Radio and Television Flashcards
1
Q
Which inventor did Edison follow for developing the phonograph
A
Emil Berliner
2
Q
By what year was it possible to produce faithful copies of original sound recordings?
A
1900
3
Q
What were early limitations of recording devices?
A
The horn used to channel sound to the diaphragm whose vibrations drove the recording stylus could only capture loud sounds, excluded bass frequencies–orchestra music was not captured in high quality
4
Q
What year did Berliner perfect his flat disc?
A
1897
5
Q
When was Edison’s Kinetoscope invented?
A
1893
6
Q
What were the limitations of Edison’s kinetoscope?
A
-It could only be used by one person at a time
-Small image which had to be viewed through a peephole
-Required viewers to bend over to see it
7
Q
Why was the projector quickly invented after the kinetoscope?
A
Edison never patented the device internationally, perhaps because he fused a lot of existing inventions to make it
8
Q
The Brothers Lumière came up with what in 1895?
A
A simple and effective projector
9
Q
Where were the first short movies shown?
A
In the short features of vaudeville houses
10
Q
When did nickelodeons emerge?
A
1905
11
Q
What were nickelodeons?
A
The first specialized movie theatres
12
Q
Were nickelodeons large theatres?
A
no. Many were extremely small
13
Q
Which was cheaper, the vaudeville or nickelodeon showings?
A
Nickelodeon, by far.
14
Q
When did larger movie theatres emerge in the US?
A
1910s
15
Q
By 1918, US film companies supplied how much of the worldwide market?
A
85 percent
16
Q
What was an early example of the military use of the radio?
A
The Canadian army during the 100 days campaign
17
Q
Which two important political leaders used the radio to address their countries?
A
U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler
18
Q
What advantage did the radio have over telephones?
A
-Near-instant communication
-Since it required no wires, it was both flexible to broadcast and to listen
19
Q
What was the impact of immediate communication of the radio to political speeches?
A
Could address people more directly and. strongly.
20
Q
What impact did radio have on the household?
A
It allowed people to stay at home and consume culture. Other modes of household socialization such as storytelling or music faded away.
21
Q
In Scientific American’s 1913 contest of the best inventions of the last 25 years, which came first?
A
The radio
22
Q
What did the radio have in common with the x-ray or the incandescent light?
A
A close, causal relationship to contemporary science.
23
Q
The existence of radio waves was predicted by what?
A
Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism
24
Q
Who proved the existence of radio waves?
A
German physicist Heinrich Hertz
25
Why did the early development of the radio proceed much faster than many other technologies?
The science work of Maxwell and Hertz gave inventors a much stronger understanding of radio waves than they would have otherwise had.
26
the first decade of the development of the radio was handled by which group?
Scientists working internationally
27
The prevailing ethos of scientific discovery meant what for the development of the radio?
The scientists did not patent their discoveries very much.
28
Guglielmo Marconi had what kind of scientific credentials?
He was mentored by Italian Scientist Augusto Right
29
Reginald Fessenden had what kind of scientific credentials?
Not many, but he was the chair of electrical engineering at Purdue university and worked for Edison
30
Lee de Forest had what kind of scientific credentials?
He graduated from Yale and his PHD dissertation addressed electric waves interacting with antennas
31
What linked Marconi, Fessenden, and Forest?
The desire to turn a scientific phenomenon into a useful technology
32
What differentiated Marconi from Fessenden and Forest?
an entrepreneurial spirit
33
To whom did Marconi pitch the radio?
The British Military, particularly the navy. Also the post office.
34
Why was radio so useful for ships compared to telephone and telegraph?
No telegraph or telephone lines could exist on open water.
35
Between which locations did Marconi send a telegram in 1900
Between Newfoundland and England?
36
What was significant about Marconi's 1900 telegram? Why?
The radio waves had bypassed the curvature of the earth. This was not predicted by science. Technological developments had given scientists new facts
37
What is technoscience?
The mutual interdependence of science and technology
38
How did techno science develop from the late 19th century?
Technology and science both became highly specialized, meaning only a few inventors and scientists in a given topic ever had enough knowledge to improve on a topic. They work together to be able to create something new.
39
How did Edison employ technoscience?
Menlo park had scientific research organized toward technological objectives defined by Edison
40
By the early 20th century, when would corporate managers turn to university professors?
If their in-house expertise did not succeed in resolving technical problems
41
How did corporate research laboratories allow companies to stay ahead of competition?
-Stay ahead of competition, either winning or preserving market share
-Patenting improvements prevented others from using it
42
Why did companies allow researchers to pursue difficult projects with uncertain payoffs?
It could provide new industries or save a company from obsolescence
43
By the Second World War, research by which corporation would lad to the invention of the electronic television?
Radio Corporation of America
44
Why are governments able to subsidize technological innovations?
They are the only ones with enough resources to shoulder the risks and costs of increasingly complex research
45
What role did the Canadian government have in the radio? What was one project?
