Chapter 1

The History of Broadcast Media

What hath God wrought?

• The first message sent by wire (telegraph) from Washington DC to Baltimore in 1884

• The FIRST broadcast message

• What is broadcasting?• “the distribution of audio and/or

video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults.”

Broadcasting

• Sending one message to a large group or audience

• Broadcasting has many inventors• Physicists James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz

demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic radiation – energy waves that travel through space

• Three main inventors of wireless communication: Marconi, Fessenden & DeForest

Guglielmo Marconi

• Saw a demonstration of radio waves while in college

• Realized the biggest potential use for wireless communication, was in instances where wires were not possible (ships)

• Began experimenting with transmitters and receivers

• Eventually, he was able to send a radio signal a little over a mile

• In December 1901, he sent the first telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean

Reginald Fessenden• Marconi was sending Morse

code – no one had yet to send voice over radio waves

• A new way of generating radio signals had to be developed

• To transmit voice or music, a continuous radio wave was needed

• While working at General Electric, Fessenden built a high speed alternator that allowed for the continuous wave

• Tested on Christmas Eve 1906, Fessenden’s voice was the first on the air – then he played some violin music and read a few passages from the Bible before signing off.

The Crystal Set• In 1910, the most popular way of

receiving radio signals was using a crystal set – some minerals were able to pick up radio waves

• They were cheap and easy to assemble, but they couldn’t amplify the signals very well

Lee DeForest• Something that could boost weak

signals was needed• Lee DeForest created the Fleming

valve – which acted as an amplifier to boost weak radio waves

• Hooking up a few of these valves could amplify signals millions of times

• He named this invention the audion

• The audion evolved into the vacuum tube, and was the basis for all radio transmission until the 1950’s, when the transistor replaced it

Boardrooms and Courtrooms

• Now that radio has tested as a viable medium, what to do next to make it successful?

• Legal issues: Radio’s main use was still ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication

• Many companies interested in radio: Marconi’s British Marconi & American Marconi, General Electric, AT&T and Westinghouse

Who owns what?

• Each of these companies owned patents for different types of functions and technologies

• No one had patents that covered the entire process of developing transmitters and receivers

• Each company went ahead and made them anyway – resulting in patent infringements

WW1 and Radio• All US Navy ships were

equipped with radio• In 1917, when the US

entered the war, the government took control of all radio operations, in the interest of national security

• The Navy assumed responsibility for patent infringement – meaning the various companies could pool resources to improve radio communication

RCA

• Commercial interests were opposed to the government’s control over radio after the war was over

• Giving the Navy control over radio was never voted on

• The stations were still owned by Marconi – a British company

• Navy suggests to General Electric they purchase American Marconi and create a new company – called RCA (The Radio Corporation of America)

Patents problems

• After the Navy relinquished control, patent issues were prevalent once again

• RCA entered into a cross-licensing agreement with GE, AT&T and Westinghouse that enabled all the companies to use each other’s patents

• GE and Westinghouse agreed to manufacture radio equipment; RCA would sell it; AT&T would build the transmitters

1920’s

• Radio came on the scene to the general public

• KDKA in Pittsburgh became the first radio station under Frank Conrad in 1920; he played phonograph records and read from the newspaper

• Westinghouse quickly started other stations

• In 1922 there were 28 radio stations; in 1923, there were 570

• By the end of the 20’s half of American homes had a radio

Money problems

• RCA was making $11 M selling radios, while AT&T made $3 M – prohibited to sell radios according to the post-war agreement

• AT&T sold its radio operations, and was granted a monopoly over wire interconnections that enabled radio networks

Radio Advertising

• Old radio commercial samples• Radio was expensive to run – a way to

make money to keep it afloat was needed• AT&T developed a system where anyone

who had a message to deliver would come to the station, give the message, leave money, AT&T sent the message

• This was soon the same principle applied to radio

WEAF• WEAF was the first station to have

commercial advertising• August 28, 1922 for Queensboro

Corporation• Rising operating costs were forcing

other stations off the air• People did not want advertising on the

radio• There was even talk in Congress to ban

it (but we all know that didn’t happen!)• By 1929, radio advertising was a $20M

industry

How networks grew radio

• There were many radio stations that needed programs• Many radio programs, and their talent, were located in

