Good Morning! MCS1450/ BMS1301 Introduction to Broadcasting Ulrich - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Good Morning! MCS1450/ BMS1301 Introduction to Broadcasting

Ulrich Werner

“History and development of broadcasting, including the influence of broadcasting media in the democratic society.”

Course description in the curriculum.

“History and development of broadcasting, including the influence of broadcasting media in the democratic society.”

Course description in the curriculum.

Technicalities tothisCourse

• Course Web page at http://studyinthailand.org
• Course Syllabus
• Century of the Self Assignments:

– Who are the main protagonists in this episode, what makes them special, and what is their influence

• n society?

The History of Broadcast Media

How it all began …

When it all began

• 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, i.e. 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

radio 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

A demonstration of a crystal radio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99Ngw9Tck4

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 in 1906

• 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

• f 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 gave up 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

• 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!

WEAF

• WEAF was the first station to have

commercial advertising, August 28, 1922

• 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

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

• riginally 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

• f 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:
• 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

• Radio news broadcasts

doubled from 1940‐1945 with wartime reports

1937 –Herb Morrison reports

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK4I9el5vh0

In which ways did Radio influence societies?

Teams of two from a different country. Due: Tuesday, 10.01.2017, 09.00 hrs In a professional format, printed, please.