As a customer to place to towers on either side of the Belle-Isle Strait between Newfoundland and Labrador in 1901
46
Which contracts did Marconi have with the British government in 1901?
With the War Office and the Admiralty
47
How did Germany's leading Telefunken system develop?
The Kaiser brought about a merger of two major companies
48
What was Marconi's leading competitor in the United States?
United States Electrical Supply Company founded by Canadian entrepreneur William Joseph Clarke in 1897
49
By 1902, which communications method did the radio work with?
Dots and Dashes of morse code.
50
How did Marconi's transmitter work?
His transmitter produced a signal by generating a spark across a gap between two conductors. Each spark released a burst of radio waves across a broad span of the electromagnetic spectrum.
51
What was the advantage and disadvantage of the broad signal produced by Marconi's transmitter.
It was easy to detect but it interfered with other signals
52
Who made it possible to send and receive voice over radio? When?
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden in 1900
53
How did Fessenden achieve speech transmission?
Enormously increasing the spark frequency from 8 times per second to 10,000 times. This approximated a continuous radio wave.
54
When did Fessenden found the National Electric Signalling Company with two businessmen?
1902
55
By what year did National Electric Signalling Company advertise radio telephone sets with a guaranteed range of 40 km?
1904
56
When did Fessenden finally break into the market hitherto monopolized by Marconi?
The first years of WW1?
57
What device outclassed spark-based radios? How did they work?
AM radios. These used an electric arc to convert direct into alternating current and product oscillations of constant amplitude
58
Who perfected AM radio?
Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen in 1903.
59
Why did continuous radios outclass spark radios during ww1?
-They could achieve greater range with less power; Batteries were smaller and aerials shorter.
-More portable
-Reduced vulnerability of antenna to enemy action
-The more precise current meant it was less vulnerable to interference.
60
What communications method did radio completely outclass, amid government scepticism, in ww1?
The carrier pigeon
61
What allowed the initially bulky radios to be used in planes?
The radios reduced in size and weight
62
After ww1, what technology was used to produce continuous wave transitions?
Vacuum tubes
63
When was RCA created? Why?
1919. The US Navy was frustrated with Marconi's near-monopoly on transatlantic communications due to patents and support of CND and British governments.
64
Who did the US government force to pool patents in the creation of RCA?
Bell, General Electric, and Westinghouse.
65
Who came up with FM radio? When?
Edwin H. Armstrong. 1933
66
What does FM broadcasting stand for?
Frequency modulation
67
Which inventor discovered AM radio?
Reginald Fessenden
68
When did Lee de Forest conduct the first true radio broadcasts?
1907
69
Why did radio 'fans' flourish in the United States?
Crystal radios were shown to be a cheap and effective alternative to existing recievers
70
How did crystal radios work?
They relied on a galena, silicon, or pyrite crystal to convert the oscillating radio signal into a direct current, along with a "cat's whisker detector" that involved the operator placing the tip on the right spot of a crystal to maximize reception
71
Why did all radio operators in Canada require a license from the federal government?
Otherwise there would be chaos over the airwaves.
72
Radio operating licenses designated what?
Power levels, frequencies location, and type of use
73
Canada's radiotelegraph act was enacted when? in the aftermath of what event?
1913, after the sinking of the titanic a year earlie.
74
The majority of radio stations in Canada belonged to what domain?
Ship stations and shore stations communicating with ships
75
How many radio stations were licensed in Canada by 1913?
123
76
True or False: Amateur operators were banned from using their radios in ww1?
True
77
What were the advantages of the radio?
-Lower operating expenses because they did not use humans or wires
-More privacy (for the moment there were few radios)
-Radio operators could communicate directly without intermediaries
78
When did amateur radio broadcasting begin to take place?
1910s
79
Why was radio broadcasting adopted as a business model?
Because enough people had radios to make it worthwhile. The radio was no longer private, so people might as well use it for something else.
Note also the crowding of the airwaves
80
When did Westinghouse build his pioneering commercial broadcaster?
1920
81
What did Westinghouse's broadcaster include as programming?
A variety of news, sports, religious, and musical programming.
82
By 1923, how many radio owners and how many stations existed in the United States?
1 million owners, nearly 600 stations.
83
Farmers were early adopters of the radio for what reasons?
-It was a useful way to gain information on prices or news, or simply alleviate boredom
-Even without electricity, the radio worked by battery (though it had to be recharged at a local service station or with a car or truck)
84
Where in Canada was the radio impractical?
In hilly areas in which the hills blocked signals,
In the north where solar interference disrupteded signals
85
What invention made it easier to use the radio in remote areas? When?
The short-wave radio receiver which was less affected by hill or solar interference. After 1925
86
When was Montreal's first English language radio station established?
XWA Montreal in 1919, renamed CFCF in 1920
87
When was Montreal's first French language radio station established?
CKAC in 1922
88
When were the first regular radio broadcasts from the Eiffel Tower?
1921
89
Why did Ontario farmers own 3.75 times more radios than Quebec farmers by 1930?
