1. Chapter 1
The History of Broadcast Media

2. 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 subaudience, such as children or
young adults.”

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Radio Advertising
• 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 (toll
broadcasting)
• This was soon the same
principle applied to radio
advertising!

16. 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
• Initially, 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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
•
•

24. 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

25. History of TV

26. 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)

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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)

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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
networksVCRs offer viewing alternatives, later the Internet and DVDs are a source of
competition for TV
• The Fox network debuted in 1987

39. 1980s – 2000s: Mergers and
Trends
• 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

40. 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

41. 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
• Mobile Media: Cell phone content,
iPod & iPhone content. iTunes store
rents & sells movies, TV shows,
music, other video content.
YouTube integrated to iPhones.
• Streaming Media
Video: Cutting the Cord on Cable

42. 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

43. Broadcasting in the 21 Century
st
• 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
• Internet: Internet radio stations, Pandora, YouTube,
Hulu – big changes in distribution for traditional media –
i.e. Netflix
• Convergence: where/when/how all media meets.