New York, Chicago, Hollywood.• Smaller cities wanted access to those programs too• Networks were developed• Based on the technology AT&T had to wire stations,

networks were possible• Networks shared programs to their affiliates• Affiliates = individual stations, in different cities

RCA and the birth of Networks

• David Sarnoff (president of RCA) set up a new company in 1926 to separate the parent company from the broadcast organization

• The National Broadcasting Company was born

• The “Red” network consisted of stations from AT&T, and the “Blue” network comprised stations originally owned by RCA, Westinghouse and GE

• By 1933, NBC had 88 stations in its network

Networks grow

• The Columbia Broadcasting System was founded in 1927 by William S. Paley – starting with 16 stations, and by the end of 1933 had 91 stations

• Mutual Broadcasting system started in 1934

• Advantages: brought programming to rural areas that previously didn’t have radio programming; contributed to radio’s growth

Early Rules & Regulations

• Attempts to regulate the new medium of radio can be traced to 1903

• Wireless Ship Act of 1910: required certain passenger ships to have wireless communication

• Titanic disaster: many were saved due to wireless distress signals, however, the signal was interfered with due to unregulated amounts of stations on the air simultaneously

• Trivia: one of the first operators to relay the Titanic’s distress call was David Sarnoff – the future president of RCA and champion of Color TV

Early Rules & Regulations

• Radio Act of 1912: required stations to be licensed by the Secretary of Commerce – who would assign wavelengths and time limits

• Interference was still a big problem: federal control was needed

• Radio Act of 1927: radio frequencies could not be owned, but they could be licensed for use; license holders had to operate in the public interest; gov’t censorship was forbidden; creation of the Federal Radio Commission to enforce the new laws

• Communications Act of 1934: replaced the FRC with the FCC – the Federal Communications Commission

Radio 1930-1948• Radio grew at a phenomenal rate,

becoming an integral part of American life• $40M spent on radio advertising in 1930;

$506M in 1948• Growth continued despite another war and

economic depression• FM broadcasting: invented by Edwin

Armstrong, it was publicly demonstrated in 1933

• FM was less prone to static, and could broadcast in stereo

• FM did not catch on (at this time) because AM radio was already so successful, RCA was unwilling to invest

• FCC ruled NBC was monopolistic - they sold off the Blue Network, which eventually became ABC

Impact• Primary source of home

entertainment• Social power: •FDR's famous "fireside

chats" helped him push legislation through Congress

•1938 Orson Welles produced "War of the Worlds" and caused mass hysteria

• Radio took advertising revenue away from newspapers, and news broadcasts eliminated the need for extra editions of newspapers

Programs• Programs were diverse;

many genres were the same as you find on TV today - sitcoms, crime shows, variety shows, soap operas and news

• Famous programs: Amos 'n' Andy, Burns & Allen, Mr. District Attorney, Dr. Christian, The Original Amateur Hour, The Guiding Light

• Radio news broadcasts doubled from 1940-1945 with wartime reports

• Edward Murrow reports on the bombing of London

History of TV

History of TV

• A way to scan images, encode an image into tiny electrical signals, able to be received and reassembled

• Philo Farnsworth: Age 16, conceptualized the “image dissector,” patented in 1930, the first television

• Vladimir Zworykin: by 1928 developed a working camera tube -- iconoscope

• First demo of working TV: 1939 World’s Fair (RCA, with Zworykin’s help and Farnsworth’s patent made it happen)

History of TV

• Initial public response was weak, sets were expensive, and not many programs to watch

• Early TV actors had to wear green makeup to look normal for TV and swallow salt tablets to prevent sweating under the hot camera lights

• WW2 interrupted TVs development

History of TV

• Post War: technology utilized during WW2 spurred TV development, regarding reception and working conditions for the performers

• New TV cameras required less light, TV screens were bigger, more programs, the beginnings of networks

• After the war, assembly lines used for war materials, began making televisions

History of TV

• 1945: 8 TV stations, 8,000 homes with TV in the US

• 1955: 100 stations, 35 million households with TV

• By 1948, television was on its way into the mainstream

TV Freeze

• TV growth was phenomenal; manufacturers could barely keep up with demand, many TV stations popping up all over the country

• FCC declared a freeze on new applications in 1950-1952• 1952: Sixth Report and Order

