For hard-core music lovers, the Zune’s a gem. It blows the iPod off the map in music discovery and downloading.

Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

Novelty Stage1.Samuel morse Telegraph (wires) Morse Code

Video of telegraph

Novelty Stagewhat about wireless?

How do you transmit a signal through the AIR?

Novelty Stage2. James Maxwell

His equations theorized that electricity, magnetism and even light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon: the electromagnetic field.

Novelty Stage3. Heinrich Hertz

– Proved Maxwell’s theories– Identified Electromagnetic waves

Novelty StageHertz (Hz) can be used to measure any periodic event; the most common use for hertz is to describe frequency of rotation, in which case a speed of 1 Hz is equal to one cycle per second.

Novelty Stage4. THREE GUYS WHO INVENTED THE DEVICE TO TRANSMIT A SIGNAL THROUGH

THE AIR (1894)A. Guglielmo Marconi vs. B. NiKola Tesla vs. C. Alexander Popov– Who invented Wireless telegraphy?

Novelty StageMARCONI

Marconi’s Invention (Dramatization)HAD IMPLICATIONS FOR SHIP TO SHORE TRAVEL

Tesla

POPOV QuickTime™ and a

decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Novelty StagePOPOV

(Dramatization)

Tele = far off TelegraphGraph= writing TelephonePhone= sound Phonograph

W I R E L E S S T E L E G R A P H

Novelty Stage5. Reginald Fessenden

Wireless telephony: transmitted voice and sound

Novelty Stage

6. Lee De Forest Wireless telephony: amplified sound

(monkey face)

Novelty Stage

Entrepreneurial Stage

Entrepreneurial Stage Ship-to-shore communication

Entrepreneurial Stage David Sarnoff and the Titanic

Entrepreneurial Stage “Wireless” became a huge hobby

Entrepreneurial Stage"I remember it was 10 or 11 o'clock at night and all at once, this voice appears. And I remember letting out a yelp or a shout of some sort and my dad, who had just gotten out of the bath, came in wrapped in a towel to make sure... that something hadn't happened to me. I said, 'Dad, look, I hear this fellow talking.'"

Some Key Developments…

Radio Act of 1912–You need a LICENSE to operate a radio

WWIRadio is an important war toolU.S. wants to control Global radio

Some Key Developments…

1915: Over 20 companies selling point-to-point radio equipment:

e.g. AT&T (transmitters) General electric (U.S.) (Receivers) American Marconi (Britain) (both) (marconi was the biggest and best)

Some Key Developments…U.S. develops a “plan” to ensure powerful radio technology would fall

under U.S. control.

1. Establish new company, anchored by GE, called RCA (Radio Corporation of America), To pool patents. RCA is a private-sector monopoly.

2. Using GE, weaken British Marconi by not selling them key components, and then BUY its american assets (american Marconi)

3. Use RCA to oversee radio patents from GE, AT&T, Westinghouse, American Marconi and the navy. Standardization.

=The beginning of American domination over communication technology

Some Key Developments…

• THE UK MODEL: In 1904, Great Britain decides to develop A state-supported broadcasting system.

• The UK Funds the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)

Mass Medium Stage

Mass Medium Stage• KDKA, Pittsburgh, 1920. “First”

station to broadcast music and talk (disputed)

• BROADCASTING vs. POINT-to-POINT• First ads, 1922

Radio: a DEMOCRATIC medium

•Education•Religion•Workers•Businesses (jewelry stores)•Entertainment•News(VIDEO “Radio Network Broadcasting”)

Tufts University, 1922

• Education

Mass Medium Stage• KDKA, Pittsburgh, 1920. First

commercial radio station• First ads, 1922

Assembling Radios, 1925

2 KEY NETWORKS1. AT&T creates network of stations,

linking together with long distance lines= BCA (Broadcast Corp. of America)

– AT&T SEES RADIO AS A WAY TO ENHANCE TELEPHONE BUSINESS

NETWORKS2. RCA creates a network as subsidiary,

linked with (INFERIOR) Western Union lines= Radio Group (w/ GE and Westinghouse)

VIDEO: HOW TELEGRAPHS FUNCTION (WESTERN UNION)

NETWORKSBROADCASTING CORPORATION

OF AMERICA (AT&T/BCA) superiorVS.

RADIO GROUP (RCA) inferior

Mass Medium Stage• Government cracks down on AT&T FOR MONOPOLIZING

RADIO COMMUNICATIONS, forces it to sell network (DATE)

• RCA organizes two networks as

– NBC Red (AT&T lines) – NBC Blue (Western Union lines)

=NATIONAL BROADASTING CORPORATION (NBC)

Mass Medium Stage• CBS, 1928. William Paley uses option

time to woo affiliates from NBC.

