The radio has evolved over time. The radio we listen to today has a different format, purpose, viewer reach, and clarity than it did before the 1950s. The radio has survived the threat of the television industry by changing with the times. It has been dealt with in the law through acts and the creation of the government regulating agency (FCC). Today the radio is the cheapest and most affective way to communicate with everyone around the world.
It began with the invention of the telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1844 and developed as the knowledgeable minds of inventors and engineers worked from the late 1800s to the present to create the powerful communications medium we know today as the radio. The radio was developed through the collaboration of many inventions and ideas from the minds of experts in the scientific fields. As early as 1844 messages were being transmitted from person to person by telegraph, which was invented by Samuel Morse (Vivian 252).
By 1861 the messages could be sent from coast to coast and only five years later wires beneath the ocean floor allowed trans Atlantic communications. This development was still only point to point voiceless communication but placed the framework for future thinkers to expand on it (Campbell 113). In the 1860’s James Clerk Maxwell theorized the existence of electromagnetic waves. His theories were proven by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. Hertz name became adapted to the measure of radio frequencies (Keith 2). All of these men’s inventions and theories led to the wireless technology of radio.
Up until 1901 the ability communicate was only possible from land to land through wires. It was necessary to create a method for ships to communicate with each other and land for their own security. It was an Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi who made it possible to communicate through space, bringing Hertz’s discoveries to life (Ditingo 15). Wireless communication, or radio, was a big step, but still there was a desire for one to many communication. The next step in radio development was allowing many listeners from one sender (voice and music) over the radio waves.
Lee De Forest became interested in the advancements of his predecessors. He patented over 300 inventions, one of the most important being the vacuum tube. It both detected and amplified radio signals. His work was “essential to the development of voice transmission, long-distance radio, and eventually television” ( Campbell 116). In 1906 the first voice and music broadcast was transmitted from Brant Rock, Massachusetts to ships in the Atlantic Ocean by Reginald Fessenden (Ditingo 16). These men and many more inventors and innovators played crucial roles in early radio expansion. One of the biggest names in radio is David Sarnoff.
He envisioned radio as a product that could be used in the everyday household for music, news, and information. As this technology developed so did the businesses that would profit from it. In 1919 radio set or “radio music box’s” proposed by Sarnoff were sold to the public as a result of his persistence (Keith 2). In the same year the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was established to market wireless radio receivers manufactured by Westinghouse and General Electric (Ditingo 16). A Westinghouse engineer, Frank Conrad, had run an unofficial radio station with music and new to a few of his friends.
Noticing the rise in sales after his broadcasts Westinghouse formed the first professional station in Pittsburgh in 1920. KDKA became the first U. S. station to offer regularly scheduled broadcasting (Smulyan 14). In the 1920’s radio as a mass medium grew in popularity. During these early broadcasts one would hear a variety of music, talks, poetry, plays, sports, and news in one broadcast (Smulyan 94). In 1922 commercials became a way to pay for radio. In 1923 stations WEAF New York and WNAC Boston were the first stations to simultaneously air the world series.
This was the beginning of network broadcasting (Ditingo 17). Along with the ability to connect stations by wire came cultural issues. Americans feared monopolies. AT&T already controlled the telephone business and also had control over the radio wires. AT&T feared that they would lose their telephone monopoly if they did not withdraw from the radio monopoly. At the same time RCA, GE, and Westinghouse worried about government interference. These companies were interested in achieving national radio “with maximum profit and minimum public fuss over monopoly” (Smulyan 58).
In 1926 they solved the problem by creating a separate broadcast organization that would lease telephone lines from AT&T. The new company was NBC (National Broadcasting System). Now there were two NBC stations that were operated independently that had coast to coast connections to local stations. The arrangement pleased the government, the companies, and the public (Vivian 177). Radio was still lacking in regulations. There were too many stations broadcasting at the same frequencies interrupting each others broadcasts. This was frustrating for the listeners and the broadcasters.
The solution was the Radio Act of 1927 (Keith 6). This act created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC). The FRC’s responsibility was “to license radio stations if public convenience, interest or necessity is thereby served. ‘” The law also stated that the air waves were property of the United States government and renewable licenses would be issued for three year intervals. The commission forced many noncommercial stations off the air because the commercial stations because they were stronger technically (Soley 36). The FRC assigned twenty-one of the twenty-four clear channels to the big RCA companies CBS and NBC.
Lawrence Soley argues that noncommercial stations never had a chance to survive because they could not be heard. The commercial radio stations only aired views that supported their style. He points out in Free Radio that the members of the FRC (later the FCC) are often affiliated with these large networks and would want to help these stations because it will further their career after leaving the FCC (37). Before the Radio Act of 1927 the industry was crashing. Within months after the new regulations had been set “more people were tuned into their radio music boxes than ever before” (Keith 6).
