7.

2 Evolution of Radio Broadcasting

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Learning Objectives

1. Identify the major technological changes in radio as a medium since its

inception.
2. Explain the defining characteristics of radio’s Golden Age.
3. Describe the effects of networks and conglomerates on radio
programming and culture.
At its most basic level, radio is communication through the use of radio
waves. This includes radio used for person-to-person communication as
well as radio used for mass communication. Both of these functions are still
practiced today. Although most people associate the term radiowith radio
stations that broadcast to the general public, radio wave technology is used
in everything from television to cell phones, making it a primary conduit for
person-to-person communication.

The Invention of Radio

Guglielmo Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio. As a young
man living in Italy, Marconi read a biography of Hienrich Hertz, who had
written and experimented with early forms of wireless transmission.
Marconi then duplicated Hertz’s experiments in his own home, successfully
sending transmissions from one side of his attic to the other (PBS). He saw
the potential for the technology and approached the Italian government for
support. When the government showed no interest in his ideas, Marconi
moved to England and took out a patent on his device. Rather than
inventing radio from scratch, however, Marconi essentially combined the
ideas and experiments of other people to make them into a useful
communications tool (Coe, 1996).
Figure 7.2

Guglielmo Marconi developed an early version of the wireless radio.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

In fact, long-distance electronic communication has existed since the

middle of the 19th century. The telegraph communicated messages through
a series of long and short clicks. Cables across the Atlantic Ocean connected
even the far-distant United States and England using this technology. By
the 1870s, telegraph technology had been used to develop the telephone,
which could transmit an individual’s voice over the same cables used by its
predecessor.
When Marconi popularized wireless technology, contemporaries initially
viewed it as a way to allow the telegraph to function in places that could not
be connected by cables. Early radios acted as devices for naval ships to
communicate with other ships and with land stations; the focus was on
person-to-person communication. However, the potential for broadcasting
—sending messages to a large group of potential listeners—wasn’t realized
until later in the development of the medium.

Broadcasting Arrives
The technology needed to build a radio transmitter and receiver was
relatively simple, and the knowledge to build such devices soon reached the
public. Amateur radio operators quickly crowded the airwaves,
broadcasting messages to anyone within range and, by 1912, incurred
government regulatory measures that required licenses and limited
broadcast ranges for radio operation (White). This regulation also gave the
president the power to shut down all stations, a power notably exercised in
1917 upon the United States’ entry into World War I to keep amateur radio
operators from interfering with military use of radio waves for the duration
of the war (White).
Wireless technology made radio as it is known today possible, but its
modern, practical function as a mass communication medium had been the
domain of other technologies for some time. As early as the 1880s, people
relied on telephones to transmit news, music, church sermons, and weather
reports. In Budapest, Hungary, for example, a subscription service allowed
individuals to listen to news reports and fictional stories on their
telephones (White). Around this time, telephones also transmitted opera
performances from Paris to London. In 1909, this innovation emerged in
the United States as a pay-per-play phonograph service in Wilmington,
Delaware (White). This service allowed subscribers to listen to specific
music recordings on their telephones (White).
In 1906, Massachusetts resident Reginald Fessenden initiated the first
radio transmission of the human voice, but his efforts did not develop into a
useful application (Grant, 1907). Ten years later, Lee de Forest used radio
in a more modern sense when he set up an experimental radio station,
2XG, in New York City. De Forest gave nightly broadcasts of music and
news until World War I halted all transmissions for private citizens
(White).

