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Chapter 05: Essay
Essay
1. Why was the development of the telegraph important in media history?
ANSWER:
In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi—a twenty-year-old, self-educated Italian engineer—
read Hertz's work and understood that developing a way to send high-speed messages
over great distances would transform communication, the military, and commercial
shipping. Although revolutionary, the telephone and the telegraph were limited by
their wires, so Marconi set about trying to make wireless technology practical. First,
he attached Hertz's spark-gap transmitter to a Morse telegraph key, which could send
out dot-dash signals. The electrical impulses traveled into a Morse inker, the machine
that telegraph operators used to record the dots and dashes onto narrow strips of
paper. Second, Marconi discovered that grounding—connecting the transmitter and
receiver to the earth—greatly increased the distance over which he could send
signals.
In 1896, Marconi traveled to England, where he received a patent for wireless
telegraphy, a form of voiceless point-to-point communication. In London in 1897, he
formed the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, later known as British Marconi,
and began installing wireless technology on British naval and private commercial
ships. In 1899, he opened a branch of the company in the United States, nicknamed
American Marconi. That same year, he sent the first wireless Morse-code signal
across the English Channel to France; and in 1901, he relayed the first wireless signal
across the Atlantic Ocean. Although Marconi was a successful innovator and
entrepreneur, he saw wireless telegraphy only as a method of point-to-point
communication, much like the telegraph and the telephone, not as a one-to-many
mass medium. He also confined his applications to Morse-code messages for military
and commercial ships, leaving others to explore the wireless transmission of voice
and music.
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Chapter 05: Essay
Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-Croatian inventor who immigrated to New York in 1884.
Tesla, who also conceived the high-capacity alternating current systems that made
worldwide electrification possible, invented a wireless system in 1892 and
successfully demonstrated his device a year later. (Margaret Cheney, Tesla: Man out
of Time [New York: Touchstone, 2001]) However, Tesla's work was overshadowed
by Marconi's. In fact, Marconi used much of Tesla's work in his own developments,
and for years Tesla was not associated with the invention of radio. Tesla never
received great financial benefits from his breakthroughs, but in 1943 (a few months
after he died penniless in New York), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Marconi's
wireless patent and deemed Tesla the inventor of radio. (William J. Broad, "Tesla, a
Bizarre Genius, Regains Aura of Greatness," New York Times, August 28, 1984)
3. What were De Forest's and Fessenden's contributions to radio?
ANSWER:
In 1899, inventor Lee De Forest (who, in defiance of other inventors, liked to call
himself the "father of radio") wrote the first Ph.D. dissertation on wireless
technology, building on others' innovations. In 1901, De Forest 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 competing transmitters
jammed each other's signals so badly, however, that officials ended up relaying
information on the races in the traditional way—with flags and hand signals. The
event exemplified a problem that would persist throughout radio's early development:
noise and interference from competition for the finite supply of radio frequencies.
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Chapter 05: Essay
The credit for the first voice broadcast belongs to Canadian engineer Reginald
Fessenden, formerly a chief chemist for Thomas Edison. Fessenden went to work for
the U.S. Navy and eventually for General Electric (GE), where he played a central
role in improving wireless signals. Both the navy and GE were interested in the
potential for voice transmissions. On Christmas Eve in 1906, after GE built
Fessenden a powerful transmitter, he gave his first public demonstration, sending a
voice through the airwaves from his station at Brant Rock, Massachusetts.
4. Why was the RCA monopoly formed?
ANSWER:
Some members of Congress and the corporate community opposed federal legislation
that would grant the government or the navy a radio monopoly. Consequently, 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. First, GE broke off negotiations to sell key radio technologies to European-
owned companies like British Marconi, thereby limiting those companies' global
reach. Second, GE took the lead in founding a new company, Radio Corporation of
America (RCA), which soon acquired American Marconi and radio patents of other
U.S. companies. Upon its founding in 1919, RCA had pooled the necessary
technology and patents to monopolize the wireless industry and expand American
communication technology throughout the world. (Tom Lewis, Empire of the Air:
The Men Who Made Radio [New York: HarperCollins, 1991], 73)
5. WEAF in New York was the first "toll broadcasting" station. What does that mean?
ANSWER:
In 1922, AT&T started WEAF (now WNBC) in New York, the first radio station to
regularly sell commercial time to advertisers. AT&T claimed that under the RCA
agreements it had the exclusive right to sell ads, which AT&T called toll
broadcasting. Most people in radio at the time recoiled at the idea of using the
medium for crass advertising, viewing it instead as a public information service. In
fact, stations that had earlier tried to sell ads received "cease and desist" letters from
the Department of Commerce. Yet by August 1922, AT&T had sold its first ad to a
New York real estate developer for $50. The idea of promoting the new medium as a
public service, along the lines of today's noncommercial NPR, ended when
executives realized that radio ads offered another opportunity for profits long after
radio-set sales had saturated the consumer market.
