early radio history

1. Company
Radio Broadcasting
LOGO
The early years

2. Mass Media Market
Newspapers
Magazines/Books
Phonograph
1905 Mass Media Market
1877
Movies
1904
Radio

3. Broadcasting Debuts
1. Technological advances made toward
developing radio late in 19th C
2. Heinrich Hertz transmitted energy
without wires
3. Guglielmo Marconi saw this as way to
replace telegraph lines
4. British Government interested in
technology
Guglielmo Marconi 1874 - 1937
5. It had colonial empire, with ships at
sea and large navy.

4. Marconi Wireless & Signal co.
1. Secured British patent in 1897
2. Formed Marconi Wireless & Signal
Co. to communicate with
lighthouses & ships
3. Focused on increasing distance
signals traveled
4. 1901 – Sent a transmission across
the Atlantic Ocean
5. U.S. Navy adopted wireless fully by
WW-I
6. Specialty companies like United
Fruit Company
7. Hobbyist

5. 1st Known Radio Program
1. Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian
Scientist
2. Became first to transmit voice over the
air
3. From experimental station in Brant Rock,
Mass
4. December 24, 1906
5. Ships of United Fruit Co were listening
first came static then Morris Code
6. First came static, then Morris Code,
Followed by voice & music

6. Radio – A New Technology
1. Airwaves became crowded (shipping interests, navy,
amateurs, universities, experimental)
2. President Taft enacted 1st radio license law in 1912
3. Commerce Dept put in charge of allocating frequencies to
ships, government agencies and amateurs
4. Reserved a few for universities & experimental stations
5. 1917 – 8,562 licenses issued in U.S.

7. David Sarnoff
1. Most saw lack of privacy as a disadvantage
2. David Sarnoff was manager of American
3. Marconi’s Wanamaker’s Dept Store station in
NY in 1912
4. Received important radio signals on April 15,
1891 - 1971
1912
50.14 W MGY CQD SOS SOS
CQD CQD DE MGY WE ARE
SINKING FAST PASSENGERS
ARE BEING PUT (The signal then
fades to unreadable.)

8. The Sarnoff Memo - 1916
1. Marconi should make radio receivers that tune to frequencies
2. Provide radio concerns, recitals, lectures
3. Called it – Radio Music Box
4. Programming paid for out of sales of radio sets
5. But World War I Intervened
6. All Frequencies taken over by Government

9. First Commercial Broadcasters
1. Begin as means of promoting other
enterprises (dept stores; radios,
churches, colleges.
2. Dr. Frank Conrad operates station
out of his garage after WW-I
3. Local Dept. Store advertised sets to
hear his program
1874 - 1941
4. Westinghouse decided to set up
station to help sell sets
5. KDKA went on air on 11/2/20 with
broadcast of Harding-Cox
Presidential election returns

10. First Stations
1. Business model had been
established
2. Sets moved quickly
3. Didn’t accept advertising
4. 8 stations opened by 1921

11. Making a Profit
1. Two possible sources of income – sales of
radios; advertising
2. 8 Stations Licensed by end of 1921
3. Sales of radio sets began to boom
4. By Nov. 1, 1922 – 564 broadcasters licensed
5. 1922 used long distance phone lines to connect
NYC with Chicago to broadcast football game.
6. 1926 – NBC purchased WEAF in NY

12. Government Regulation
1. Chaotic, unplanned system
2. Business practices threatened a possibly
monopoly
3. Congress passed Radio Act of 1927
4. Agency is now called FCC
5. Allocated frequencies

13. Mass Media Market
Newspapers
Magazines/Books
Phonograph
1930s Mass Media Market
1877
Movies
1904
Radio

15. Radio Station Growth

16. Major Source for Entertainment
• 1934 – 593 broadcast stations in U.S.
• 1935 – 67% of homes had radio sets;
grows to 81% by 1940
• Networks provided 24 hours programming
• Daytime – soaps, children’s Shows, music
• Primetime – dramas, comedies, quiz
shows, specials & music

17. Radio Stations - 1922
•

18. AM Radio Stations - 1946

19. FM Radio Station - 1958

20. Radio Stations - 2006

21. The Nation Enters the ‘30s
Entering the 1930s Approaching the 1940s
• 2,000 daily newspapers • Radio spreading hard
reached about 40-million news
readers • Newsreels provided
• 10,000 weekly visuals
newspapers • 1934 -- advertising
• Advertising revenue revenue ½ of 1929 high
approached $900-million • 1939 a number of dailies
• Seen as a necessity & weeklies disappeared

22. Music
• Programming targeted to
national audience
• Similar to today’s TV blocks.
• Did not want recorded
programs

23. Power of Broadcasting
1. Presidential Election – 1932
2. Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping – 1932
3. Hindenburg – 1937
4. Orson Welles' Broadcast of War of the Worlds – 1938
5. Trouble in Europe

24. Radio News
• Only 4 network newscasts 1933
• 1930s crisis in Europe created market
for news
•CBS received enormous praise for
broadcasts from war torn Europe

25. Power of Broadcasting
Herb Morrison at Lake Hurst NJ for WLS May 6, 1937

26. Competitive Environment

27. Newspapers Face Competition
We fight the growing encroachment
of our field by radio, only to have the
news organizations to which we
belong turn around and help the
radio thumb its nose at our honest
effort. Every bulletin we printed in
our extra was second hand. The
radio with the assistance of the
Associated Press scooped us
miserably. – Editor & Publisher 1928

28. We cannot keep on selling news if we encourage others to give it
away.

29. Newspaper Radio War
American Newspapers
Publisher Association
Convention - 1933
Stopped providing
newspapers with bulletins
and printing schedules.
Biltmore Agreement
Two 5-minute newscasts
daily
No spot news
Press described it as a
complete defeat for
broadcasters

30. The War Years

32. The War Years
Edward R. Murrow

33. Golden Age of Radio Fades
In 1950s, more turning to TV for entertainment
The “leftovers”
Tried various strategies to off TV’s impact
In Dec. 1955, Nielsen ratings did not list one evening
radio program in top ten
How could radio survive
Portability
Innovative programming
Recorded music
Top 40 format

34. Mass Media Market - 1950
Competing for Consumer Attention
Magazines
TV Newspapers
Radio Theatres
& Books