RADIO INDUSTRY

Radio Industry and Programming



Radio Industry and Programming

Introduction

Radio Industry comprises of those enterprises that produce and distribute original entertainment, news, and other audio content; create advertisements and secure advertising revenue; and transmit ads, original content, and preexisting content—such as music—by radio

Radio broadcasts at once drew audiences to advertising and revolutionized entertainment in American households. When television supplanted radio as the nation's most popular entertainment media, radio nonetheless filled an important niche, offering Top 40 hits interspersed with disc jockey commentary and advertising. Political talk radio brought a new form of news entertainment during the late 1980's and early 1990's, and digital satellite radio initiated another shift in the twenty-first century (Jesse, 2001).

The 1920's brought an enormous change in American entertainment. Suddenly, instead of having to go outside the home and buy expensive tickets to hear live performances of their favorite artists, people could tune in to broadcasts on their radios. Wireless radio broadcasts evolved from wireless telegraph broadcasts and could use two types of signal. Amplitude modulation (AM) signals varied the strength of the radio signal in relationship to the information being sent. Frequency modulation (FM) signals varied the frequency of the signal.

Early Days Programming

Most early programs were broadcasted using AM signals, and many early radios could pick up only AM signals. The first radio broadcast actually took place in 1906, when Reginald Aubrey Fessenden used a wireless telegraph station to broadcast a phonograph being played and a man singing. Lee De Forest took the process one step further, with the invention of the vacuum tube, which increased broadcast strength. He demonstrated its utility in 1910, and the popularity of this hobby grew (Susan, 1994).

In 1919, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed, to enable wireless radio communication between Great Britain and the United States. However, it quickly shifted its focus, using the idea of employee David Sarnoff to broadcast entertainment, and this quickly became its chief source of profits. The other big radio broadcaster in this era was Westinghouse.

Early radio listeners had to use headphones to hear a program, and musicians initially gave free live performances on the radio. Advertisers in this era relied on the prominent announcement of their names before programs to spread the word about their products. In 1921, RCA's Sarnoff created the first linked chain of nationwide stations. In that same year, the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) began selling airtime to advertisers, who were then responsible for the content of their programs. It was this latter development that led to some of the most popular radio programs of the era.

By 1926, RCA and AT&T had merged their radio networks into the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which had both a blue and a red line (named for the colors of their initial connecting cables). Competition came from William S. Paley's Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the Golden Age of radio began. Numerous smaller, unlicensed, stations sprang up, and competition was ...