Radio’s Commercial Potential

After the World War I radio ban lifted with the close of the conflict in 1919,
a number of small stations began operating using technologies that had
developed during the war. Many of these stations developed regular
programming that included religious sermons, sports, and news (White).
As early as 1922, Schenectady, New York’s WGY broadcast over 40 original
dramas, showing radio’s potential as a medium for drama. The WGY
players created their own scripts and performed them live on air. This same
groundbreaking group also made the first known attempt at television
drama in 1928 (McLeod, 1998).
Businesses such as department stores, which often had their own stations,
first put radio’s commercial applications to use. However, these stations did
not advertise in a way that the modern radio listener would recognize. Early
radio advertisements consisted only of a “genteel sales message broadcast
during ‘business’ (daytime) hours, with no hard sell or mention of price
(Sterling & Kittross, 2002).” In fact, radio advertising was originally
considered an unprecedented invasion of privacy, because—unlike
newspapers, which were bought at a newsstand—radios were present in the
home and spoke with a voice in the presence of the whole family (Sterling &
Kittross, 2002). However, the social impact of radio was such that within a
few years advertising was readily accepted on radio programs. Advertising
agencies even began producing their own radio programs named after their
products. At first, ads ran only during the day, but as economic pressure
mounted during the Great Depression in the 1930s, local stations began
looking for new sources of revenue, and advertising became a normal part
of the radio soundscape (Sterling & Kittross, 2002).

The Rise of Radio Networks

Not long after radio’s broadcast debut, large businesses saw its potential
profitability and formed networks. In 1926, RCA started the National
Broadcasting Network (NBC). Groups of stations that carried syndicated
network programs along with a variety of local shows soon formed its Red
and Blue networks. Two years after the creation of NBC, the United
Independent Broadcasters became the Columbia Broadcasting System
(CBS) and began competing with the existing Red and Blue networks
(Sterling & Kittross, 2002).
Although early network programming focused mainly on music, it soon
developed to include other programs. Among these early innovations was
the variety show. This format generally featured several different
performers introduced by a host who segued between acts. Variety shows
included styles as diverse as jazz and early country music. At night, dramas
and comedies such as Amos ’n’ Andy, The Lone Ranger, and Fibber McGee
and Molly filled the airwaves. News, educational programs, and other types
of talk programs also rose to prominence during the 1930s (Sterling &
Kittross, 2002).

The Radio Act of 1927

In the mid-1920s, profit-seeking companies such as department stores and
newspapers owned a majority of the nation’s broadcast radio stations,
which promoted their owners’ businesses (ThinkQuest). Nonprofit groups
such as churches and schools operated another third of the stations. As the
number of radio stations outgrew the available frequencies, interference
became problematic, and the government stepped into the fray.
The Radio Act of 1927 established the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) to
oversee regulation of the airwaves. A year after its creation, the FRC
reallocated station bandwidths to correct interference problems. The
organization reserved 40 high-powered channels, setting aside 37 of these
for network affiliates. The remaining 600 lower-powered bandwidths went
to stations that had to share the frequencies; this meant that as one station
went off the air at a designated time, another one began broadcasting in its
place. The Radio Act of 1927 allowed major networks such as CBS and NBC
to gain a 70 percent share of U.S. broadcasting by the early 1930s, earning
them $72 million in profits by 1934 (McChesney, 1992). At the same time,
nonprofit broadcasting fell to only 2 percent of the market (McChesney,
1992).
In protest of the favor that the 1927 Radio Act showed toward commercial
broadcasting, struggling nonprofit radio broadcasters created the National
Committee on Education by Radio to lobby for more outlets. Basing their
argument on the notion that the airwaves—unlike newspapers—were a
public resource, they asserted that groups working for the public good
should take precedence over commercial interests. Nevertheless, the
Communications Act of 1934 passed without addressing these issues, and
radio continued as a mainly commercial enterprise (McChesney, 1992).

The Golden Age of Radio

The so-called Golden Age of Radio occurred between 1930 and the mid-
1950s. Because many associate the 1930s with the struggles of the Great
Depression, it may seem contradictory that such a fruitful cultural
occurrence arose during this decade. However, radio lent itself to the era.
After the initial purchase of a receiver, radio was free and so provided an
inexpensive source of entertainment that replaced other, more costly
pastimes, such as going to the movies.
Radio also presented an easily accessible form of media that existed on its
own schedule. Unlike reading newspapers or books, tuning in to a favorite
program at a certain time became a part of listeners’ daily routine because
it effectively forced them to plan their lives around the dial.

