making the record stick rider mass media week

Woody Allen Film, 1987, romanticizing the early days of radio

• 1887 Heinrich Hertz sent and detected radio waves

• Guglielmo Marconi created a wireless communication device

• Reginald Fessenden & GE built a continuous wave generator that made broadcasting human voice and music possible

• Lee De Forest invented the vacuum tube (audion) making it easier to receive signals

Photo courtesy of the David Sarnoff Research Center

• RCA took over the holdings of American Marconi and major stock holders included AT&T, GE and Westinghouse

• 1916- David Sarnoff suggests radio’s fixture in the home with his “radio music box” memo

• Sarnoff’s “radio music box” memo states- “I have in mind a plan of development which would make radio a 'household utility' in the same sense as the piano or phonograph”

• Louise M. Benjamin’s articles in two communication journals give the behind the scenes mystery and history into this memo and executive Edward J. Nally’s reply.

1922 marked the beginning of the broadcastingboom sparked two years earlier by Frank Conrad and his broadcasts from the Pittsburghstation KDKA which still exists today

Radio quickly became the dominate mediaof the day, with programming attractingfamilies, women and men. Vaudeville’s greatestActs and performers made their way to radio

Having a radio set in your home was a gathering, place for families. Today, it is still a staple, butinstead of gathering to listen to the radio, it hasbecome a secondary or background activity whiledoing other tasks

• Network system• Radio Act of 1927 in response to interference

o Federal Radio Commission later renamed FCC under FDR which became the regulatory body for communication industry

• FM Radio thanks to the persistence of Edwin Armstrong

• Edward R. Murrow’s broadcast from London during WW IIo “Hear it Now” – innovative radio prototype for today’s news

coverage-o “Just as we believe that often one picture is worth a thousand

words, occasionally one word or one sound is worth a dozen pictures.” Edward R. Murrow

• Diversion• Television’s effects allowed radio to develop

specialized formatso Contemporary Hits Radio (Top 40)o Adult Contemporaryo Classic Rocko R&Bo Country Musico Talk Radio (AM)o News & Sports Formats (AM)o NPR (All Things Considered and Morning Edition)

• Live, Local Communityo Voice Tracking- Clear Channel

1.Portable2.Supplemental3.Universal4.Selective

• XM and Sirius lead the way to radio on the go and specializationo Mobility and formats has kept radio going

• Worries about Churno Paying for the service when its freeo HD Radio may change the way we receive radio

• Radio and cell phoneso 50% of people would like to have radio on their cell

phone

• Prime time for radio is morning and evening drive timeso AM drive time 6-10o PM drive time 4-7

• Arbitron surveys radio listeningo Diaryo Ratings book

• Ratings and Shareso Ratings are the listeners of a specific station to the total

number of people served by the marketo Shares are the listeners of a specific station to the total

number of radio listeners at that time in the market• People meter for radio

o More accurate reporting

• 1950s began the marriage of the recording industry and radioo DJs became not only celebrities to their listeners but

influential in determining the records that airedo Payola- pay for play

• 2001 iPods allowed listeners to choose their songs o No commercial interruptiono A status and fashion symbolo Take it anywhereo Pod casts of your favorite shows

Challenges of the recording industry in the digital age

• Why did you buy it?• Have you downloaded music before?• From where and why or why not?

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• Protection of intellectual property• Copyright Act Section 107

• “Turn up the ‘ol Victrola, gunna dance the night away”- Dim All the Lights, Donna Summer

1912- Victrolas put out by the Victor TalkingMachine Company (later RCA) were aggressivelymarketed and became the record playingdevice of choice

• Jukeboxes kept the recording industry flourishing during the Depression

• Radio could help sell recordso Mailed free records to stations in hopes of getting some

air timeo Television competition helped nurture this relationship

• Long playing records (LPs)• 45s had two songs (singles)

• Fashion• Style• Corruption• Social Controversy• Define the Times

• Billboardo Saleso Digital Downloadso Air playo Ring tones

• iTunes home pageo Replaced Top 40 and MTV as promotion leadero Unbiased recommendations

• Internet web pages and blogso MySpace o Facebooko Blogs

"four-quadrant idea," which he [Brett Ratner]described as a movie term meaning a concept that crosses all demographics- Advertising Age, 2008