Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Chapter 7: Audio: Music and Talk Across Media
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit show “Hamilton: An American Musical” made extensive use
of ______.
A. Motown-style soul music
B. British invasion rock ‘n’ roll
C. hip-hop
D. You can’t fool me; “Hamilton” is primarily made up of conventional Broadway musical
songs.
2. Emile Berliner is famous for which of the following?
A. He developed the gramophone.
B. He invented the compact disc.
C. He was the star of the movie The Jazz Singer.
D. He founded MTV.
3. What medium did Guglielmo Marconi help invent?
A. television
B. motion pictures
C. recording industry
D. radio
4. Which of the following developments occurred during World War I?
A. Amateurs helped decipher German radio signals.
B. The military took over radiobroadcasting.
C. David Sarnoff translated radio signals for codes.
D. KDKA broadcast the results of the 1916 elections.
5. All of the following except ______ were part of RCA.
A. United Fruit Company
B. General Electric
C. Westinghouse
D. Columbia Broadcasting System
6. The most popular radio drama of the late 1920s was ______.
A. The Guiding Light
B. The Shadow
C. Amos ‘n’ Andy
D. Focus on Africa
7. As of 2014, the longest-running soap opera on radio and television was ______.
A. General Hospital
B. The Guiding Light
C. The Young and the Restless
D. Days of Our Lives
8. Social music is which of the following?
A. music that people perform for each other in a social setting
B. music that is performed for a large group of people
C. music that is recorded for mass-market distribution
D. music that comments on social concerns
9. Which of these is Akio Morita famous for?
A. inventing the MP3 process
B. creating the compact disc
C. inventing the Walkman
D. inventing the iPod
10. Before 1948, recordings of popular Black music were referred to as which of the
following?
A. race records
B. R&B records
C. soul records
D. jazz records
11. What is Berry Gordy Jr. best known for?
A. being the radio operator who received the initial distress call from the Titanic
B. starring in the first kinetoscope film
C. founding Motown Records
D. discovering Bob Dylan
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
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12. Which of these was the producer who worked on recordings for Johnny Cash, the
Dixie Chicks, Kanye West, and Adele?
A. Alan Freed
B. Rick Rubin
C. George Martin
D. Babyface
13. The method of recording sound that involves storing it in a series of numbers is
called which of the following?
A. long-playing recording
B. analog recording
C. social recording
D. digital recording
14. How do Doug and Telisha Williams of the band Wild Ponies make a living as
musicians?
A. They have a contract with a major record label.
B. They have a mobile app that lets their fans stream their music for a monthly fee.
C. They’ve developed a strong, direct connection with fans who want to help them
succeed.
D. You can’t fool me, both Doug and Telisha have to work day jobs to support
themselves in this music/business environment.
15. Smart speakers operate by ______.
A. typing commands into them using a wireless keyboard
B. predicting what you want to hear based on your smartphone’s browser history
C. hand signals
D. giving them spoken commands
16. Which of the following is the federal agency charged with regulating
telecommunications, including radio and television broadcasting?
A. FTC
B. FCC
C. IRS
D. FAA
17. A podcast is which of the following?
A. an MP3 compressed audio file that can be listened to online or downloaded
B. a group of radio commercials that lasts about 5 min
C. a song recorded by someone other than the original artist
D. Thomas Edison’s original encoding technique for recording sound and music
18. In 2018, the most popular radio format in the United States was ______.
A. adult contemporary
B. news/talk
C. rhythmic contemporary hits radio
D. country
19. Which of the following statements is true about radio as we know it?
A. It was invented by Heinrich Hertz.
B. It was initially invented as a way of carrying advertising.
C. It first went on the air in 1939.
D. It depended on a series of inventions and discoveries over a 40– to 60-year period.
20. William S. Paley, the first president of the CBS network, saw radio as which of the
following?
A. an exciting new medium that should not be polluted by commercial advertising
B. a novelty that people would soon tire of
C. an excellent tool for advertising products and services
D. a powerful communication tool that should be controlled by the U.S. Navy
21. The statement that radio became a companion medium means which of the
following?
A. Radios and televisions were being sold together as a package deal.
B. Radio became less focused.
C. Radio tried to be all things to all people.
D. Radio became the medium listened to while doing something else.
22. Which of the following describes the biggest influence of the Sony Walkman?
A. People started buying music on tapes instead of LPs.
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
B. People could start creating their own personal soundtrack instead of listening to
music programmed by other people.
C. People started pirating recording onto their own mix tapes instead of paying to
purchase music.
D. People stopped buying expensive stereo equipment.
23. If you are listening to a song with lyrics that deal with heartbreak, kids, and adult
relationships, you are likely listening to ______ music.
