Newspapers. Media began with the written word . . . To date, the oldest existing written document dates back to 2200 B. C. By 500 B. C. Persia had developed a form of pony express and the Greeks had a telegraph system consisting of trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon fires, smoke signals, and mirrors; transmitting a form of communication to the masses. In 200 B. C. the Chinese circulated the first newspaper, the Tipao gazette, to government officials. Newsletters began circulating in Europe by 1450. Over 150 years later, in 1609, the first regularly published newspaper was circulated in Germany.
Advertising began to shape the media industry by 1631 with the first classified ads featured in a French newspaper. And, in 1833 a New York newspaper was sold for one penny, enabling this media to reach a mass market. Radio. At first there was the print, and then there was sound . . . In 1821 an English man named Wheatstone reproduced sound. However, the future of radio didnt really begin until 1890 when Branly transmitted the first radio waves in France. In 1901 the American Marconi Company, the forerunner of RCA, sent radio signals across the Atlantic.
And five years later, a program of voice and music was broadcast in the United States. In 1907 DeForest began a regular radio broadcast featuring music. In 1909 the first talk-radio format, covering womens suffrage, was broadcast. And in 1912, the United States Congress passed a law to regulate radio stations. In 1917 the first radio station, KDKA, was built; and in 1920 the first scheduled programs on KDKA were broadcast. The going rate for ten minutes of commercial airtime was $100. By 1924, the first sponsored radio program, The Eveready Hour, began.
In that same year there were two and a half million radio sets in the United States. The 1930s are characterized as the Golden Age of radio. In 1929 automobile manufacturers began installing radios in cars. In 1933 Armstrong discovered FM waves. And in 1934, the government passed the Communications Act, creating the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In that same year, half of all American homes had at least one radio set. In 1935 A. C. Nielsen began to track radio audiences. And by 1954, radio sets outnumbered newspapers printed daily.
This signified the death of one mass medium and the creation of another. By 1996 there were about 12,000 radio stations in the U. S. , drawing millions of listeners and more than $12 billion in advertising revenue. 1996 also saw the deregulation of the mass media industry with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, thereby opening up the market for mass mergers and acquisitions and creating electronic barons. One half of all radio stations are owned by corporations that have three or more stations, and there are 1,100 fewer station owners today than before the creation of the Telecommunications Act.
Even more alarming, the top three radio operators, Chancellor Media/Capstar, CBS Radio/Infinity, and Clear Channel/Jacor, control almost 35 percent of industry revenues. Television. And then there was light . . . In 1907 a Russian named Rosing developed the theory of television. By 1928, three television sets were put in homes. And in that same year, the first scheduled broadcasts evolved in Schenectady, New York. In 1939 the New York Worlds Fair premiered the television to the public. That same year, regular television broadcasts began.
By 1941, NBC and CBS began commercial transmissions, and by 1949 network television resonated throughout America. By 1951, there were one and a half million television sets in the United States. In 1954, regular color television broadcasts began. And, in 1963 television news came of age with the broadcast and reporting of John F. Kennedys assassination. By 1965, almost all broadcasts were filmed in color, and the FCC regulated cable television. In 1968 there were 78 million televisions in American homes, and approximately 200 million sets around the globe. A new mass medium was coming of age.