Daytime Radio Finds Its Market

During the Great Depression, radio became so successful that another
network, the Mutual Broadcasting Network, began in 1934 to compete with
NBC’s Red and Blue networks and the CBS network, creating a total of four
national networks (Cashman, 1989). As the networks became more adept at
generating profits, their broadcast selections began to take on a format that
later evolved into modern television programming. Serial dramas and
programs that focused on domestic work aired during the day when many
women were at home. Advertisers targeted this demographic with
commercials for domestic needs such as soap (Museum). Because they were
often sponsored by soap companies, daytime serial dramas soon became
known as soap operas. Some modern televised soap operas, such
as Guiding Light, which ended in 2009, actually began in the 1930s as
radio serials (Hilmes, 1999).

The Origins of Prime Time

During the evening, many families listened to the radio together, much as
modern families may gather for television’s prime time. Popular evening
comedy variety shows such as George Burns and Gracie Allen’s Burns and
Allen, the Jack Benny Show, and the Bob Hope Show all began during the
1930s. These shows featured a central host—for whom the show was often
named—and a series of sketch comedies, interviews, and musical
performances, not unlike contemporary programs such as Saturday Night
Live. Performed live before a studio audience, the programs thrived on a
certain flair and spontaneity. Later in the evening, so-called prestige
dramas such as Lux Radio Theater and Mercury Theatre on the Air aired.
These shows featured major Hollywood actors recreating movies or acting
out adaptations of literature (Hilmes).
Figure 7.3

Many prime-time radio broadcasts featured film stars recreating famous films over the air.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Instant News
By the late 1930s, the popularity of radio news broadcasts had surpassed
that of newspapers. Radio’s ability to emotionally draw its audiences in
close to events made for news that evoked stronger responses and, thus,
greater interest than print news could. For example, the infant son of famed
aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and murdered in 1932. Radio
networks set up mobile stations that covered events as they unfolded,
broadcasting nonstop for several days and keeping listeners updated on
every detail while tying them emotionally to the outcome (Brown, 1998).
As recording technology advanced, reporters gained the ability to record
events in the field and bring them back to the studio to broadcast over the
airwaves. One early example of this was Herb Morrison’s recording of
the Hindenburg disaster. In 1937, the Hindenburg blimp exploded into
flames while attempting to land, killing 37 of its passengers. Morrison was
already on the scene to record the descent, capturing the fateful crash. The
entire event was later broadcast, including the sound of the exploding
blimp, providing listeners with an unprecedented emotional connection to
a national disaster. Morrison’s exclamation “Oh, the humanity!” became a
common phrase of despair after the event (Brown, 1998).
Radio news became even more important during World War II, when
programs such as Norman Corwin’s This Is War! sought to bring more
sober news stories to a radio dial dominated by entertainment. The
program dealt with the realities of war in a somber manner; at the
beginning of the program, the host declared, “No one is invited to sit down
and take it easy. Later, later, there’s a war on (Horten, 2002).” In 1940,
Edward R. Murrow, a journalist working in England at the time, broadcast
firsthand accounts of the German bombing of London, giving Americans a
sense of the trauma and terror that the English were experiencing at the
outset of the war (Horten, 2002). Radio news outlets were the first to
broadcast the attack on Pearl Harbor that propelled the United States into
World War II in 1941. By 1945, radio news had become so efficient and
pervasive that when Roosevelt died, only his wife, his children, and Vice
President Harry S. Truman were aware of it before the news was broadcast
over the public airwaves (Brown).

The Birth of the Federal Communications Commission

The Communications Act of 1934 created the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) and ushered in a new era of government regulation. The
organization quickly began enacting influential radio decisions. Among
these was the 1938 decision to limit stations to 50,000 watts of
broadcasting power, a ceiling that remains in effect today (Cashman). As a
result of FCC antimonopoly rulings, RCA was forced to sell its NBC Blue
network; this spun-off division became the American Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC) in 1943 (Brinson, 2004).
Another significant regulation with long-lasting influence was the Fairness
Doctrine. In 1949, the FCC established the Fairness Doctrine as a rule
stating that if broadcasters editorialized in favor of a position on a
particular issue, they had to give equal time to all other reasonable
positions on that issue (Browne & Browne, 1986). This tenet came from the
long-held notion that the airwaves were a public resource, and that they
should thus serve the public in some way. Although the regulation
remained in effect until 1987, the impact of its core concepts are still
debated. This chapter will explore the Fairness Doctrine and its impact in
greater detail in a later section.

