COMMON THREADS
184
One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is the developmental stages of mass media. Like other mass media, radio evolved in three stages, but it also influenced an important dichotomy in mass media technology: wired versus wireless.
In radio’s novelty stage, several inventors transcended the wires of the telegraph and telephone to solve the problem of wireless communication. In the entrepreneurial stage, inventors tested ship-
As the first electronic mass medium, radio set the pattern for an ongoing battle between wired and wireless technologies. For example, television brought images to wireless broadcasting. Then, cable television’s wires brought television signals to places where receiving antennas didn’t work. Satellite television (wireless from outer space) followed as an innovation to bring TV where cable didn’t exist. Now, broadcast, cable, and satellite all compete against one another.
Similarly, think of how cell phones have eliminated millions of traditional phone, or land, lines. The Internet, like the telephone, also began with wires, but Wi-
Both wired and wireless technologies have advantages and disadvantages. Do we want the stability and the tethers of a wired connection? Or do we want the freedom and occasional instability (“Can you hear me now?”) of wireless media? Can radio’s development help us understand wired-
KEY TERMS
The definitions for the terms listed below can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The page numbers listed with the terms indicate where the term is highlighted in the chapter.
telegraph, 151
Morse code, 151
electromagnetic waves, 152
radio waves, 152
wireless telegraphy, 153
wireless telephony, 154
broadcasting, 155
narrowcasting, 155
Radio Act of 1912, 156
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), 157
network, 158
option time, 161
Radio Act of 1927, 162
Federal Radio Commission (FRC), 162
Communications Act of 1934, 162
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 162
transistors, 166
FM, 166
AM, 166
format radio, 167
rotation, 167
Top 40 format, 168
progressive rock, 168
album-oriented rock (AOR), 169
drive time, 169
news/
adult contemporary (AC), 172
contemporary hit radio (CHR), 172
country, 172
urban contemporary, 172
Pacifica Foundation, 173
National Public Radio (NPR), 173
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 173
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, 173
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), 173
satellite radio, 175
HD radio, 175
Internet radio, 175
podcasting, 177
payola, 179
Telecommunications Act of 1996, 179
low-power FM (LPFM), 181
185
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Early Technology and the Development of Radio
The Evolution of Radio
Radio Reinvents Itself
The Sounds of Commercial Radio
The Economics of Broadcast Radio
Radio and the Democracy of the Airwaves
QUESTIONING THE MEDIA
LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE
REVIEW WITH LEARNINGCURVE LearningCurve, available on LaunchPad for Media & Culture, uses gamelike quizzing to help you master the concepts you need to learn from this chapter.