6. How and why did radio networks develop?
ANSWER:
The initial strategy behind AT&T's toll broadcasting idea was an effort to conquer
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Chapter 05: Essay
links (at that time, through special phone lines; today, through satellite relays) a
group of broadcast stations that share programming produced at a central location.
By the end of 1924, AT&T had interconnected twenty-two stations to air a talk by
President Calvin Coolidge. Some of these stations were owned by AT&T, but most
simply consented to become AT&T "affiliates," agreeing to air the phone company's
programs. These network stations informally became known as the telephone group
and later as the Broadcasting Corporation of America (BCA).
7. By the late 1920s, radio had grown from a dispersed and local medium into a national,
commercial mass medium. Describe two important consequences of that growth for
programming.
ANSWER:
After Lee De Forest, David Sarnoff was among the first to envision wireless
telegraphy as a modern mass medium. From the time he served as Marconi's personal
messenger (at age fifteen), Sarnoff rose rapidly at American Marconi. He became a
wireless operator, helping relay information about the Titanic survivors in 1912.
Promoted to a series of management positions, Sarnoff was closely involved in
RCA's creation in 1919, when most radio executives saw wireless merely as point-to-
point communication. But with Sarnoff as RCA's first commercial manager, radio's
potential as a mass medium was quickly realized. In 1921, at age thirty, Sarnoff
became RCA's general manager.
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Chapter 05: Essay
Machine Company. From 1930 through the mid-1960s, the record and phonograph
company would be known as RCA Victor, adopting as its corporate symbol the
famous terrier sitting alertly next to a Victrola radio-phonograph. The merger gave
RCA control over Victor's records and recording equipment, making the radio
company a major player in the sound recording industry.
8. How did broadcasting come to be federally regulated?
ANSWER:
In the 1920s, as radio moved from narrowcasting to broadcasting, the battle for more
frequency space and less channel interference intensified. Manufacturers, engineers,
station operators, network executives, and the listening public demanded action.
Many wanted more sweeping regulation than the simple licensing function granted
under the Radio Act of 1912, which gave the Commerce Department little power to
deny a license or to unclog the airwaves.
Beginning in 1924, Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover ordered radio stations to
share time by setting aside certain frequencies for entertainment and news, and others
for farm and weather reports. To challenge Hoover, a station in Chicago jammed the
airwaves, intentionally moving its signal onto an unauthorized frequency. In 1926,
the courts decided that based on the existing Radio Act, Hoover had the power only
to grant licenses, not to restrict stations from operating. Within the year, two hundred
new stations clogged the airwaves, creating a chaotic period in which nearly all
radios had poor reception. By early 1927, sales of radio sets had declined sharply.
To restore order to the airwaves, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927, which
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Chapter 05: Essay
that, like vacuum tubes, could receive and amplify radio signals. However, they used
less power and produced less heat than vacuum tubes, and they were more durable
and less expensive. Best of all, they were tiny. Transistors, which also revolutionized
hearing aids, constituted the first step in replacing bulky and delicate tubes,
eventually leading to today's integrated circuits.
Texas Instruments marketed the first transistor radio in 1953 for about $40. Using
even smaller transistors, Sony introduced the pocket radio in 1957. But it wasn't until
the 1960s that transistor radios became cheaper than conventional tube and battery
radios. For a while, the term transistor became a synonym for a small portable radio.
The development of transistors let radio go where television could not—to the beach,
to the office, into bedrooms and bathrooms, and into nearly all new cars. (Before the
transistor, car radios were a luxury item.) By the 1960s, most radio listening took
place outside the home.
