COMMON THREADS
One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is about the development of the 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-to-shore radio, while others developed person-to-person toll radio transmissions and other schemes to make money from wireless communication. Finally, when radio stations began broadcasting to the general public (who bought radio receivers for their homes), radio became a mass medium.
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-Fi and home wireless systems are eliminating those wires, too. And radio? Most listeners get traditional local (wireless) radio broadcast signals, but now listeners may use a wired Internet connection to stream Internet radio or download Webcasts and podcasts.
Both wired and wireless technology have advantages and disadvantages. Do we want the stability but 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 versus wireless battles in other media?
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.
For review quizzes, chapter summaries, links to media-related Web sites, and more, go to bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture.
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
ADDITIONAL VIDEOS
Visit the
VideoCentral: Mass Communication section at bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture for additional exclusive videos related to Chapter 5.