Music and Talk Across Media Sound Music and Talk Across Media

The Development of the Recording Industry Thomas Edison: invented the phonograph in 1877 first recording, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, lasted 10 seconds

Emile Berliner: invented the gramophone by 1888 utilized flat disks, provided more lifelike recordings first to envision idea of royalties

Development of the Recording Industry (cont.) high fidelity—refers to a combination of technologies that allowed recordings to: reproduced music more accurately have higher high notes and deeper bass magnetic tape industry standard by 1949 recording allowed for preservation: non-notated music—music that does not exist in written form

Transmitting Music and Talk: The Birth of Radio Samuel Morse: invented the telegraph in 1844

Heinrich Hertz: experimented with radio waves in 1888 created a simple transmitter and receiver

Guglielmo Marconi: developed the wireless telegraph

Transmitting Music and Talk (cont.) Reginald Fessenden: started sending voice signals over a radio in 1901 broadcasted Christmas carols and poetry in 1905

David Sarnoff: American Marconi employee in 1915, wrote the Radio Music Box memo radio as a popular mass medium essentially ignored focus was on support of United States in World War I

Transmitting Music and Talk (cont.) Frank Conrad (Westinghouse): began broadcasting music on Sunday afternoons Westinghouse built a more powerful transmitter released a broadcast schedule goal was to get people to buy radios

KDKA was licensed on October 27, 1920

Radio Advertising WEAF in New York City: first to sell air time to advertisers Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover: believed ads would destroy credibility of radio news Sales of radios thought to be main revenue source Early executives realized advertising revenue necessary

Radio Networks In 1923 more than 600 radio broadcast stations in the United States: provided limited programming in a localized area Sarnoff’s idea of a network: could provide more programming to a wider group of stations RCA established NBC July 22, 1926: actually two networks, Red and Blue

Radio Networks (cont.) William Paley interested in promoting family cigar business on radio: purchased United Independent Broadcasters (UIB) renamed Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) Paley understood the vital role of advertising

From the Golden Age to the Television Age Golden age of radio—1920s, 1930s, and 1940s Radio the primary form of entertainment Live music, dramas, action programs Start of soap operas first programs targeted specifically at women The Guiding Light started in 1937

From the Golden Age to the Television Age (cont.) Amos ‘n’ Andy (1926): First nationally broadcast daily drama Story of Sam and Henry, owners of Fresh Air Taxi Co. Sam and Henry were African American characters roles played by two white actors—Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden program controversial, but did portray middle class African Americans at a time when such portrayals not common

Radio News KDKA broadcast the results of the 1920 election Newspapers threatened by radio, in 1930s: threatened to cut off radio’s access to AP wire service threatened to stop printing radio program listings Live news was radio’s advantage: brought immediacy and broke stories. Edward R. Murrow’s 1939 reporting during the German bombing of London

The BBC: Voice of the Old Empire British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) : created as a public service in the 1920s during World War II, broadcast in more than 40 languages strong international reach utilization of a variety of technology Webcasting, FM stations, and satellite services

Akio Morita’s “Personal Soundtrack” Sony Walkman introduced in 1979: two versions - tape player or a stereo FM radio initial cost upward of $200 Some enjoyed the personal privacy provided Others argued it initiated a withdrawal from society Model for modern portable music (iPods, etc.)

Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Integration of Music During World War II, Armed Forced Radio played wide variety of music Race records—pre-1948 recordings by popular black musicians 1949, referred to as rhythm and blues by Billboard Wynonie Harris on December 28, 1947, recorded “Good Rockin’ Tonight” in Cincinnati, Ohio considered the first rock ‘n’ roll recording Elvis Presley Chuck Berry

Dewey Phillips (WHBQ in Memphis): Rock ‘n’ Roll (cont.) Dewey Phillips (WHBQ in Memphis): on October 29, 1949, started Red Hot ‘n’ Blue played R&B records Berry Gordy Jr.: founded Motown Records promoted black artists and their music sold to Boston Ventures for $61 million in 1988

The British Invasion: A Rougher Rock Began in 1964 British interpretation of American rock ‘n’ roll sound Beatles: by 1966, found it impossible to play live 1967—recorded Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band concept albums—brought together a group of related songs on common themes designed to be played from beginning to end

The Growing Importance of Producers producers as significant as the recording artists: Rick Rubin Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds Alan Parsons Country: Pop Music for Adults originally called old-time or hillbilly music became popular in 1950s and 1960s in Nashville songs deal with real life issues

Making Money In The Recording Industry Long-playing record (LP): developed by Columbia Records in 1948 labeled unbreakable; provided 23 minutes of music per side demonstrated to RCA and Sarnoff; RCA stuck with 45 format 45-rpm disc: RCA’s format provided four minutes of music per side affordable and popular with teens By 1950, LP the standard (minus RCA)

Making Money in the Recording Industry (cont.) Compact Discs and Digital Recording: Klaas Compaan began work on CD in 1969 Philips Electronics physicist Philips joined with Sony to create a standard format: Wanted to avoid another format war (LP versus 45) The CD launched in Europe in 1982; in the United States in 1983

Making Money in the Recording Industry (cont.) Digital recording—a method of recording sound that involves storing it as a series of numbers: no degradation in reproductions impacts sales of original recordings Music on the Internet: MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group audio layer 3) compressed format, easy to share allows for new artists to get attention music industry concerned about copyright violations

The Problem of Payola Payola—payoffs to disc jockeys in the form of money or gifts so they will play a particular record Alan Freed: fired from WABC on November 21, 1959 failed to sign a statement saying he had not participated in payola scandal Dick Clark: shifted career to television music shows

The Business of Radio Popular Radio Formats: 2006—country music most popular format in the United States Carried on 12.5 percent of stations News/talk—10.4 percent Adult contemporary—7.1 percent Classic rock—4.9 percent Spanish-Language Broadcasting 2006—more than 700 Spanish-language stations strong support from advertisers

The Business of Radio (cont.) Talk Radio—Politics, News, Sports, and Shock Jocks 1985, only 200 stations carried the format; by 1995, more than 1,000 major source of political information to 44 percent of Americans Shock Jocks: Opie and Anthony Todd Clemm Don Imus Howard Stern - Moved to satellite broadcasting in 2006

Radio Consolidates and Goes Hi-Tech Telecommunications Act of 1996 relaxed broadcast radio ownership rules led to more concentrated ownership 2003—number of owners fell 35 percent 2006—50 percent owned by major media companies

National Public Radio (NPR) 1967 Public Broadcasting Act set aside lower end of FM dial for non-commercial broadcasts went on the air in 1971—All Things Considered allowed for in-depth coverage 16 percent of budget comes from federal government remaining comes from donations and sponsorship

Radio’s New Look—HD and Satellite 90 percent of American listen to terrestrial radio every week High definition radio: expensive, equipment not readily available in 2007 Satellite Radio: monthly subscription XM and Sirius merge in 2007 provides quality reception despite location

Music and the Long Tail— Alternatives to Broadcasting Webcasting: Internet sites, Apple’s iTunes player greatly extends the reach of stations Podcasting: audio programs recorded as MP3 files any MP3 player will work; Apple iPod has a huge share of market August 2006—12 percent of Internet users had downloaded a podcast

New Economic Models for the Music Industry Computer technology allows for easy piracy. In 2006, CD sales declined by nearly 5 percent: Sales of downloads increased by 65 percent from 2005. Overall, music sales increased 19 percent in 2006 .