CHAPTER 8

RADIO: The Hits Keep Coming

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 A Brief History of Radio
 EARLY DEVELOPMENT
 In 1887, Heinrich Hertz ran an electric current through one
coil, which produced a current in another coil across the room.
Frequencies such as megahertz are measured in his honor.
 By the 1880s Thomas Edison’s company, Consolidated

Edison, wired the streets of New York while his The Edison
Electric Light Company (which would later become General
Electric) manufactured light bulbs for people to use with their
new household current.
 Scientists determined that radio waves were transmitted across
an electromagnetic spectrum.

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 In 1896, 20-year-old Italian inventor Guglielmo
Marconi combined Edison’s electric power, Hertz’s
coil and Morse’s telegraph key with a grounding
system and an antenna of his own design. The young
entrepreneur registered his patent in England as a
means for communication, set up an international
corporation, and began manufacturing radio equipment
to allow ships at sea to communicate through messages
in Morse Code.
 Radio remained a form of wireless telegraphy until
1906, when electrical engineering professor Reginald
Fessenden made the first voice transmission with a
frequency generator he had designed.

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A Brief History of Radio
 In 1907, Lee DeForest invented a tube to pick up and amplify
radio signals. His Audion, better known today as the vacuum
tube, became the basic component of all early radios.
 In 1917 the U.S. entered WW I and the Navy took over the
radio industry to use it for strictly military purposes. The
Navy pooled all the patents, and declared a moratorium on
patent lawsuits which encouraged holders of radio patents to
band together and work cooperatively.
 The Navy trained 10,000 service personnel in the new
technology and after the war ended in 1918 those same people
became the amateur enthusiasts and early professionals who
developed the radio industry.

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A Brief History of Radio
 THE RADIO CONSORTIUM
 When WW I ended the U.S. government made it difficult
for Marconi’s American business by awarding contracts
to his American competitors. Eventually the Navy’s
America-first policy was made into a law that forbid any
foreign company from owning more than 25 percent of
an American broadcasting system.
 Two years after the war AT&T, Westinghouse, General

Electric (GE), and GE subsidiary RCA formed a

consortium to take over the radio business in America by
manufacturing radio receivers and setting up stations.
 The companies started out cooperating but soon became
fierce competitors, as vigorously as Google and Yahoo!
compete today.

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A Brief History of Radio
 THE FIRST BROADCASTERS
 On November 2, 1920, engineer and radio enthusiast Frank
Conrad announced over Pittsburgh’s KDKA that Warren G.
Harding had won the U.S. presidential election.
 KCBS in San Francisco, WHA in Madison and WWJ in

Detroit all debuted around the same time.

 AT&T believed in toll broadcasting, under which anyone
who wanted to broadcast could pay a fee and use the
telephone company’s facilities. AT&T’s New York City
station WEAF scheduled sustaining programming to fill
unsponsored airtime.

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A Brief History of Radio
 THE RISE OF THE NETWORKS
 A broadcast network is a group of interconnected stations that

share programming and a parent company that supplies

programming to stations.
 When networks own and operate some of the local stations
that they provide programming to, they are called owned and
operated stations (O&Os).
 Most stations in a network are network affiliates, local
stations that are not owned by, but have a contractual
relationship with the network.

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A Brief History of Radio
 The first radio network was born in 1923 when AT&T
connected its New York and Boston stations.
 In 1926, RCA’s David Sarnoff formed the first two national
radio networks, NBC Red and NBC Blue, and dominated the
industry.
 Network radio helped unify the country by providing an
experience in which people coast-to-coast were listening to the
same programs at the same time.
 In 1927, William Paley bought the money losing Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS) from the Columbia Record
Company. By the end of WW II CBS was the acknowledged
leader of radio news.

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A Brief History of Radio
 In 1934 a coalition of independent stations that were not
affiliated with the major networks formed The Mutual
Broadcasting System.
 ABC was created in the mid-1940s, when the government
forced RCA to sell one of its networks. RCA sold NBC
Blue to a group of people led by Edward Noble, the
owner of Lifesavers Candy Company.
 Network affiliates were originally linked to network
headquarters through telephone lines but since the 1970s
have been linked by satellite.

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A Brief History of Radio
 EARLY PROGRAMMING
 Radio networks invented formula dramas, situation comedies,
soap operas, game shows, musical variety, talk shows, broadcast
news and sports.
 Because of spectrum scarcity radios were a jumble of static as

broadcasters interfered with one another.

 The Radio Act of 1912, the first law governing radio, was passed
largely in reaction to the Titanic disaster. Radio operators of
other ships in the area missed distress calls because they had
turned off their equipment for the night. The law required ships
at sea to leave their radio on 24 hours a day and required federal
licensing of all radio transmitters.

