Chapter 5 - Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

Question 1

Telegraph

Answer 1

Inventer in the 1849s, it sent electrical impulse through a cable from a transmitter to a reception point, transmitting Morse code.

Question 2

Morse Code

Answer 2

A system of sending electrical impulses from a transmitter through a cable to a reception point; developed by the American inventor Samuel Morse.

Question 3

Electromagnetic Waves

Answer 3

Invisible electronic impulses similar to visible light; electricity, magnetism, light, broadcast signals, and heat are are part of such waves, which radiate in space at the speed of light, about 186,000 miles per second.

Question 4

Radio Waves

Answer 4

A portion of the electromagnetic wave spectrum that was harnessed so that signals could be sent from a transmission point and obtained at a reception point.

Question 5

Wireless Telegraphy

Answer 5

The forerunner of radio, a form of voiceless point-to-point communication; it preceded the voice and sound transmission of one-to-many mass communication that became known as broadcasting.

Question 6

Wireless Telephony

Answer 6

Early experiments in wireless voice and music transmissions, which later developed into modern radio.

Question 7

Broadcasting

Answer 7

The transmission of radio waves of TV signals to a broad public audience.

Question 8

Narrowcasting

Answer 8

Any specialized electronic programming or media channel aimed at a target audience.

Question 9

Radio Act of 1912

Answer 9

the first radio legislation passed by Congress, it addressed the problem of amateur radio operators cramming the airwaves.

Question 10

Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

Answer 10

a company developed during the World War 1 that was designed, with government approval, to pool radio patents; the formation of RCA gave the United States almost total control over the emerging mass medium of broadcasting.

Question 11

Network

Answer 11

Broadcast process that links, through special phone lines or satellite transmissions, groups of radio or TV stations that share programming produced at a central location.

Question 12

Option Time

Answer 12

A business tactic, no illegal, whereby a radio network in the 1920s and 1930s paid an affiliate station a set fee per hour for an option to control programming and advertising on that station.

Question 13

Radio Act of 1927

Answer 13

the second radio legislation passed by Congress; in an attempt to restore order to the airwaves, the act stated that licensees did not own their channels but could license them if they operated to serve the “public interest, convince, or necessity.

Question 14

Federal Radio Commission (FRC)

Answer 14

An body established in 1927 to oversee radio licenses and negotiate channel problems.

Question 15

Communications Act of 1934

Answer 15

The far-reaching act that established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the federal regulatory structure for the U.S. Broadcasting.

Question 16

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Answer 16

An independent U.S. government agency charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, cable, and the Internet.

Question 17

Transistors

Answer 17

Invented by Bell Laboratories in 1947, these tiny pieces of technology, which receive and amplify radio signals, make portable radios possible.

Question 18

FM

Answer 18

Frequency modulation; a type of radio and sound transmission that offers static-less reception and greater fidelity and clarity than AM radio by accentuating the pitch of distance between radio waves.

Question 19

AM

Answer 19

Amplitude modulation; a type of radio and sound transmission that stresses the volume or height of radio waves.

Question 20

Format Radio

Answer 20

The concept of radio stations developing and playing specific styles (or formats) geared to listeners’ age, race, or gender; in format radio, management, rather that deejays, controls programming choices.

Question 21

Rotation

Answer 21

In format radio programming, the practice of playing the most popular or best-selling songs many times throughout the day.

Question 22

Top 40 Format

Answer 22

The first radio format, in which stations plated the forty most popular hits in a given week as measured by record sales.

Question 23

Progressive Rock

Answer 23

An alternative music format that developed as a backlash to the popularity of Top 40.

Question 24

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

Answer 24

The radio music format that features album cuts from mainstream rock bands.

Question 25

Drive Time

Answer 25

In radio programing, the periods between 6 and 10 AM and 4 and 7 PM, when people are commuting to and from work and school; these periods constitute the largest listening audiences of the day.

Question 26

News/Talk/Information

Answer 26

The fastest-growing radio format in the 1990s, dominated by news programs or talk shows.

Question 27

Adult Contemporary (AC)

Answer 27

One of the oldest and most popular radio music formats, typically featuring a mix of news, talk, oldies, and soft rock.

Question 28

Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)

Answer 28

Originally called Top 40 radio, this radio format encompasses everything from hip-hop to children’s songs; it appeals to many teens and young and young adults.

