Chapter 4:
Popular Radio
and the Origins
of Broadcasting
Some guiding questions
What technological developments
led to the birth of broadcasting?
How did commercial radio networks
get started?
How has radio reinvented itself in
the TV age?
What are some issues about radio
ownership, government regulation,
and democracy?
What impact has
radio had on
20th-century
American
culture?
RADIO ESTABLISHED
The origin and
foundations of today’s
broadcast industry
(including patterns of
ownership and control)
RADIO ORIGINATED
the genre model of
drama and comedy
programming
(still used on TV today)
RADIO NEWS
created models for
newsgathering and
electronic journalism
RADIO PROVIDES
an example of how
the function and
format of a mass
medium can change
to survive
ORIGINS OF THE
BROADCASTING
INDUSTRY
Technological Inventions
1. Telegraph (1840s) and telephone
(1870s)
2. Marconi: invented wireless
telegraphy (1894) -- used code, not
voice
Established British Marconi (1897) and
American Marconi (1899)
Technological Inventions
3. Fessenden: first to broadcast
human voice on radio waves
(1906)
4. DeForest: invented vacuum
tube (1907 )
Sold patent to AT&T*
WHO WAS INTERESTED
IN EARLY RADIO
TECHNOLOGY?
What groups had an
interest in either the
technology or the
potential uses of radio?
Early experimental
stations (1910s)
Educational,
communityoriented
At some
colleges and
universities
Amateurs: ham operators
(1906-WWI)
Put together their own receiving sets;
attempted to tune in shipping messages
and to transmit their own messages
Similar to today’s computer hackers and
cyberpunk cultures--on cutting edge of
new technology
Companies holding patents
to broadcasting technology
General Electric (GE)
Westinghouse
AT&T
United Fruit
Shipping Industry
E.g., United Fruit, Inc. had
large banana plantations in
Central and South America.
Needed to communicate
between ships and main offices
onshore
U.S. Navy
Needed reliable ship-toship/shore communications
In era before WWI, increasing
need for defense and other
military communications
EARLY REGULATION of the
new radio medium
by the U.S. Government
Why did the government
need to regulate it?
What steps did it take?
How did this help the
industry?
ACTS OF U.S. CONGRESS
Wireless Ship Act of 1910
To protect ship passengers
Gave the radio industry a boost in sales
Radio Act of 1912
Gave U.S. Department of Commerce the
power to license private broadcasters and set
guidelines for frequencies and power
WORLD WAR I
was the central force
in the formation of
broadcasting:
How and why?
When America
declared war in 1917,
the U.S. Navy seized
control of radio
Shut down all other uses (especially
amateurs)
Developed portable radios for field
operations
After the war, a big struggle
for control of the radio
industry
U.S. Navy seized American Marconi
stations to eliminate foreign interests
Amateur Radio League opposed Navy's
control
U.S. Government wanted to eliminate
disputes between GE, Westinghouse,
AT&T, etc.
So -- the U.S. Government
placed control of the
radio industry in the
hands of corporate
interests by forming the
RCA monopoly.
WHY?
Formation of Radio
Corporation of America
(RCA) in 1919:
AMERICA’S
FIRST BROADCASTING
MONOPOLY
What was RCA?
a patent pool
AT&T telephone lines
GE & Westinghouse radio
transmitters and receivers
United Fruit, Inc. patents
on components
Purpose of forming RCA:
to create American supremacy
in communications technology
Nationalistic -- no foreign
companies allowed
Marconi forced to sell transmitters,
stations, and patents to RCA
RCA marketed all radio
equipment produced by
subsidiary companies.
However, internal disputes
between GE, Westinghouse,
and AT&T continued.
BIRTH OF
COMMERCIAL
RADIO UNDER
RCA
First commercial stations
1920: KDKA, Pittsburgh (Frank
Conrad, owned by Westinghouse)
1922: WEAF, New York (owned
by AT&T): introduced concept of
"toll broadcasting"
By 1922, 400 stations licensed by
Department of Commerce
FORMATION OF
NETWORKS
RCA patents pool was
legally questionable under
antitrust law.
In 1923, the FTC formally
charged RCA with
monopolistic practices.
The parties settled out of court.
AT&T agreed to withdraw from
broadcasting in 1925.
RCA, GE, and Westinghouse
formed NBC in 1926.
NBC’s stations would be linked
by AT&T's phone lines.
NBC went on the air in
1926 with twenty-five
affiliated stations
Affiliate: a station connected to the
network but not owned by it.
Legally, no single company could own
more than seven radio stations.
NBC was, in fact, becoming another
monopoly.
NBC grew rapidly
By 1928, NBC had two affiliates
in every area of the country.
Since they were the only game
in town, business was booming
and profits were high.
So -- in 1928, the NBC
network split itself into
two networks:
NBC BLUE: carried more
high culture: dramas,
symphony music
NBC RED: carried more
entertainment, popular
programming
What about independent
stations?
Couldn't provide the high quality
programming.
Didn't have the economic resources
of a network.
Inevitably, other stations attempted
to network themselves together -that's how CBS started (c. 1927).
CBS got off to a shaky start .
William S. Paley bought
CBS
New concepts and
strategies
By the 1930s, CBS
competitive with NBC
GOVERNMENT
REGULATION:
The Radio Act of 1927
established Federal
Regulatory Commission
(FRC) to regulate all forms
of radio communication
The Radio Act of 1927
Radio was to serve the public interest
-- to operate in "the public interest,
convenience and necessity" (PICAN
Principle), since the public owns the
airwaves.
Therefore, the FRC licensed stations to
use frequencies, not to own them.
PURPOSE OF U.S.
BROADCASTING:
to attract audiences for advertisers
“Delivering” consumers to sponsors
Programming produced as "bait" for
consumer
Most radio programs (except news
and public affairs) were produced and
controlled by sponsors: called singlesponsor system.
How Radio influenced
TELEVISION
Single sponsorship system of
commercial radio
Program segmentation and format
Liveness: real time, sense of
immediacy--tradition of broadcast
news and sports
Continuing characters-Identification and attachment
HOW DID RADIO RE-INVENT
ITSELF in the television age?
Alliance with music recording
industry
Rise of FORMAT and Top 40
radio (age of the disk jockey)
National network radio
programming
Growth of TALK RADIO
COMMERCIAL
RADIO TODAY
Economics based upon advertising
National network radio services
provide programming
Specialized radio formats (Top 40,
news/talk, adult contemporary,
Spanish language, country, etc.)
NONPROFIT RADIO
Public Broadcasting Act and
Corporation for Public Broadcasting in
1960s: established NPR and PBS
Variety of formats, both traditional
and experimental
NPR: distinctive niche in radio news
Alternative Voices in
RADIO
1948: Pacifica radio stations began
occupying left-wing, radical niche
Low-power stations (10-watt) licensed
1948-1978; revitalized in 2000 with LPFM
service
Micropower “pirate” radio broadcasting
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