1. Chapter 4
Popular Radio and the
Origins of Broadcasting

2. Minority Access to Radio
“If you don’t have access and ownership and control
of a media system, you really don’t exist. You don’t
matter in terms of being citizens in a democracy who
are entitled to the ability to tell, and have a
conversation about, your own stories.”
— Loris Taylor, executive director of Native Public Media

3. Early Technology and the
Development of Radio
• Telegraph (1840s) and telephone (1870s)

4. Early Technology and the
Development of Radio
• Nikola Tesla
• His work preceded Marconi’s, but was overshadowed by Italian
inventor.
• Died in 1943, months before U.S. Supreme Court deemed him
inventor of radio

5. Figure 4.1
The Electromagnetic Spectrum

6. Marconi and the Inventors of
Wireless Telegraphy
• Received first patent on wireless telegraphy (1894)—
used code, not voice
• Built upon the work of Hertz
• Established British Marconi (1897) and American Marconi
(1899)

7. Wireless Telephony: De Forest
and Fessenden
• De Forest wrote the first Ph.D. thesis on wireless
technology in 1899.
• De Forest’s biggest breakthrough was the development of
the Audion, or triode, vacuum tube.
• Fessenden is credited with first voice broadcast.

8. Wireless Telephony:
• Narrowcasting – point to point or person-to-person (like
telegraph and telephone)
• Broadcasting – transmission of radio waves (and later, TV
signals) to a broad public audience

9. The Titantic

10. Regulating a New Medium
• Radio Act of 1912
• Limits amateur radio operators
• Standardizes radio procedures in crisis
• WWI: Congress gives radio to navy
• Navy drafts/hires young technicians
• Consolidates patents
• Controls frequencies
• U.S. domination
• Formation of RCA monopoly

11. The Evolution of Radio
First Radio Station
1920 Conrad – KDKA Pittsuburgh

12. The Evolution of Radio
• 5 stations in 1921, 600 in 1923
• 5.5 million radio sets by 1925
• 1922: AT&T starts first station, WEAF, that sells ads.
• 1923: AT&T creates first network— WEAF and WNAC
(Boston).
• By 1924, AT&T has 22 stations linked and denies rival RCA
phone rights.

13. Sarnoff and NBC: Building the “Blue”
and “Red” Networks
• 1921: David Sarnoff becomes RCA’s general manager.
• Independent stations affiliate with NBC networks for
programming.
• Network radio:
• Radio goes from point-to-point to mass medium.
• Centralizes costs and programming
• Makes news national, not local
• Larger budget buys better talent

14. CBS and Paley:
Challenging NBC
• First attempt at CBS fails
• William S. Paley buys controlling share in company, launches
new concepts and strategies:
• Option time lures affiliates
• Hires PR guru Bernays
• By the 1930s, CBS competitive with NBC

15. Bringing Order to Chaos with
the Radio Act of 1927
• Radio Act of 1927 defines broadcast regulations.
• Too many stations and poor reception
• Act created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) to monitor airwaves
for “public interest, convenience, or necessity.”

16. Bringing Order to Chaos with the
Radio Act of 1927(cont.)
• Communications Act of 1934
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) monitors radio,
telephone, and telegraph.
• Today FCC covers television, cable, and the Internet.

17. The Golden Age of Radio
• Shapes television’s programming future
• Sitcoms
• Anthology dramas
• Quiz shows
• Soaps
• Radio pioneers single-sponsor programming.
• Amos ‘n’ Andy was the most popular radio series in
history.

18. The Authority of Radio
• War of the Worlds, Orson Welles’s radio broadcast
(1938)
• Shows power of radio to compel
• Created mass panic along the Northeast coast
• New Jersey citizens shot up a water tower
thinking it a Martian weapon.
• Welles forced to recant before Congress

19. Radio Reinvents Itself
• AM vs. FM
• Format radio
• Top 40 format
• The idea of rotation
• Expansion of FM allowed for experimenting with other formats.
• Portability improved with transistor radios.

20. Figure 4.2
AM and FM Waves

21. Figure 4.3
Radio Program Log for an Adult
Contemporary (AC) Station

22. The Sounds of
Commercial Radio
• Most programming locally produced
• Heavily dependent on music industry
• Some national personalities
• Specialized stations with particular formats
• E.g. news/talk/information, adult contemporary, country
• Heaviest listening occurs during drive time.

23. Figure 4.4
The Most Popular Radio Formats in the United
States among Persons Age Twelve and Older

24. Nonprofit Radio and NPR
• Established by Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 and
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1960s
• Nonprofit, heavily government subsidized
• NPR: distinctive niche in radio news
• PBS: educational and children’s programming

25. New Radio Technologies
Offer More Stations
• Satellite radio
• XM and Sirius merged to become Sirius XM Radio in 2008.
• Financial problems continue.
• HD Radio
• Broadcasters can multicast additional digital signals within their
traditional analog frequency.

26. Radio and Convergence
• Internet radio
• Broadcast radio stations now have an online presence.
• Online-only radio stations like Pandora growing in popularity
• Podcasting
• Popular way to listen to programs, music on computer or portable
music device

27. Local and National Advertising
• 8% of media advertising goes to radio.
• Industry revenue has dropped, but number of stations keeps
growing.
• Only 20% of budget goes toward programming costs because
content from recording industry is free.

28. Manipulating Playlists with Payola
• Payola 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.

29. Radio Ownership: From Diversity to
Consolidation
• Telecommunications Act of 1996 eliminated most
ownership restrictions in radio.
• As a result, two large conglomerates, Clear Channel and
CBS Radio, now control the majority of radio stations.

30. What Clear Channel Owns
Radio Broadcasting (U.S.) Advertising • Clear Channel
• 894 radio stations • Clear Channel Communications News
• Premiere Radio Network Outdoor Networks
(syndicates 90 radio Advertising
programs, including The (billboards, Marketing/Video
Glenn Beck Program, Keep airports, malls, taxis) Production
Hope Alive with Reverend – North American • Twelve Creative
Division
Jesse Jackson, On Air with – International
Ryan Seacrest, and Fox Division Broadcast Software
Sports Radio) • RCS Sound Software
• iheartradio.com Media
Representation Radio Research and
International Radio • Katz Media Group Consultation
• Clear Channel International • Broadcast Architecture
Radio (Joint Partnerships) Satellite
–Australian Radio Network Communications Trade Industry
–The Radio Network (New • Clear Channel Publications
Satellite • InsideRadio.com
Zealand)
• TheRadioJournal.com
Information Services • The Radio Book
• Clear Channel Total
Traffic Network

31. Alternative Voices
• In the 1990s, activists set up “pirate” stations to protest large
corporations’ control over radio.
• 2000: FCC approved noncommercial low-power FM (LPFM)
stations.
• Prometheus Radio Project

32. Radio and the Democracy of the
Airwaves
• Will consolidation of power restrict
the number and kinds of voices
permitted to speak over public
airwaves?