Radio on the Margins

Despite the networks’ hold on programming, educational stations persisted
at universities and in some municipalities. They broadcast programs such
as School of the Air and College of the Airas well as roundtable and town
hall forums. In 1940, the FCC reserved a set of frequencies in the lower
range of the FM radio spectrum for public education purposes as part of its
regulation of the new spectrum. The reservation of FM frequencies gave
educational stations a boost, but FM proved initially unpopular due to a
setback in 1945, when the FCC moved the FM bandwidth to a higher set of
frequencies, ostensibly to avoid problems with interference (Longley,
1968). This change required the purchase of new equipment by both
consumers and radio stations, thus greatly slowing the widespread
adoption of FM radio.
One enduring anomaly in the field of educational stations has been the
Pacifica Radio network. Begun in 1949 to counteract the effects of
commercial radio by bringing educational programs and dialogue to the
airwaves, Pacifica has grown from a single station—Berkeley, California’s
KPFA—to a network of five stations and more than 100 affiliates (Pacifica
Network). From the outset, Pacifica aired newer classical, jazz, and folk
music along with lectures, discussions, and interviews with public artists
and intellectuals. Among Pacifica’s major innovations was its refusal to take
money from commercial advertisers, relying instead on donations from
listeners and grants from institutions such as the Ford Foundation and
calling itself listener-supported (Mitchell, 2005).
Another important innovation on the fringes of the radio dial during this
time was the growth of border stations. Located just across the Mexican
border, these stations did not have to follow FCC or U.S. regulatory laws.
Because the stations broadcast at 250,000 watts and higher, their listening
range covered much of North America. Their content also diverged—at the
time markedly—from that of U.S. stations. For example, Dr. John Brinkley
started station XERF in Del Rio, Mexico, after being forced to shut down
his station in Nebraska, and he used the border station in part to promote a
dubious goat gland operation that supposedly cured sexual impotence
(Dash, 2008). Besides the goat gland promotion, the station and others like
it often carried music, like country and western, that could not be heard on
regular network radio. Later border station disc jockeys, such as Wolfman
Jack, were instrumental in bringing rock and roll music to a wider audience
(Rudel, 2008).

Television Steals the Show

A great deal of radio’s success as a medium during the 1920s and 1930s was
due to the fact that no other medium could replicate it. This changed in the
late 1940s and early 1950s as television became popular. A 1949 poll of
people who had seen television found that almost half of them believed that
radio was doomed (Gallup, 1949). Television sets had come on the market
by the late 1940s, and by 1951, more Americans were watching television
during prime time than ever (Bradley). Famous radio programs such as The
Bob Hope Show were made into television shows, further diminishing
radio’s unique offerings (Cox, 1949).
Surprisingly, some of radio’s most critically lauded dramas launched during
this period. Gunsmoke, an adult-oriented Western show (that later become
television’s longest-running show) began in 1952; crime drama Dragnet,
later made famous in both television and film, broadcast between 1949 and
1957; and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar aired from 1949 to 1962, when CBS
canceled its remaining radio dramas. However, these respected radio
dramas were the last of their kind (Cox, 2002). Although radio was far from
doomed by television, its Golden Age was.

Transition to Top 40
As radio networks abandoned the dramas and variety shows that had
previously sustained their formats, the soundscape was left to what radio
could still do better than any other mass medium: play music. With
advertising dollars down and the emergence of better recording formats, it
made good business sense for radio to focus on shows that played
prerecorded music. As strictly music stations began to rise, new
innovations to increase their profitability appeared. One of the most
notable and far-reaching of these innovations was the Top 40 station, a
concept that supposedly came from watching jukebox patrons continually
play the same songs (Brewster & Broughton, 2000). Robert Storz and
Gordon McLendon began adapting existing radio stations to fit this new
format with great success. In 1956, the creation of limited playlists further
refined the format by providing about 50 songs that disc jockeys played
repeatedly every day. By the early 1960s, many stations had developed
limited playlists of only 30 songs (Walker, 2001).
Another musically fruitful innovation came with the increase of Black disc
jockeys and programs created for Black audiences. Because its advertisers
had nowhere to go in a media market dominated by White performers,
Black radio became more common on the AM dial. As traditional
programming left radio, disc jockeys began to develop as the medium’s new
personalities, talking more in between songs and developing followings.
Early Black disc jockeys even began improvising rhymes over the music,
pioneering techniques that later became rap and hip-hop. This new
personality-driven style helped bring early rock and roll to new audiences
(Walker, 2001).

