• There are more formats than ever, but many of them sound the same. Because successful formats tend to be copied, slogans such as “More music, less talk” or “10 in a row” are heard on country, rock and hip-hop stations across the U.S. and increasingly, the world.

• Program directors must deliver high ratings and advertising dollars to quickly pay off heavy debts incurred when broadcasting chains spent huge sums to buy new stations.

• College stations have strong reputations for being experimental, forward thinking alternatives.

ControversiesShock Radio

• Shock Jocks like Howard Stern derive humor and ratings by using vulgarity, racism, sexism, cynicism, and anything else that will attract amazed listeners. The FCC has levied fines against several stations that air shock radio.

• The fines became so heavy by 2007 that shock radio moved mostly to satellite radio.

Hate Radio• In the 1930s, Father Charles Coughlin told

millions of listeners to hate socialists, Communists, international bankers, and Jews.

• During 1994’s ethnic massacre of 800,000 in Rwanda, the Hutu pop music station encouraged listeners to “finish off the Tutsi cockroaches.”

ControversiesDiversity and Censorship

• Some radical groups avoid censorship by creating pirate radio stations, which are unlicensed, illegal, low power outlets. Some pirates regularly move locations to avoid being closed down by the FCC.

• The FCC debated whether to license low-power FM stations to increase diversity of broadcast voices. It would later license 590 low-power stations between 2000 and 2007.

• Existing stations and their trade group, the National Association of Broadcasters, fought and won against the proposal and managed to block any more stations.

ControversiesDiversity and Censorship

• Payola didn’t end in the 1950s – its target merely changed from DJs to program directors.

• Some program directors began to use a legal form of payola called pay for play, which is done in the open.

• With consolidation in the music and radio industries, it became easier for early-era payola deals to occur behind closed doors.

• By 2006 the practice was so common that NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer uncovered clear-cut evidence against high-ranking executives in pay for play deals, which led to music companies paying fines of $10 million each.

Chapter 8

Radio: The Hits Keep Coming

Chapter Outline• History• Industry• Controversies

Mm ch 08radio

Education

Transcript of Mm ch 08radio