Richard E. Caplan The University of Akron 6. Radio Christopher Burnett California State, Long Beach

Radio’s Pervasive Presence 99% of homes have radio 95% of cars have radio –4 out of 5 adults listen 40% listen between 6 am and midnight 7% of bathrooms have radio More than 3000 stations Webcast on Internet An everyday accessory 123rf.com

Radio Takes a Technological Leap Telegraph and Telephone Radio’s Revolution –Heinrich Hertz, 1887 Wireless Breakthrough –Guglielmo Marconi, 1890s Experimental Broadcasts –Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, 1906 Detecting Radio Waves –Lee De Forest’s Audion, 1907 Radio for the People –David Sarnoff’s predictions

Policing the Airwaves Regulated media Radio Act of 1912 –Licensing –Limited frequencies World War I –Govt. took over all radio RCA 1919 –Govt. approved private monopoly –David Sarnoff, general manager, 1921

Development of Radio Early Experimental Stations –Pioneers broadcasting to each other KDKA Pittsburgh, 1920 –Nation’s first commercial radio station –One hour each night Expansion –Profitability encouraged radio craze

Radio Expansion ASCAP, 1923 –Blanket licensing of music broadcast over radio Commercial sponsors –WEAF, New York, sold advertising –Caught on quickly Regulation –Radio Act of 1927 –Federal Radio Commission –Federal Communication Commission, 1934 Granted frequency licenses David Sarnoff © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Where do people listen? Illustration 6.1

Radio Becomes Powerful Force New kind of national experience Cultural, political force Sponsored programming –Comedy –Music –Serials –Drama –News Formats migrated to television later jmmelton/motleyimage

“War of the Worlds” Orson Welles, Mercury Theater October 30, 1939 Aired dramatized version of H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds” as a live news broadcast People thought it was really happening Challenged Radio’s Credibility Orson Welles AP/Wide World Photos

Creation of Radio Networks David Sarnoff, NBC, 1926 –Red and Blue Networks William S. Paley, CBS, 1929 –25 stations NBC-Blue becomes ABC, 1943, Edward J. Noble –$8 million sale Three original radio networks lasted until 1980

Radio in the TV Era The FCC Recognizes FM –Edwin H. Armstrong –Clearer sound, 1939 Disc Jockeys & BMI Format Radio –Gordon McLendon, 1950s Clock and Car Radios –Drive-time audience Payola and Talk Show Scandals –Play for pay, 1960s, Alan Freed –Don Imus, 2007

Radio in a TV Era Less prominent role after TV Currently about 12,000 stations –Half FM, half AM Play music more than network programming Radio group –Company owns stations in more than one market Radio combo –Company owns AM and FM stations in the same market Michael Connors/morguefile.com

Working in Radio General Manager –Runs the station Program Manager –Runs programming content Account Executives –Ad sales Traffic People –Scheduling ads, billing Production People Engineers Administrative People Info and Careers

Radio since the ‘70s Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 –Created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting –National Public Radio 1970 –NPR linkNPR link Telecommunications Act of 1996 –Deregulation –Removed ownership limits –Allowed cross ownership –Prompted consolidation ABC News Click on image to play video

Radio Ratings Arbitron –Only company doing radio ratings Average Quarter-hour –Average number of people listening for five minutes in any given fifteen minutes Cume –Estimate of the unduplicated audience Ratings –Estimate of the percentage of the total populations listening to a particular radio station Share –Estimate of the percentage of the people listening to radio that are listening to a particular radio station

Radio Depends on Ready-Made Formats 1.News/Talk Larry King, Rush Limbaugh 2.Adult Contemporary 3.Contemporary Hit/Top 40 4.Country 5.Spanish Language 6.Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) Modern rock/oldies/love songs 7.Middle of the Road (MOR) 8.Religious Larry Downing/Rueters/Corbis Jim Sulley/epa/Corbis

Most Popular Formats Illustration 6.2

Audience & Income Narrowcasting –Targeted audience Digital audio broadcast Internet radio DBS radio or RDBS –Direct broadcast satellite radio New kind of Payola, 2005 –“Promotions” packages Satellite splits radio income –Advertising dominance declines ©William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

Satellite Digital Radio Illustration 6.3

Critical Discussion 1. Did CBS Radio do the right thing in 2007 in firing talk host Don Imus for making racially insensitive remarks about the Rutgers basketball team? When does free speech outweigh racial sensitivity? 2. Will subscription radio services overtake traditional over the air broadcast radio? Why or why not? AP/Wide World Photo