Question 29

Country

Answer 29

Claiming the largest number of radio stations in the United States, this radio format includes such subdivisions as old-time, progressive, country-rock, western swing, and country-gospel.

Question 30

Urban Contemporary

Answer 30

One of radio’s more popular formats, primarily targeting African American listeners in urban areas with dance, R&B, and hip-hop music.

Question 31

Pacifica Foundation

Answer 31

A radio broadcasting foundation established in Berkley, CA, by a journalist and WWII pacifist Lewis Hill; he established KPFA, the first nonprofit community radio station, in 1949.

Question 32

National Public Radio (NPR)

Answer 32

Noncommercial radio established in 1967 by the U.S. Congress to provide an alternative to commercial radio.

Question 33

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Answer 33

noncommercial television established in 1967 by the U.S. Congress to provide an alternative to commercial television.

Question 34

Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

Answer 34

the act by the U.S. Congress that establish the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).

Question 35

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

Answer 35

A private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 to funnel federal funds to nonprofit radio and public television.

Question 36

Satellite Radio

Answer 36

Pat radio services that deliver various radio formats nationally via satellite.

Question 37

HD Radio

Answer 37

A digital technology that enables AM and FM radio broadcasters to multicast two to three additional compressed digital signals within their traditional analog frequency.

Question 38

Internet Radio

Answer 38

online radio stations that either “stream” simulcast versions of on-air radio broadcasts over the Web or are exclusively for the Internet.

Question 39

Podcasting

Answer 39

A distribution method (coined from “iPod” and “broadcasting”) that enable listeners to download audio program files from the Internet for playback on computers or digital music players.

Question 40

Payola

Answer 40

The unethical (but not always illegal) practice of record promoters paying deejays or radio programmers to favor particular songs over others.

Question 41

Low-Power FM (LPFM)

Answer 41

A new class of noncommercial radio stations approved by the FCC in 2000 to give voice to local groups lacking access to the public airwaves the 10-watt and 100-watt stations broadcast to a small, community-based area.

Question 42

Why was the development of the telegraph important in media history?

Answer 42

It was the precursor to the radio because it used the first system of it’s kind that sent electrical impulses from a transmitter through a cable to a reception point.

Question 43

What were some of the disadvantages of telegraph technology?

Answer 43

It had it’s limitations. For instance, while it dispatched complicated language codes, it was unable to transmit the human voice. Ships at sea still had no contact with the test of the world, leaving navies to not find out about the end of a war until months later and they often continued fighting.

Question 44

How is the concept of wireless different from the concept of radio?

Answer 44

Initially they were different because radio was a one-to-many form of contact, whereas wireless was a one-to-one form of contact.

Question 45

What was Guglielmo Marconi’s role in the development of the wireless?

Answer 45

He attached Hertz’s spark-gap transmitter to a Morse telegraph key to send electrical impulses into a Morse inker. He also discovered that grounding - connecting the transmitter and receiver to the earth - greatly increase the distance over which signals could be sent. He sent the first wireless Morse code signal across the English Channel to France, and later across the Atlantic Ocean.

Question 46

What were Lee De Forest’s contributions to radio?

Answer 46

He wrote the first Ph.D. dissertation on wireless technology. He challenged Marconi, who was covering New York’s International Yacht Races for the Associated Press, by signing up to report the races for a rival news service. The jamming of the signals exemplified the problem of noise and interference within radio frequencies. His interest in wireless voice and music transmissions later became the radio. His development of the Audion increased listers’ ability to hear dots and sashes and, later, speech and music on a receiver set.

Question 47

Why was the RCA monopoly formed?

Answer 47

In 1919 GE bought new alternators that were strong enough to power a transoceanic system of radio stations that could connect the world. The U.S. Navy didn’t want the new radio technology to fall into foreign control. Congress and the corporate community opposed federal legislation that would grant the government of the navy a radio monopoly. GE developed a compromise plan that would create a private sector monopoly - that is, a private company that would have the government’s approval to dominate the radio industry. GE took the lead in founding that company, RCA.

Question 48

What was AT&T’s role in the early days of radio?

Answer 48

In 1922 they broke their agreements with RCA in an attempt to monopolize radio as well. They argued that broadcasting was merely an extension of its control over the telephone. They complained that RCA had gained too much monopoly power, and in violation of their agreement with RCA, began making and selling it’s own radio receivers. They became the first radio station to regularly sell commercial time to advertisers. They created the first network.