10. Define format radio, and give examples.
ANSWER:
As early as 1949, station owner Todd Storz in Omaha, Nebraska, experimented with
formula-driven radio, or format radio. Under this system, management rather than
deejays controlled programming each hour. When Storz and his program manager
noticed that bar patrons and waitstaff repeatedly played certain favorite songs from
the records available in a jukebox, they began researching record sales to identify the
most popular tunes. From observing jukebox culture, Storz hit on the idea of rotation:
playing the top songs many times during the day. By the mid-1950s, the
management-control idea combined with the rock-and-roll explosion, and the Top 40
format was born. The term Top 40 came to refer to the forty most popular hits in a
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Chapter 05: Essay
according to who was listening. For instance, a Top 40 station would feature its top
deejays in the morning and afternoon blocks, when audiences—many riding in
cars—were largest. From 10 A.M. to 3 P.M., research determined that women at
home and secretaries at work usually controlled the dial, so program managers,
capitalizing on the gender stereotypes of the day, played more romantic ballads and
less hard rock. Teenagers tended to be heavy evening listeners, so program managers
often discarded news breaks at this time, since research showed that teens turned the
dial when news came on.
Critics of format radio argued that only the top songs received play and that lesser-
known songs deserving airtime received meager attention. Although a few popular
star deejays continued to play a role in programming, many others quit when
managers introduced formats. Program directors approached programming as a
science, whereas deejays considered it an art form. The program directors' position,
which generated more revenue, triumphed.
11. Since the 1950s, in what ways could the radio industry be said to have experienced
convergence with other media?
ANSWER:
Like every other mass medium, radio is moving into the future by converging with
the Internet. Interestingly, this convergence is taking radio back to its roots in some
respects. Internet radio allows for much more variety in radio, which is reminiscent
of radio's earliest years, when nearly any individual or group with some technical
skill could start a radio station. Moreover, podcasts bring back such content as
storytelling, instructional programs, and local topics of interest, which have largely
been missing in corporate radio. And portable listening devices like smartphones,
tablets, and iPods hark back to the compact portability that first came with the
popularization of transistor radios in the 1950s.
12. Will Internet radio mean the end of traditional radio? Why or why not? How are traditional
radio stations and networks responding to this latest round of technological change?
ANSWER:
Internet radio emerged in the 1990s with the popularity of the web. Internet radio
stations come in two types. The first involves an existing AM, FM, satellite, or HD
station "streaming" a simulcast version of its on-air signal over the web. Most radio
stations currently stream programming over the web and often facilitate the listening
with an app. iHeartRadio is one of the major streaming sites for broadcast and
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Chapter 05: Essay
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Congress began to assess royalty fees for streaming copyrighted songs over the
Internet based on a percentage of each station's revenue. Webcasters complained that
royalty rates set by the board were too high and threatened their financial viability—
particularly compared to satellite radio, which pays a lower royalty rate, and
broadcasters, who pay no royalty rates at all. For decades, radio broadcasters have
paid mechanical royalties to songwriters and music publishers but no royalties to the
performing artists or record companies. Broadcasters have argued that the
promotional value of getting songs played is sufficient compensation.
In 2009, Congress passed the Webcaster Settlement Act, which was considered a
lifeline for Internet radio. The act enabled Internet stations to negotiate royalty fees
directly with the music industry, at rates presumably more reasonable than what the
Copyright Royalty Board had proposed. In 2012, Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia)
became the first company to strike a deal directly with the recording industry. The
company pledged to pay royalties to Big Machine Label Group for broadcasting the
songs of Taylor Swift and its other artists in exchange for a limit on the royalties it
had to pay for streaming those artists' music on its iHeartRadio.com site.
13. What kind of radio consumer are you? Describe the ways you use radio—regular broadcasts,
podcasts, HD radio, satellite radio, or Internet radio. Do you actively listen to the radio, or is it
just "in the background"?
ANSWER:
Answers will vary but should address students' personal experiences and interactions
with radio.
Completion
1. Invented in the 1840s, the _______ was the precursor of radio technology.
ANSWER:
telegraph
2. The system of sending electrical impulses from a transmitter through a cable to a reception
point was developed by American inventor Samuel _______.
ANSWER:
Morse
3. In the mid-1860s, James Maxwell theorized that _______ waves existed.
ANSWER:
electromagnetic
4. In the late 1800s, _______ developed wireless telegraphy.
ANSWER:
Guglielmo Marconi
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5. Lee De Forest's biggest breakthrough was the development of the _______, or triode, vacuum
tube.
ANSWER:
Audion
6. _______ developed the Audion, or triode, vacuum tube, which detected and then amplified
radio signals.
ANSWER:
Lee De Forest
7. Playing a central role in the improvement of wireless signals, _______ was the first to send a
voice through the airwaves.
ANSWER:
Reginald Fessenden
8. Now a media term, _______ was once an agricultural term that referred to the process of
casting seeds over a large area.