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A Brief History of Radio
 The Radio Act of 1927 established the Federal Radio
Commission (FRC) with powers to limit the number of
broadcasters, assign frequencies, and revoke the licenses of
broadcasters who did not in comply.
 It also required the broadcaster to operate in the public
interest, convenience, and necessity.
 With few exceptions it was decided that a station’s call letters
would begin with a W if it was east of the Mississippi River or
with a K if it was west.
 The FRC became the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) with the Communications Act of 1934 which gave it
authority over interstate telephone, telegraph and radio
communication.

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A Brief History of Radio
 EDWIN ARMSTRONG AND THE BIRTH OF FM
 AM, or amplitude modulation, created its signal by changing
(modulating) the power (amplitude) of the carrier wave. AM
radio tended to have static and a poor sound quality for
music.
 Scientist Edwin Armstrong believed that FM, or frequency

modulation waves that created their signal by modulating the

speed (frequency) at which the wave traveled, would be of
higher quality. He first demonstrated FM in 1936.

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A Brief History of Radio
 THE GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO
 Radio’s golden age lasted from the 1930s until just after WW
II.
 Talk shows were broadcast in the morning and soap operas in
the afternoon. Musical shows featured big bands with singers
like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
 Comedy shows featured Jack Benny, George Burns and
Gracie Allen, Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and a fictional
team named Amos and Andy.
 Radio dramas included, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, and
The Green Hornet.

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A Brief History of Radio
 Original plays like “War of the Worlds” were regularly
broadcast and popular game shows included Truth or
Consequences.
 After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, 60
million people tuned in to hear President Roosevelt’s address
to Congress.
 FDR used frequent “fireside chats” to broadcast
encouragement during the war. Americans felt as if he were
in the room with them, like a friend or neighbor.

 When the drama, comedy and game shows moved to

television, however, radio needed help in order to survive.
 By 1958 the radio industry was using the superior sound of
FM to compete with television.

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A Brief History of Radio
 THE TRANSISTOR PORTABLE
 A second development that helped radio compete with
television was the transistor, a miniature version of the
vacuum tube, which made radio portable.
 The first transistor portable radios were introduced in 1954,

and by the 1960s they were cheaper than conventional

vacuum tube radios.
 The portable radio became a virtual outgrowth of the
American teenager’s ear as radios were taken to the beach,
the corner hangout, or to the park.

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A Brief History of Radio
 FORMAT RADIO
 Format radio, a consistent programming formula that creates a
recognizable sound and personality for a station, was the third
development that allowed radio to survive television’s
popularity.
 Station owners like formats because they encourage listener
loyalty. Advertisers like them because they enable ads to target
audiences with specific needs and buying habits.
 Top 40 was one of the most popular formats.
 Format programming led to opportunities for women and ethnic
minorities, although problems still exist in this area.

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A Brief History of Radio
 CONCENTRATION AND FRAGMENTATION
 Today’s 13,750 stations define themselves with increasingly
narrower formats.
 Clear Channel Communications owns 1,200 of the largest and

most profitable radio stations in the U.S. Several other

companies own hundreds of stations.

 DIGITAL RADIO
 In digital radio, transmitted sounds are assigned numbers
(digits) that take up less air space than analog waves. This
results in a crisp clear signal and means that more format
choices can be offered.
 Digital signals radiate from satellites, the Internet, and from
local stations.
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A Brief History of Radio
 WEBCASTING
 As of 2008, around 10,000 Web radio stations were in
operation. Around 4,000 of these were broadcast radio
stations from 150 countries that stream online.

 LOCAL DIGITAL: HD RADIO

 Local station are also adopting digital radio which prepares
them for the day when high definition or HD radio becomes
popular.
 According to equipment manufacturers, HD radio, which
requires an HD receiver, brings FM-quality sound to AM
stations and CD-quality sound to FM broadcasts.

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A Brief History of Radio
Understanding Today’s Radio Industry

 DAYPARTS
 Dayparts are how radio divides the day.

 Morning Drive time: 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

 Midday: 10a.m. to 3 p.m.

 Afternoon Drive time: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 Evening: 7 p.m. to midnight.

 Overnight: midnight to 6 a.m.

 Morning drive time is especially important, as programmers
believe that if listeners tune in to a personality in the morning,
they will be more likely to stay loyal to that station during the
day.

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 TALK/NEWS FORMATS
 Talk radio, had around 170 stations in 1987. By 2007 that
number had grown to more than 1,300 stations. The format
appeals especially to working and middle-class adults who
are over 35, and appreciate outspoken opinions of the
show’s hosts.
 News formats attract a somewhat more upscale audience by

providing a formula that listeners can rely on for

information.
 The formula never varies at WINS, a popular New York City
all-news station:
 Complete news update every 22 minutes.

