Joe Clark January 21, 2002 Mrs. Perkins AP U.S. History 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 …show more content…
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
Newspapers had once been the only mass communication & entertainment. The demand for new products that emerged in the 1920s created a new industry, advertising, which enticed buyers to purchase new products, and now that the radio had emerged, advertising was integrated into this media outlet . Radio shows like Amos n' Andy, became a nationwide hit. The advertising industry grew with the emerging industries of mass culture, especially radio and cinema. For the first time, from coast to coast, Americans experienced the same shows and used the same advertised products due to mass culture. The first commercial radio station aired in 1920 and broadcast music to a few thousand listeners. By the end of the decade, thirty-three
The movie “Radio” is the tale of a young African-American man who suffers from severe mental retardness and his journey to fame from football in the small South Carolinian town of Anderson. James “Radio” Kennedy is befriended by the T. L. Hanna High School head football coach, Coach Jones, and begins to help as an “assistant coach” of some sort. Eventually, James begins to attend Hanna High as an eleventh grade student due to the persistent efforts of Coach Jones.
Many people bought radios, as they were cheap and effective. The radio was a useful tool for emergencies. If a weather emergency took place, people nearby would be warned hours before it hit due to the radio. It was also important in that the range of radios was limited. That way, the entire world would not know about a small thunderstorm in a small town. However, the reverse could be true. The radio also worked long range, and was important in telling the United States population if war had started, or about other big news, like the Stock Market Crash. The radio was also a very important form of communication in war. World War II was the first war that was a technology based war. The war had soldiers and commanders communicating and forming a strategy on the radio. The radio also sent propaganda to increase production for the war. The radio also had a huge impact on the 1920s because it spread religion, culture, and society news. The radio was the reason that the flapper lifestyle became popular, because it was broadcasted frequently on the radio. It also let people know about the Harlem Renaissance, a Black gathering of music and art, the Red Scare, where America tried to exterminate communism , and new laws such as Prohibition. A hugely important example of the radio was the Scopes Trial. This was a major debate between Scopes and the State, where Scopes broke the law by teaching evolution. Many expressed that the law banning the teaching of evolution
Henry Ford showed America and the world his Model T and the Ford assembly line production in 1927. The radio had become a commodity for almost every American home and national pastime for almost every American. Thousands would sit by the radio, as the first public station, KDKA, in Pittsburgh would air. 1927 would find Charles A. Lindbergh thrilling the heart of Americans as he made his pioneer flight across the Atlantic Ocean in the Spirit of St. Louis.
After the First World War, many people were looking forward to good times. The 1920’s presented people with this time of fast-paced fun and adventure. Entertainment was the foremost part of everyday life during the 1920’s. Radio introduced a whole new practice of entertainment to people’s everyday lives. Likewise, through the utilization of the radio, people were able to experience a new medium to entertain themselves. Furthermore, the radio changed the face of society’s culture through its widespread use. In addition, radios provided people with a new, effective and efficient means of communication. Radio was a fundamental aspect in people’s lives during the 1920’s as it provided many people with news and entertainment in their
At the beginning of the decade the nation was still groggy from waking up to a new decade after fighting in World War I. In 1921 President Harding took office and set the course for economic prosperity and a self-propelling nation. The decade of 1920 presented many national shifts of aspects in economy and culture that would include outrageous activity in the stock markets, the use of the radio as a mass media tool, the artistic movement known as the Harlem Renaissance and the age of prohibition. With such changes occurring on a national level the decade became known as the Roaring 20’s.
So what exactly did the radio help pass important information to society? The radio changed the way how people communicated with each other. Instead of depending on each other, they now
The government of the federal radio commission was also given the power to grant or deny license if the radio station got to go on the air or if they were using profane language. Even though the FRC was given the power to decide if the radio station was using the appropriate language, they did not have the same power over the advertisements that many radio stations such as NBC and CBS sold air time to famous movie stars, musicians , singers and comedians to advertise products that would appear later on their shows.
Before the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, existed, there was the Federal Radio Commission. To go into more detail, though, regulating communications in the United States has been going on since the Radio Act of 1912. This was mainly so the military, emergency responders, police, and entertainment companies could get their signals out over the airwaves to the right audiences without any interference. The Radio Act of 1912 established a commission to designate which airwaves belonged to who: those for public use and those for various commercial users. The Federal Radio Commission was established in 1926 to handle the country’s radio needs, which were becoming more and more complex. It was in 1934 that Congress passed the Communications Act. This replaced the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Act. What was a huge change from the previous regulations in place was putting telephone communications under the FCC’s control. The FCC was also established to help break up monopolies over communications that developed in 1934, most notably, breaking up NBC, which eventually spawned ABC.
In 1926 the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) began the National Broadcasting Network (NBC). These were groups of stations that worked with local stations to syndicate radio shows. These shows focused mostly on music and featured several different live performers. The types of music were diverse and could vary from country to jazz.
Radio was a very important transmission mode. The radio’s main function was to deliver citizens the necessary information in a way that was easy to understand, while at the same time making sure the news agencies earned sufficient ratings and to profit. The radio companies had to make the radio programming easy to understand to the average citizen, because “[t]he education of many Americans had ended after freshman year in high school. (Horten, p.
For decades, National Public Radio has maintained a legacy as a successful worldwide news organization. However, the news produced tends to be consumed mainly by an older audience. It has a reputation among millennials as one of the less entertaining news outlets. It is essential for news to be exciting in order to capture the attention of this millennial audience, and NPR tends to lack the excitement value it needs to fully reach this massive demographic. In order for the station to better attract and maintain millennial readers, viewers and listeners, the organization needs to cater to their lifestyle habits and preferences. In a constantly changing and developing world, NPR needs to be ahead of the game in technological advancements.
First broadcast at midnight on Sunday 2nd September 1990, Gay FM began life after the board of 4CCR accepted a 3-page submission for the programme, including 100 signatures in support, and an example of the gay news items to be used in the show.
The radio is one of the most influential pieces of technology ever invented. From political debates to Taylor Swift’s latest hit, with the help of the radio, society stays informed on a plethora of topics. Freddie Mercury wasn’t lying when he said, “and everything I had to know, I learned it on my radio.” In almost every country in the world, there is at least one radio station used to broadcast news to it’s people. Since the creation of the FM radio, it has been used to reach out to people over a certain area and keep them informed about the society they live in. During the 1930s and the 1940s, the radio played a very important role in history; it was a tool used during World War II by America, Great Britain, and Nazi Germany. By sending
I will start by providing some background information to the topic radio', namely by summing up the most important events in the history of radio. After illustrating the most interesting turning points of the development of radio in the