After the formation of the FRC radio grows as a mass medium. Controversial advertising becomes an important part of financing radio. It was thought that advertisers would have too much power in radio content. However without the financial support from advertisers radio was not able to afford to pay for wire rental along with salaries of production member and equipment. Because these stations could afford to broadcast static free programs they lasted opposed to the nonprofit organizations that could not afford the best quality technology. The FRC kicked those stations off and gave licensing rights to the networks that had better radio clarity.
This lead to the Communications Act of 1934, in which the FCC replaced the FRC. This was intended to give nonprofit organizations a chance and regulate network. However neither of these issues were mentioned in the law. The Act “accepted and reinforced commercial broadcasting. ” It placed the alternative nonprofit organizations in positions that were too weak to challenge the network stations (Smulyan 126). It wasn’t until 1970 that the nonprofit stations would be given another chance with the help of the government. Before the 1950s radio became the main form of entertainment in the home.
This is known as the “golden age of radio. ” During the early 1900s regularly scheduled programming became the format of radio. Sitcoms, games shows, soap operas, variety shows all entertained the public. These formats all eventually became adapted to television replacing radio. After the 1950s television became the popular communications medium in the house with the old radio format and a visual image. Radio would have to adjust to this threat, and it would (Campbell 127-129). During the golden age new developments where taking place economically and technologically.
By 1930 CBS and NBC blue and NBC red were the major network stations. In 1934 the fourth network station is formed: Mutual Broadcasting System. The FCC declared the ownership of NBC red and blue a monopoly. As a result ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation) is formed when Edward J. Nobel buys NBC blue for $8 million in 1945 (Ditingo 20). In the 1930s Edwin H. Armstrong experiments with FM (frequency modulation) radio which offers greater clarity than AM radio. In 1940 the FCC authorizes the first FM radio stations. FM radio became popular in the 1960s when radio format changed (Soley 39).
A final very important technological development was the transistor in 1947. It wasn’t until the 1960s the transistor became a popular “pocket radio” that could be taken out of the house. This was another crucial development that kept radio in business despite the television(Campbell 131). All of the developments before 1950 would be effective in keeping radio active. After World War II network television converted the radio comedy, mystery, and drama shows to television. All the radio consisted of at this points was newscasts, commentaries and short features.
It was questionable if radio could survive the new television industry. In 1968 ABC divided itself in four networks, each targeting a specialized group. For example one station was targeted at college-aged listeners talking about careers with FM rock formats (Vivian 181). This idea of researching demographics began in 1949 when station owner Todd Stortz brought about the idea of “top 40”. In this format the most popular songs are played in rotation according to polls taken on listeners (Campbell 133). Demographics refers to sex, age, education, income and so on.
For example stations will focus on a certain age group, such as teenagers. Stations in the fifties and sixties played oldies for the teenage audience. This format peaked on FM stations in the 1980s and remains popular today (Keith 54). Television first appeared as a replacement for radio but really only modified it. During the second half of the twentieth century the new format required more program managers to choose songs and less Dee Jay control as they had in the previous years. This style was the more profitable alternative (Campbell 134). Today the airwaves consist mainly of music formats that target a specific audience.
It used to be programs that people were interested in, now it is the station the listeners are loyal to (Campbell 135). In the 1970s FM radio surpassed AM radio in number of listeners because it was clearer for the music format (Ditingo 23). Live listener call ins on talk radio became popular on AM radio in the 1980s. AM was now the talk radio and FM was manly music radio. There was little desire for news in radio by the 1990s. Most news on the radio was brief, uninformative clips. Today only six programs have detailed newscasts (Vivian 173). The majority of radio today is for entertainment and profit and therefore supported by advertisers.
An organization called the NPR (National Public Radio) is a network that was created in 1970 that supports noncommercial stations (Vivian 168). The government has always thought radio could be used as a cultural and educational tool. However with advertisers involved in the business radio became an issue of what would sell or offend people or companies. The government supports the NPR for radio and PBS for television. Because public television has been more popular when the government had to cut back in support television got the bulk of communications funding.
Radio since then has been dependent on donations, which have put them back in a situation of worrying about criticizing their supporters (Campbell141-142). The radio of the twenty-first century has changed considerably since the early broadcasts in the 1920s. It has faced the threat of the television and monopolies. It grew as a business, an entertainment, a technology and a means of communication. Although it has changed it still serves as a mass medium by which millions of people in the United States and around the world get and give information and more commonly entertainment.