Question 49

How did the radio networks develop?

Answer 49

The initial strategy behind AT&T’s toll broadcasting idea was an effort to conquer radio. By it’s agreements with RCA, AT&T retained the rights to interconnect signals between two or more radio stations via telephone wires. In 1923, when AT&T aired a program simultaneously on its flagship WEAF station and on WNAC in Boston, the phone company created the first network.

Question 50

What were the contributions of David Sarnoff and William Paley to network radio?

Answer 50

And 1921 Sarnoff became RCA’s general manager and in 1926 he created a new subsidiary called the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). He also cut a deal with General Motors for the manufacturing of car radios and merged RCA with the Victor Talking Machine Company. The merger gave RCA control over Victor’s records and recording equipment, making the radio company a major player in the sound recording industry.

Paley, in1928, bought a controlling interest in CBS to sponsor his cigar brand. He hired a public relations pioneer to polish the new network’s new image. Together he and the pioneer modified a concept called option time in which CBS paid affiliate stations $50 per hour for an option on a portion of their time. He helped CBS to successfully raid NBC of it’s affiliates by offering that option time at a cheaper rate.

Question 51

Why did the government-sanctioned RCA monopoly end?

Answer 51

In 1923 the Federal Trade Commission had charged RCA with violations of anti-trust laws, but allowed the monopoly to continue. In 1930 the federal marshals charged RCA and NBC with a number of violations, including exercising too much control over manufacturing and programming.

Question 52

What is the significance of the Radio Act of 1927 and the Federal Communications Act of 1934?

Answer 52

The Radio Act of 1927 stated that licensees did not own their channels bey could only license them as long as they operated to serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity.”

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 was a far-reaching act that established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the federal regulatory structure for the U.S. Broadcasting.

Question 53

How did radio adapt to the arrival of television?

Answer 53

Transistors were invented and made the radio portable. It could go places that television could not.

Question 54

What was Edwin Armstrong’s role in the advancement of radio technology? Why did RCA hamper Armstrong’s work?

Answer 54

He discovered and developed FM radio. He also worked on the major problem of radio reception - electrical interference.

RCA wanted to ensure that channels went to television before they went to FM radio. Mostly it wanted to protects it’s AM empire.

Question 55

How did music on radio change in the 1950s?

Answer 55

It began to be controlled by management rather than deejays. Management combined the best-selling songs with random deejay chatter. Radio programming became much more structured. Deejays were not free to be creative with what they played. They had to follow the program created by management. College campus began playing lesser known songs instead of the usual Top 40 format.

Question 56

Why was format radio important to the survival of radio?

Answer 56

Because as TV began to take radio’s programs and sponsors the radio began to rely heavily on music. In format radio the management controlled the programming instead of the deejays and while this was going on the Top 40 was born.

Question 57

Why are there so many radio formats today?

Answer 57

To please advertisers who want to target their audience based on age, income, gender, or race/ethnicity.

Question 58

Why did Top 40 radio diminish as a format in the 1980s and 1990s?

Answer 58

Because of the new and increased interest in news/talk/information stations.

Question 59

What is the state of nonprofit radio today?

Answer 59

Like most commercial stations, nonprofit radio has adopted the format style. However, the dominant style in public radio is whereby a station may actually switch from jazz, classical music, and alternative rock to news and talk during the day.

Question 60

Why are performance royalties a topic of debate between broadcast radio, satellite radio, Internet radio, and the recording industry?

Answer 60

Because the broadcasting companies have been paying a minimal fee, but now that Internet radio is available satellite radio and internet radio are having to pay much higher fees than the broadcasting companies.

Question 61

Why do radio broadcasters want FM radio chips required in mobile phones?

Answer 61

So that people can get regular FM radio on their phone as well as giving broadcasters the ability to deliver information about emergencies and disasters when they happen.

Question 62

What are the current ownership rules governing American radio?

Answer 62

It is the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Question 63

What has been the main effect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 on radio station ownership?

Answer 63

It allowed individuals and companies to own as many stations as they wanted.

Question 64

Why did the FCC create a new class of low-power FM stations?

Answer 64

It gave radio a local-only option.