-Dairy farmers in Quebec did not need to follow cattle or grain prices as Wheat farmers or ranchers did.
-Early radio stations broadcast in English.
90
What is the dematerialization of the technical world?
The basis of new technologies are increasingly hidden or obscured.
91
When was the first transistor radio available?
1954
92
What design did radios have in the 50s
modern space age bright colours round, knobs
93
What design did radios take in the 40's
Dark colours still resembling furniture
94
What did Muzak do
Stock music for elevators and companies
95
By the end of 1936, how many Canadian homes had radio licenses?
1 million
96
What did a transistor allow for radios?
Made them portable and possible to carry in large pockets
97
What year did CBC take on radio broadcasting?
1936
98
True or false: Images could not be transmitted until the development of Casselli's pantelegraph in 1870
False. the pan telegraph was able to send messages in Chinese by 1856
99
When did Russian scientist Constantin Perky first speak the word "television"
in 1900
100
What element's photoelectric sensitivity to light stimulated experiments to record and send images?
selenium
101
By what decade did photography demonstrate was it possible to fix images on suitably treated surfaces?
1839
102
When did Etienne Jules Marry first capture motion on film?
1874
103
Why was cinema an international industry by ww1?
Silent movies were accessible to everyone because the words could be filled in manually
104
Inventor John Logie Baird stuck to what kind of television design?
electro-mechanical using selenium
105
Advanced television designs by the 1920s were...
all electric
106
RCA hired which inventor to work on the applications of the cathode ray tube?
Vladimir Zworykin
107
Which independent inventor worked on the applications of the cathode ray tube?
Phil T. Farnsworth
108
Did Farnsworth license his televisions to RCA?
Yes. They were sold at the 1939 world fair
109
Wha was the difficulty with Farnsworth?
He was too attached to his independence to collaborate effectively with others. he made a poor entrepreneur.
110
What bottleneck did RCA break in the 1930s to be able to continue working on the television?
Key technology was held by individual patent holders such as Farnsworth. Eventually, RCA bought his invention rights.
111
Why did RCA make television sets transparent at the 1939 world fair?
So people could see the inner workings of the machine, especially the cathode ray tube
112
Why were early television sets vertically oriented?
It contained the length of the cathode ray tube. This length was proportional to the length of the tube
113
Why did early television sets sometimes use mirrors?
It reflected the image horizontally and saved on a lot of weight
114
What percentage of US households had a TV in 1949?
2%
115
What percentage of US households had a TV in 1955?
64%
116
What percentage of US households had a TV in 1959?
90%
117
Why did tv develop faster in the US than canada?
Canada did not have a TV industry before war. Consumers imported from US with US currency. however, because Canada restricted foreign currency during the war, consumers could not buy any tvs.
118
What was a key reverse salient in the development of the TV? How did RCA try to solve it?
There was little programming to watch. 24 hours of programming is very difficult to achieve.
RCA tried 1) To produce programming 2) to sell televisions with radios included
119
What was the major worry after 1945 relating to television?
Canada had little television production, and the only shows available were American/ How to retain a Canadian culture facing this?
120
The Massey Commission was the informal name for..
The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences
121
What did the Massey commission recommend for television?
Extending to television the authority over radio enjoyed by CBC
122
When did CBC launch television service in English and French?
1952
123
WHat event boosted the popularity of television very quickly?
The coronation of the queen
124
by 1960, how many Canadian homes had tv?
95%
125
How did CBC provide TV service to areas of canada outside immediate broadcasting range?
Relay towers using microwaves-- extended coast to coast in 1958
126
What did the Robert fowler commission recommend?
Both public and private broadcasters should be held to a minimum cultural standard. Suggestion the creation of the Canadian Radio-television and telecommunications Commission
127
Canada and the United States had _ times as many radios per thousand as the next countries in America
3
128
In 1955, Canada was what rank in global TV transmitters per million people?
Second place behind USA
129
In 1955, Canada was what rank in global TV recievers per million people?
third, behind US and UK
130
Which year did Nixon and Kennedy debate over television?
1960
131
How many debates did Nixon and Kennedy have on live TV?
four
132
Why did radio users' opinions of the nixon-kennedy debates diverge from tv users'
Kennedy looked better on Tv but Nixon sounded better on radio. Radio users rated Nixon as better and the opposite for tv users/
133
The third debate had Kennedy in ___ and Nixon in ___
1) New York
2) Los Angeles
134
When was the first Canadian televised debate? Who?
1962- Jean Lesage and Daniel Johnson.
135
When was the first federal debate in Canadian politics?
1968
136
Did the number of private radio stations in Canada grow substantially between 1959 and 1975?
Yes. From about 220-?450
137
Did the number of private TV stations in Canada grow substantially between 1959 and 1975?
Not really. Number stand between 40-60
138
Which was more expensive to operate, television or radio?
TV
139
True or false: CBC had the same operating expenses as private radio and TV stations combined?
True