TV’s Sixth Report and Order

• A table of channel assignments was constructed, structuring the provision of TV service to all parts of the US

• FCC opens up new channels on the UHF band (Ultra High Frequency, channels 14-69)

• VHF: Very High Frequency (channels 2-13)• Set standards regarding color TV• 242 channels were set aside for

noncommercial TV stations

Radio's Adjustment to TV

TV had four main effects on radio

1.Mass market advertising shifted to TV, resulting in major revenue loss; big stars migrated to TV; would take radio nearly 30 years to recover

2.Radio returned to serving specialized audiences: formats, local programming, DJs, recorded music

3.Radio became close with the record industry; helped to sell records

4.Radio was forced to become dependent on local revenue, redefining its revenue base

TV in the 1950s

• Early TV industry was modeled after radio; local stations served their communities, and might be affiliated with networks

• 4 TV networks during this period: NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont

• Golden Age of Television• Popular shows: I Love Lucy, The

Today Show, 21, Gunsmoke

Technology

• Slow, but steady growth of cable (10% of homes in 1974)

• UHF got a boost from cable systems

• Satellites become more important to TV

The beginnings of Cable

• Introduced in the early 1950s• Solved a problem: people who lived in

mountainous areas couldn’t receive traditional, over-the-air, TV signals

• They put an antennae on top of a tall peak, and ran a wire to homes in the valley

• This was called Community Antenna TV (CATV)

1963-1975

• By the end of the 1950's, 95% of American households had a TV

• Public Broadcasting Act of 1967: established the Public Broadcasting System (PBS)

• After debate on the effects of cigarette smoking, in 1971 cigarette ads were prohibited on TV

• PTAR: Prime Time Access Rule was meant to encourage local programming (1970); gave the 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. slot back to local stations to program themselves: encouraged the growth of syndicated programming

Programming 1963-1975

• Rural comedies/fantastical comedies: The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, My Mother the Car

• Law-and-order programs; The FBI, Charlie’s Angels and Mannix.

• Adult situation comedies (the sitcom): All In The Family, M*A*S*H, Dallas, Dynasty

1975-1999

• New technologies emerge that compete with TV

• Increased competition from cable and satellite

• Changes in the business and economic climate

• Premium channels (HBO) and superstations (TBS) attract viewers away from networks

• VCRs offer viewing alternatives, later the Internet and DVDs are a source of competition for TV

• The Fox network debuted in 1987

Telecommunications Act of 1996

• Telecommunications Act of 1996: allowed telephone companies to offer TV service, eased limits on TV and radio station ownership, allowed TV stations to own cable systems, v-chip regulation

• UPN, WB: 1990s – in 2006, merge to CW

• Major Mergers: Walt Disney buys ABC, Westinghouse buys CBS

• By 2000, 68% of people use cable

• 80’s: The Cosby Show, Family Ties

• 90’s: prime-time newsmagazines, 20/20, 60 Minutes

• 2000’s: Reality TV, Survivor, Jersey Shore, The Bachelor

New technology/issues:

• TVRO & DBS satellite: TV Receive Only (backyard satellite dishes), 1970-80s – received free broadcasts until companies started scrambling signals and required a subscription to unscramble. Direct broadcast satellite, 1990s, smaller dishes

• Electronic News Gathering: revolutionized TV coverage; using portable cameras and tape recorders, reporters no longer had to wait for film to develop; allowed live coverage of breaking news

Radio in the video age

•Since 1960, FM radio continued to grow, especially in music programming, while AM remained the home of talk and sports formats

•Syndication: send national programming to local affiliates, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern (pre-Sirius)

•Formats: specialized programming to serve a segmented audience, i.e., country music, talk, sports

•Consolidation: many stations owned by one company; Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed this

Broadcasting in the 21st Century

• HDTV: 60 Million homes by 2009, higher quality picture and sound. Requires a special TV and special signal

• HD Radio: digital translation of analog frequencies. Allows for superior sound quality, and the segmenting of frequencies (more stations)

• Mobile Media: Cell phone content, iPod & iPhone content. iTunes store rents & sells movies, TV shows, music, other video content. YouTube integrated to iPhones.

• Internet: Internet radio stations, Pandora, YouTube, Hulu – big changes in distribution for traditional media – i.e. Netflix

• Convergence: where/when/how all media meets.