 Time every 3 minutes.

 Weather every 5 minutes.

 Traffic every 10 minutes.

 Sports at 15 minutes before and after every hour.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry 20

 THE FORMAT CLOCK
 Each segment of the programming hour is part of an overall
strategy because keeping listeners listening is foremost in the
mind of radio programmers.
 The FCC requires station identification at the top of every

hour, and the station’s business office will require that a

certain number of commercials air.
 Contests and other types of promotions designed to get
audiences to listen at key ratings times of day have also
become staples of most format clocks.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry 21

 RATINGS
 Print media can actually count the number of newspapers and
magazines sold, but broadcast media have to rely on
sampling, by which a small percentage of the audience is
chosen to represent the behavior of the rest of the audience.
 Stations use the results to prove to advertisers the number
and types of people listening.
 Out of the $13 billion in radio advertising spent in a typical
year, $9 billion will be for local spots.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry 22

 GROUPS
 Group owners have two or more stations.

 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows a group to own

eight stations in larger cities and up to five in smaller
markets, with no limit on the total number.

 PROGRAM PROVIDERS
 Today, most program providers call themselves radio
networks.
 Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of the Clear Channel
Radio Group, is a large program provider.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry 23

 PUBLIC RADIO
 Public radio, or noncommercial stations, consists of
broadcast outlets that are supported by sources other than
advertising time sales.
 Congress set up National Public Radio in 1970 in order to

connect noncommercial stations and produce programs for

them to use.
 In most other countries, public radio stations are owned and
operated by the government and are more dominant than
commercial stations. Public stations in England and Japan are
supported through mandatory user fees.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry 24

 STATION PERSONNEL
 On-air talent includes talk show hosts, news, feature and sports
reporters and disc jockeys.
 The program director, sometimes called the music director,

determines the station’s playlist, which typically includes three

dozen new singles, or “currents.” A hot current will be placed in
“heavy rotation” airing four or five times a day.

 AUDIENCE
 Most listeners want a station to be dependable and are loyal to
just two or three stations.
 Radio has also introduced listeners to music outside their own
ethnic and regional origins.

Understanding Today’s Radio Industry 25

 Controversies
 THE EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATION

 Critics are concerned that concentration of ownership may cut

down on the number of different voices that are heard on the
important debates of the day and to open the way for abuse of
power by large conglomerates and networks.
 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 essentially did away with
such restrictions and now more radio outlets are being placed
into fewer hands creating potential conflicts of interest.
 Disney was once criticized for refusing allowing its Disney-
owned ABC radio networks to air news reports critical of its
Disney-owned theme parks.

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 HOMOGENIZED PROGRAMMING
 There are more formats than ever, but many of them sound the
same. Because successful formats tend to be copied, slogans
such as “More music, less talk” or “10 in a row” are heard on
country, rock and hip-hop stations across the U.S. and
increasingly, the world.
 Program directors must deliver high ratings and advertising

dollars to quickly pay off heavy debts incurred when

broadcasting chains spent huge sums to buy new stations.
 College stations have strong reputations for being experimental,
forward thinking alternatives.

Controversies 27
 SHOCK RADIO
 Shock jocks like Howard Stern derive humor and ratings by
using vulgarity, racism, sexism, cynicism, and anything else that
will attract amazed listeners. The FCC has levied fines against
several stations that air shock radio.
 The fines became so heavy by 2007 that shock radio moved
mostly to satellite radio.

 HATE RADIO
 In the 1930s, Father Charles Coughlin told millions of listeners
to hate socialists, Communists, “international banksters”, and
Jews.
 During 1994’s ethnic massacre of 800,000 in Rwanda, the Hutu
pop music station encouraged listeners to “finish off the Tutsi
cockroaches.”

Controversies 28
 DIVERSITY AND CENSORSHIP
 Some radical groups avoid censorship by creating pirate radio
stations, which are unlicensed, illegal, low power outlets. Some
pirates regularly move locations to avoid being closed down by the
FCC.
 The FCC debated whether to license low-power FM stations to
increase diversity of broadcast voices. It would later license 590
low-power stations between 2000 and 2007.
 Format programming led to the payola scandals of the 1950s.
 Payola, when record promoters pay DJs to play certain records,
didn’t end in the 1950s – its target merely changed from DJs to
program directors.

Controversies 29
 DIVERSITY AND CENSORSHIP
 Some program directors began to use a legal form of payola
called pay for play, which is done in the open.
 With consolidation in the music and radio industries, it became
easier for early-era payola deals to occur behind closed doors.
 By 2006 the practice was so common that NY State Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer uncovered clear-cut evidence against high-
ranking executives in pay for play deals.

Controversies 30