FM: The High-Fidelity Counterculture

As music came to rule the airwaves, FM radio drew in new listeners because
of its high-fidelity sound capabilities. When radio had primarily featured
dramas and other talk-oriented formats, sound quality had simply not
mattered to many people, and the purchase of an FM receiver did not
compete with the purchase of a new television in terms of entertainment
value. As FM receivers decreased in price and stereo recording technology
became more popular, however, the high-fidelity trend created a market for
FM stations. Mostly affluent consumers began purchasing component
stereos with the goal of getting the highest sound quality possible out of
their recordings (Douglas, 2004). Although this audience often preferred
classical and jazz stations to Top 40 radio, they were tolerant of new music
and ideas (Douglas, 2004).
Both the high-fidelity market and the growing youth counterculture of the
1960s had similar goals for the FM spectrum. Both groups eschewed AM
radio because of the predictable programming, poor sound quality, and
over-commercialization. Both groups wanted to treat music as an
important experience rather than as just a trendy pastime or a means to
make money. Many adherents to the youth counterculture of the 1960s
came from affluent, middle-class families, and their tastes came to define a
new era of consumer culture. The goals and market potential of both the
high-fidelity lovers and the youth counterculture created an atmosphere on
the FM dial that had never before occurred (Douglas, 2004).
Between the years 1960 and 1966, the number of households capable of
receiving FM transmissions grew from about 6.5 million to some 40
million. The FCC also aided FM by issuing its nonduplication ruling in
1964. Before this regulation, many AM stations had other stations on the
FM spectrum that simply duplicated the AM programming. The
nonduplication rule forced FM stations to create their own fresh
programming, opening up the spectrum for established networks to
develop new stations (Douglas, 2004).
The late 1960s saw new disc jockeys taking greater liberties with
established practices; these liberties included playing several songs in a row
before going to a commercial break or airing album tracks that exceeded 10
minutes in length. University stations and other nonprofit ventures to
which the FCC had given frequencies during the late 1940s popularized this
format, and, in time, commercial stations tried to duplicate their success by
playing fewer commercials and by allowing their disc jockeys to have a say
in their playlists. Although this made for popular listening formats, FM
stations struggled to make the kinds of profits that the AM spectrum drew
(Douglas, 2004).
In 1974, FM radio accounted for one-third of all radio listening but only 14
percent of radio profits (Douglas, 2004). Large network stations and
advertisers began to market heavily to the FM audience in an attempt to
correct this imbalance. Stations began tightening their playlists and
narrowing their formats to please advertisers and to generate greater
revenues. By the end of the 1970s, radio stations were beginning to play
specific formats, and the progressive radio of the previous decade had
become difficult to find (Douglas, 2004).

The Rise of Public Radio

After the Golden Age of Radio came to an end, most listeners tuned in to
radio stations to hear music. The variety shows and talk-based programs
that had sustained radio in early years could no longer draw enough
listeners to make them a successful business proposition. One divergent
path from this general trend, however, was the growth of public radio.
Groups such as the Ford Foundation had funded public media sources
during the early 1960s. When the foundation decided to withdraw its
funding in the middle of the decade, the federal government stepped in
with the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. This act created the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and charged it with generating funding for
public television and radio outlets. The CPB in turn created National Public
Radio (NPR) in 1970 to provide programming for already-operating
stations. Until 1982, in fact, the CPB entirely and exclusively funded NPR.
Public radio’s first program was All Things Considered, an evening news
program that focused on analysis and interpretive reporting rather than
cutting-edge coverage. In the mid-1970s, NPR attracted Washington-based
journalists such as Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer to its ranks, giving
the coverage a more professional, hard-reporting edge (Schardt, 1996).
However, in 1983, public radio was pushed to the brink of financial
collapse. NPR survived in part by relying more on its member stations to
hold fundraising drives, now a vital component of public radio’s business
model. In 2003, Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald’s CEO and
philanthropist Ray Kroc, bequeathed a grant of over $200 million to NPR
that may keep it afloat for many years to come.
Figure 7.4

A Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Garrison Keillor (pictured here), is a long-standing

public radio tradition that hearkens back to the early days of radio variety shows.
Having weathered the financial storm intact, NPR continued its
progression as a respected news provider. During the first Gulf War, NPR
sent out correspondents for the first time to provide in-depth coverage of
unfolding events. Public radio’s extensive coverage of the 2001 terrorist
bombings gained its member stations many new listeners, and it has since
expanded (Clift, 2011). Although some have accused NPR of presenting the
news with a liberal bias, its listenership in 2005 was 28 percent
conservative, 32 percent liberal, and 29 percent moderate. Newt Gingrich, a
conservative Republican and former speaker of the house, has stated that
the network is “a lot less on the left” than some may believe (Sherman,
2005). With more than 26 million weekly listeners and 860 member
stations in 2009, NPR has become a leading radio news source (Kamenetz,
2009).
Public radio distributors such as Public Radio International (PRI) and local
public radio stations such as WBEZ in Chicago have also created a number
of cultural and entertainment programs, including quiz shows, cooking
shows, and a host of local public forum programs. Storytelling programs
such as This American Life have created a new kind of free-form radio
documentary genre, while shows such as PRI’s variety show A Prairie
Home Companion have revived older radio genres. This variety of popular
public radio programming has shifted radio from a music-dominated
medium to one that is again exploring its vast potential.

Conglomerates
During the early 1990s, many radio stations suffered the effects of an
economic recession. Some stations initiated local marketing agreements
(LMAs) to share facilities and resources amid this economic decline. LMAs
led to consolidation in the industry as radio stations bought other stations
to create new hubs for the same programming. The Telecommunications
Act of 1996 further increased consolidation by eliminating a duopoly rule
prohibiting dual station ownership in the same market and by lifting the
numerical limits on station ownership by a single entity.
As large corporations such as Clear Channel Communications bought up
stations around the country, they reformatted stations that had once
competed against one another so that each focused on a different format.
This practice led to mainstream radio’s present state, in which narrow
formats target highly specific demographic audiences.
Ultimately, although the industry consolidation of the 1990s made radio
profitable, it reduced local coverage and diversity of programming. Because
stations around the country served as outlets for a single network, the radio
landscape became more uniform and predictable (Keith, 2010). Much as
with chain restaurants and stores, some people enjoy this type of
predictability, while others prefer a more localized, unique experience
(Keith, 2010).

Key Takeaways

 The Golden Age of Radio covered the period between 1930 and 1950. It
was characterized by radio’s overwhelming popularity and a wide range
of programming, including variety, music, drama, and theater
programs.
 Top 40 radio arose after most nonmusic programming moved to
television. This format used short playlists of popular hits and gained a
great deal of commercial success during the 1950s and 1960s.
 FM became popular during the late 1960s and 1970s as commercial
stations adopted the practices of free-form stations to appeal to new
audiences who desired higher fidelity and a less restrictive format.
 Empowered by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, media
conglomerates have subsumed unprecedented numbers of radio
stations by single companies. Radio station consolidation brings
predictability and profits at the expense of unique programming.

Exercises

Please respond to the following short-answer writing prompts. Each

response should be a minimum of one paragraph.
1. Explain the advantages that radio had over traditional print media
during the 1930s and 1940s.
2. Do you think that radio could experience another golden age? Explain
your answer.
3. How has the consolidation of radio stations affected radio
programming?
4. Characterize the overall effects of one significant technological or social
shift described in this section on radio as a medium.