A. classic rock
B. hip-hop
C. country
D. adult contemporary
24. Digital recordings, such as CDs, frighten recording companies for which of the
following reasons?
A. They don’t wear out as fast as tapes or vinyl recordings did.
B. Consumers can potentially make perfect digital copies of the music without paying for
them.
C. They can contain more music than old analog LP discs, so consumers expect to
receive more songs to fill that space.
D. The sound quality of digital recordings is different from that of analog recordings.
25. Which of these statements about radio following the growth of television in the late
1940s and early 1950s is true?
A. Radio reinvented itself to become a companion medium, serving narrow niche
audiences with specialized formats.
B. A majority of radio stations went bankrupt as people stopped listening to radio.
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
C. Most radio stations kept playing the same kinds of programs that they had prior to
television.
D. You can’t fool me; television didn’t become popular until 1962.
26. If you are listening to music that involves a DJ speaking over musical sample loops,
you are likely listening to ______ music.
A. classic rock
B. hip-hop
C. country
D. adult contemporary
27. Which of the following was the major effect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996
on radio?
A. Fewer stations played urban contemporary music.
B. Many conservative talk radio hosts were forced off the air.
C. Radio programs started having content ratings similar to that used by movie studios.
D. Individual companies were allowed to own an unlimited number of radio stations.
True/False
1. Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. was the first time hip-hop was honored with a
Pulitzer Prize.
2. Popular radio host Howard Stern has transformed from being a shock jock to doing
exclusively sports talk.
3. As shock jock Howard Stern has gotten older, he has gained a reputation as a
serious and insightful interviewer.
4. Akio Morita is best known as the engineer who invented the Sony Walkman in the
late 1970s.
5. KDKA was the United States’ first commercial radio station.
6. Frank Conrad was the engineer who put KDKA, the first commercial radio station in
the United States, on the air.
7. Frank Conrad was the promoter responsible for transforming Elvis Presley into a
major recording star.
8. The golden age of radio was from the late 1960s until 1985.
9. Both of the actors on the radio show Amos ‘n’ Andy were White.
10. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry both helped create rock ‘n’ roll by combining White
hillbilly music with Black R&B music.
11. The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones were all rock groups that were a
part of the British punk movement of the 1970s.
12. Motown was one of the first recording labels publishing songs for Black artists to
perform as hits rather than providing a source of covers for White artists.
13. Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side of the Moon helped show that recorded music could
exist as something independent from live musical performances.
14. Revenue for Spanish-language news radio has remained steady in recent years.
15. Syrian exile Mohammad Abu Hajar was forced to leave the country for writing songs
critical of the government.
16. Rob Cesternino has shown that he can use his fame from being on a short-head
television reality show to being a successful host of a long-tail podcast series.
17. Political talk radio is populated primarily by liberal hosts.
18. Shock jocks draw listeners by making offensive and outrageous comments on the
air.
19. NPR’s Morning Edition news program attracts a larger daily audience than any of
the television networks’ morning news programs.
20. Content broadcast on satellite radio has to meet the same level of content decency
as terrestrial radio does.
21. New car audio systems allow drivers to listen to streaming audio sources like
Pandora as well as CDs or terrestrial radio.
22. As of 2018, approximately 50% of American homes had a fan of podcasts living in
them.
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Essay
1. What was the key difference between Edison’s phonograph and Berliner’s
gramophone?
2. How does notated music differ from non-notated music?
3. What was the significance of David Sarnoff’s “Radio Music Box” memo?
4. In 2017, the amount of revenue being collected for recorded music started to grow
significantly for the first time in several years. Why did this start to happen?
5. In the recording industry, what is a “cover?”
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
6. Who was Dewey Phillips?
7. What makes talk and sports radio so popular with advertisers?
8. What is known as the new form of digital radio broadcasting?
9. Who are the major providers of consumer satellite radio in the United States?
10. How do streaming audio and podcasting differ from each other?
Hanson, Mass Communication, 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
11. List two reasons why 12” vinyl LP albums have staged a resurgence in popularity.
12. In a brief essay, discuss the role that rock ‘n’ roll played in integrating music.
13. In a brief essay, explain what Kevin Kelly’s theory of “1,000 True Fans” is and
explain how it applies to touring musicians such as Doug and Telisha Williams.
14. In a brief essay, explain what podcasts are, how they provide a long-tail alternative
to broadcasting, and discuss what kind of programming can be found in podcasts.
15. In a brief essay, explain how recording artists have responded in the 21st century to
the threats of file sharing and other new digital media to their ability to make a living.
16. In a short essay, using Rob Cesternino as an example, explain how being
successful on a short-head media program and a long-tail program differ.