1. Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting
Chapter 5
Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

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3. The Demise of Local Radio
The consolidation of stations into massive radio groups like Cumulus and Clear Channel in the 1990s and 2000s resulted in budget-cutting demands from the corporate offices and, ultimately, stations with less connection to their local audience.

4. Maxwell and Hertz Discover Radio Waves
James Maxwell
Theorized the existence of electromagnetic waves (1860s)
Believed a portion of these waves, later known as radio waves, could be harnessed to transmit signals
Heinrich Hertz
Proved Maxwell’s theories (1880s)
Advanced the development of wireless communication

5. Figure 5.1: The Electromagnetic Spectrum

6. Marconi and the Inventors of Wireless Telegraphy
Guglielmo Marconi
Received a patent on wireless telegraphy in England in 1896
Alexander Popov
Made parallel discoveries in Russia
Nikola Tesla
Invented a wireless system in 1892
Marconi used much of Tesla’s work.
Deemed inventor of radio in 1943

7. Wireless Telephony: De Forest and Fessenden
Lee De Forest
Wrote the first Ph.D. thesis on wireless technology in 1899
Primary interest was wireless telephony
Biggest breakthrough was the development of the Audion
Reginald Fessenden
First voice broadcast

8. Regulating a New Medium
Radio Act of 1912
Required licensing
Adopted the SOS distress signal
World War I
Navy took control of radio.
Corporate heads and government leaders conspired to make sure radio served American interests.

9. Regulating a New Medium (cont.)
The formation of RCA
GE broke off negotiations to sell radio technologies to European companies, then took the lead in founding the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
RCA became a monopoly and gave the United States almost total control over the emerging mass medium of broadcasting.

10. The Evolution of Radio Frank Conrad Charles “Doc” Herrold
Established the first commercial broadcast station, KDKA, in 1920
Charles “Doc” Herrold
Began a station in 1909 that later became KCBS
U.S. Commerce Dept.
Licensed five radio stations for operation in 1921

11. The RCA Partnership Unravels
AT&T
Broke its RCA agreements in 1922 in an attempt to monopolize radio
Began making and selling its own radio receivers
Started WEAF in New York, the first station to sell advertising
Created the first radio network
GE, Westinghouse, and RCA created their own radio group in response

12. Sarnoff and NBC: Building the “Blue” and “Red” Networks
David Sarnoff
RCA’s first general manager
Created NBC, which was shared by RCA, GE, and Westinghouse
The original telephone group became known as the NBC-Red network, and the radio group became known as the NBC-Blue network.

13. Sarnoff and NBC: Building the “Blue” and “Red” Networks (cont.)
NBC affiliates
Paid NBC to carry its programs
NBC sold national advertising.
Emphasized national programming
Sarnoff also
Cut a deal with GM to manufacture car radios
Merged RCA with the Victor Talking Machine Company

14. Government Scrutiny Ends RCA-NBC Monopoly
FTC charged RCA with violations of antitrust laws as early as 1923.
RCA bought out GE and Westinghouse’s shares in RCA’s manufacturing business.
Government accepted RCA’s breakup proposal before trial.

15. CBS and Paley: Challenging NBC
First attempt at CBS failed
William S. Paley
Bought a controlling share in the company, and launched new concepts and strategies
Hired PR guru Edward Bernays
Used option time to lure affiliates
Raided NBC for top talent
Became the top network in 1949

16. Bringing Order to Chaos with the Radio Act of 1927
Stated that stations could only license their channels as long as they operated to serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity”
Created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), which became the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with the Communications Act of 1934

17. Bringing Order to Chaos with the Radio Act of 1927(cont.)
Activist FCC went after the networks in 1941
Outlawed the practice of option time
Demanded that RCA sell one of its two NBC networks
NBC-Blue was sold and became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

18. The Golden Age of Radio Early radio programming
Only a handful of stations
Live music daily
15-minute evening programs
Variety shows
Quiz shows
Dramatic programs
Most shows had a single sponsor.