ANSWER:
broadcasting
9. The government-approved commercial company that allowed the United States to gain world
leadership in broadcasting was named _______.
ANSWER:
RCA
10. Westinghouse established a station with the call letters _______, which aired national returns
from the Cox–Harding presidential election on November 2, 1920.
ANSWER:
KDKA
11. _______ launched National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
ANSWER:
David Sarnoff
12. The Radio Act of _______ established the Federal Radio Commission.
ANSWER:
1927
13. The Communications Act of _______ established the Federal Communications Commission.
ANSWER:
1934
14. _______ developed FM radio.
ANSWER:
Edwin Armstrong
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15. A type of radio and sound transmission that stresses the volume, or height, of radio waves is
called _______.
ANSWER:
AM, or amplitude modulation
16. _______, also called Top 40 radio, encompasses everything from rap to pop-punk songs.
ANSWER:
Contemporary hit radio
17. _______ is a noncommercial radio network established in the 1960s by the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting to provide an alternative to commercial broadcasting.
ANSWER:
National Public Radio (NPR)
18. The _______ is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967.
ANSWER:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
19. _______ is a digital technology that enables AM and FM radio broadcasters to multicast up
to three additional compressed digital signals within their traditional analog frequency.
ANSWER:
HD radio
20. _______ could refer to an online simulcast of a traditional radio station or to a service
designed especially for this use.
ANSWER:
Internet radio
21. _______ is the practice of making audio files available for download on the Internet.
ANSWER:
Podcasting
22. The practice of record promoters paying deejays or programmers to play particular songs is
called _______.
ANSWER:
payola
23. _______ is the company that owns the largest number of radio stations in the United States.
ANSWER:
iHeartMedia
Multiple Choice
1. Guglielmo Marconi envisioned wireless telegraphy only as a method of point-to-point
communication, not as a one-to-many mass medium.
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Chapter 05: Essay
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a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
2. Alexander Popov was a Russian academic whose experiments in wireless communication
occurred at roughly the same time as Marconi's.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
3. During his lifetime, Nikola Tesla received much recognition for his wireless inventions.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
4. Inventor Lee De Forest developed a vacuum tube capable of detecting and amplifying radio
signals.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
5. The word broadcasting derives from the steel industry, in part because KDKA in Pittsburgh
was one of the first stations to begin using radio as a mass medium.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
6. The Titanic sank in 1912, resulting in the loss of over fifteen hundred lives; had it not been for
radio, more than seven hundred additional lives would have been lost.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
7. Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912 in response to the sinking of the Titanic.
a.
True
b.
False
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ANSWER:
a
8. In its entrepreneurial phase, radio was marketed as a ship-to-shore communication device.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
9. Because of the role of the navy in early broadcast history, the United States today has a
national broadcasting system both controlled and supervised by the government.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
10. The American Marconi Company had trouble developing as a business after World War I in
part because the U.S. Navy did not want a foreign-controlled company wielding so much power
in the field of emergent radio technologies.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
11. The Radio Act of 1927 created the Radio Corporation of America.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
12. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed after World War I to give the United
States an early worldwide monopoly over radio broadcasting.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
13. During the 1920s, the United States was the only country that allowed commercial interests
to control broadcasting.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
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14. The aim of early radio networks such as CBS and NBC was to serve the public interest.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
15. In the 1920s, CBS operated two radio networks, CBS-Red and CBS-Blue.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
16. Network radio helped modernize America by de-emphasizing local and regional programs in
favor of national programs.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
17. Under the Radio Act of 1927, broadcasters were allowed to own their radio channels.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
18. With the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Commission officially
became the Federal Radio Commission.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
19. In the 1940s, NBC willingly sold its Blue network because it was losing money.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
20. Radio soap operas got their name because they were a "clean" form of entertainment that
lived up to the social and moral codes of the time.
a.
True
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b.
False
ANSWER:
b
21. Throughout radio's early history—from the 1920s through the 1940s—advertisers exercised
very little control over program content.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
22. Most early radio shows had many sponsors instead of a sole sponsor.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
23. Competition among media meant that with the arrival of television, radio became obsolete.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
24. The first transistor radio was marketed by Sony in 1953.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
25. By the 1960s, most radio listening was done outside the home.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
26. RCA delayed the deployment of FM radio for many decades because it was more concerned
with the development of television.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
27. Guglielmo Marconi is credited with creating FM radio.