• ABC, 1941. FCC outlaws option time. forces RCA to sell one of its NBC networks, which becomes ABC.

• By 1940s, NBC, CBS, and ABC established as Big 3 networks.

Radio Rules• Radio Act of 1912: required a license

• Radio Act of 1927: Establishes FRC and standard of operating in the “public interest, convenience, or necessity” (PICON)

• Communications Act of 1934: – Establishes FCC, keeps PICON standard. – Congress endorses commercial radio.

COMMERCIAL RADIO DISPUTED

“Can’t something be done about the tremendous quantity of rotten advertising coming over the radios?PLEASE! I know beyond all doubt that a very very large majority of people of this country do not want the time we are getting as entertainment...I will say that I have heard it discussed in many sections, many even going to the extent of trying to arrange community boycotts of products advertised over the radio” --1931

Radio Culture: 1930sgolden age of radio

• People across America were sharing the same stories (creating consensus narratives)– E.g., Inner Sanctum – Amos N’ Andy– Roosevelt fireside

chats– War of the Worlds

Hindenburg Disaster, 1937 (video)

Clear Channels• WSM 650 (Nashville)• WFAN660 (New York)• WMAQ 670 (Chicago)• WLW 700 (Cincinnati)• WOR 710 (New York)• WGN 720 (Chicago)• WSB 750 (Atlanta)• WJR 760 (Detroit)• WABC 770 (New York)• WBBM 780 (Chicago)• WBAP 820 (Fort Worth)

Clear Channels• WCCO 830 (Minneapolis)• WHAS 840 (Louisville)• WWL 870 (New Orleans)• WCBS 880 (New York)• WLS 890 (Chicago)• WBZ1030 (Boston)• WHO 1040 (Des Moines)• WWWE 1100 (Cleveland)• WHAM 1180 (Rochester)• WOAI 1200 (San Antonio)• WGMP 1210 (Philadelphia)• KIRO 710 (Seattle)

Clear Channels• KFI 640 (Los Angeles)• KDKA 1020 (Pittsburgh)• KMOX 1120 (St. Louis)• KSL 1160 (Salt Lake City)

Why the “W” and the “K”??

Radio CultureRadio’s survival in the wake of TV

Format radioTodd Storz,Omaha, Top 40 formatRadio Deejays/Payola

Radio Culture today

News/Talk, 18% Adult Contemporary, 14%CHR, 11%Hispanic, 10.2%Urban, 9.9%Country, 9%Rock, 8.2%Oldies, 5.7%Other, 14%

There evolved a variety of formats: each one geared to a SPECIFIC target audience

Radio OWNERSHIPFCC OWNERSHIP CONSTRAINTS

1950-80: 7 AM, 7 FM, 7 TV Stations Late 1980s: 20 AM, 20 FM, 12 TV Stations 1996 Telecommunication Act:

You can’t reach 35% of national audience 2003: You can’t reach 45%

FCC used to enforce BROADCAST DIVERSITY (NOT ANYMORE)

Radio ownership• Clear Channel owns:

Over 1,190 stationsPremiere Radio network (syndicates

programs to 6,500 other stations240 international stations40 TV stationsLargest Billboard/outdoor sign businessLargest live event promoterSFX (talent and sports star agency)Broadway, Cable, network, films

Radio ownership

Empire of the air/video (7:40)

Radio Culture• Pirate Radio/Low Power FM• National Public Radio

– PBS: 1968– NPR: 1970

• BBC• Satellite Radio: XM and Sirius

(merge is on the cusp of approval)• Zune, etc.

Radio CultureInternet radio servicesPANDORALast.fmLaunchcast (yahoo)Rhapsody (Realnetwork)GuidepostsPitchforkEmusic

If Pandora and other customizable services take off (and so far that’s a big if), they could shift the balance of power not just in how music is consumed, but in how it is made. “You now have music fans that are completely enabled as editorial voices,” said Michael Nash, senior vice president for digital strategy and business development at Warner Music Group, one of the four major music conglomerates. “You can’t fool those people. You can’t put out an album with one good single on it. Those days are over.”

But if fans become their own gatekeepers, the emerging question is what sort they will be. Will they use services like Pandora to refine their choices so narrowly that they close themselves off to new surprises? Or will they use the services to seek out mass shared experiences in an increasingly atomized music world?