19. Radio Programming as a Cultural Mirror
The most popular comedy by the 1930s was Amos ‘n’ Andy
Stereotyped black characters as shiftless and stupid
Created the idea of the serial show
Moved to TV and was the first show with an entirely black cast
Canceled in 1953 amid the strengthening Civil Rights movement

20. The Authority of Radio War of the Worlds
Broadcast by Orson Welles on Halloween eve in 1938 in the style of a radio news program
Created a panic in New York and New Jersey
Prompted the FCC to call for stricter warnings before and during programs imitating the style of radio news

21. Transistors Make Radio Portable
Small electrical devices that could receive and amplify radio signals
More durable and less expensive than vacuum tubes, used less power, and produced less heat
Led to the creation of small pocket radios
Made radio portable

22. The FM Revolution and Edwin Armstrong
FM (frequency modulation) radio
Discovered and developed by Edwin Armstrong in the 1920s and 1930s
Greater fidelity and clarity than AM (amplitude modulation) radio
Lost RCA’s support to TV
FCC opened up spectrum space for FM in the 1960s
Surpassed AM radio by the 1980s

23. The Rise of Format and Top 40 Radio
Format radio
Formula-driven radio
Management controls programming
Developed by Todd Storz in 1949
Used rotation
Led to the development of the Top 40 format
Creation of the program log and day parts

24. Resisting the Top 40
Expansion of FM in the mid-1960s created room for experimenting.
Progressive rock
Experimental stations playing hard-edged political folk music
Album-oriented rock (AOR)
General classic rock

25. The Sounds of Commercial Radio
Listeners today are unlike radio’s first audiences in several ways.
Radio has become a secondary or background medium.
Peak listening time is during drive time rather than prime time.
Stations are more specialized.

26. Format Specialization
Variety of formats
News, talk, and information
Music formats
Adult contemporary (AC)
Contemporary hit radio (CHR)
Country
Urban contemporary
Spanish language
Classic rock
Oldies

27. Figure 5.4: Most Popular U.S. Radio Formats, Ages 12+

28. Nonprofit Radio and NPR
Early years of nonprofit radio
In 1948, the government began authorizing noncommercial licenses and approved 10-watt FM stations.
First noncommercial networks
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) mandated to provide alternatives to commercial broadcasting

29. New Radio Technologies Offer More Stations
Satellite radio
XM and Sirius merged to become Sirius XM Radio in 2008.
Accessible through satellite radios, mobile devices, and cars with a satellite band
HD Radio
Enables multicasting by AM and FM broadcasters and provides program data

30. Radio and Convergence Internet radio Podcasting and portable listening
Broadcast radio stations now have an online presence.
Online-only radio stations like Pandora growing in popularity
Podcasting and portable listening
A popular way to listen to radio-style programs on a computer or portable music device

31. Local and National Advertising
Radio advertising
Comprises 8% of media advertising
Industry revenue has dropped, but the number of stations keeps growing.
Only 20% of budget goes toward programming costs.
National networks provide programming in exchange for time slots for national ads.

32. Manipulating Playlists with Payola
Record promoters paying deejays to play particular records
Rampant in 1950s
In 2007, four of the largest broadcasting companies agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a payola investigation by the FCC.

33. Radio Ownership: From Diversity to Consolidation
Telecommunications Act of 1996
Eliminated most ownership restrictions in radio
Combined, Clear Channel, Cumulus, and CBS
Own roughly 1,500 radio stations (more than 10% of all radio stations)
Dominate the fifty largest markets
Control about one-half of the entire radio industry’s $17.4 billion revenue

34. Alternative Voices
In the 1990s, activists set up “pirate” stations to protest large corporations’ control over radio.
In 2000, the FCC approved noncommercial low-power FM (LPFM) stations to give voice to local groups lacking access.
Prometheus Radio Project
Educates about low-power radio

35. Radio and the Democracy of the Airwaves
Influence of radio in the formation of American culture cannot be overestimated.
Early radio debates
Requirement to operate in the “public interest, convenience, or necessity”
Trend of radio moving away from its localism