History of Broadcasting

Timeline and study notes for MSTD 300 Media History

 

1864 -- German scientist Heinrich Hertz proves English scientist James C. Maxwell's theory that electromagnetic waves exist in the atmosphere and have frequencies

1866 - Mahlon Loomis (of Virginia) invents antennas and demonstrates wireless telegraphy by passing wireless signals between two kites held up by copper wire attached to galvanometer In 1872 Loomis takes out first patent for wireless telegraphy in the United States.

1870s & 1880s -- US, Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were turning electromagnetic theory into mechanical reality with the gramaphone and telephone.

1883 -- Edison finds that electric current can travel from a light bulb filament through the air to a small metal plate not touching the filament. This is called the "Edison effect."

1896 -- Guglielmo Marconi first demonstrates wireless telegraphy. Ten years later, wireless telegraphs are common on ships.

1901 - Marconi achieves wireless communication acrosss the Atlantic Ocean

1906 -- Lee de Forest improves the "Eidson" tube by inserting a wire grid between the filament and plate. This becomes the "audion" tube which is capable of amplifying a radio signal and sending voices over the air. Reginald Fessenden is also credited with inventing something very similar.

1908 -- de Forest broadcasts voice from Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Radio was based on scientific theory, on a deeper understanding of phenomena. Marconi and Lee DeForest were last of empirical or non-scientific inventors in the cut-and-try Edison style. After de Forest you start having trained scientists and electronics engineers like Edwin Armstrong, Vladimir Zworkin and (self-taught engineer) Philo T Farnsworth.

1912 -- Edwin Howard Armstrong devises a new regenerative circuit. Building on the audion, he takes part of the current at the plate and feeds it back to the grid to strengthen incoming signals. Testing this concept in his turret room in Yonkers, he began getting distant stations so loudly that they could be heard without earphones (which until then were needed). He later finds that when feedback was pushed to a high level the tube produced rapid oscillations acting as a transmitter and putting out electromagnetic waves. Thus this single circuit yielded not only the first radio amplifier but also the key to the continuous-wave transmitter that is still at the heart of all radio operations.

1914 - amatuer radio operators across the country form the American Radio Relay League (ARRL)

1916 - David Sarnoff writes memo about the emergence of broadcasting to Marconi; Also, first radio station licensed (KDKA, Pittsburg)

1917 -- All radio operations suspended as US goes into WWI.

1918 -- Armstrong develops superheterodyne circuit which gives enormous amplifying power to radio receiver.

1919 -- Amateur radio craze picks up after the war. RCA is organized to take over American Marconi and create market for GE, Westinghouse and other radio receivers.

1922 - RCA comes out with the Radiola radio box. Over 6.5 million will be sold by 1927.

1922 -- Philo T. Farnsworth sketches out his idea for an "image dissector" vacuum tube that could make television possible. His chemistry teacher's sketch becomes an important document in the patent fights between Farnsworth and RCA.

1922 -- Dept. of Commerce splits licenses up into three classes -- Amateurs are not permitted to broadcast news, weather, sports, information or entertainment and are confined to an undesireable part of the AM spectrum. Medium sized radio stations (Class A) are not given much broadcasting power. And large radio stations are not permitted to play recorded music -- all music must be live on the air. In this way, and through other regulatory manipulations, the power of radio was kept out of the hands of ordinary people and firmly in the hands of a very small group who controlled the content.

1922 -- Corporate war to control radio patents begins. .American Telephone and Telegraph sues to overturn Armstrong patents backed by Westinghouse and RCA. Armstrong won the first round, lost a second, was stalemated in a third, and finally, in a 1934 last-ditch stand before the Supreme Court, lost again through a judicial misunderstanding of the technical facts. The Institute of Radio Engineers and the Franklin Institute both sided with Armstrong.

1924 - Radio used by candidates in presidential election

1926 - NBC formed by RCA, GE and Westinghouse

1927 - first broadcast of United Independent Broadcasting, which becomes CBS next year under William S. Paley.

1927 - Philo Farnsworth demonstrates the first all - electronic television transmission

1927 - establishment of Federal Radio Commission to license radio stations and assign frequencies. Rationale for regulation was the scarcity of available frequencies.

1928 - radio reaches into 30% of American homes

1930 -- Philo T. Farnsworth wins patent for his all-electronic television, but is sued by Vladimir Zworykin of RCA, who had invented a television that used a cathode ray tube (1928) and an all-electric camera tube (1929). RCA eventually paid Farnsworth one million dollars for patent licenses, for TV scanning, focusing, synchronizing, contrast and controls devices.

1930 - NBC lauches expiremental TV station at RCAÕs new Radio City building in New York City

1930, CBS is theoretically the largest radio network with 90 member stations. Runner-up NBC had 85 stations (But NBC is much stronger with far better entertainment)

1931- CBS launches its expiremental TV station W2XAB in New York

Trinity Methodist Church v. FRC, 1933 -- A Los Angeles church had a radio license and claimed a First Amendment interst in maintaing it. The Supreme Court said radio licenses were properly regulated by FRC (FCC) and upheld what was in effect prior restraint. Note the contrast with Near v. Minnesota, 1931.

1933 -- Armstrong develops a wide-band frequency modulation (FM) system that gives much clearer reception than AM. David Sarnoff tells him that much money has been invested in the existing system to change gears, especially in the middle of the Depression. Armstrong and Sarnoff become enemies and FM radio is not really established until after Armstrong's suicide in 1954.

1934 - Communications Act of 1934 creates the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) As part of act, the Equal Time Rule (Section 315) is established. It regulates political campaign advertising. If stations sell advertising to one candidate, they must sell the same amount to the other. Equal Time doesnt apply to news programs or to talk shows. Still in effect.

1934 - due to the fact it only shows shadows and sillhouettes, "mechanical" television dies

1935 - United Press and International News Service sell news to radio; AP had an agreement with NBC and major news services to avoid selling news to radio stations.

1937 - explosion of Hindenburg reported by WLS in Chicago

 

1937 -- William L. Shirer, Edward R. Murrow and others begin daily broadcast news reports from Europe,

1937 -- NBC has 111 affiliates compared with CBS's 97, and the fledgling Mutual Broadcasting System claimed 39.

1938 - Halloween -- Orson Wells airs The War of the Worlds

1940 - AP begins selling news to radio broadcasters.

1941 - "This is London" broadcasts from Europe by Edward R, Murrow

1941, FCC issued Chain Broadcasting Regulations. NBC went to court, and in NBC v. US, 1943, the Supreme Court said the First Amendment doesn't exempt broadcasters from FCC regulation, even in anti trust cases. This led NBC to sell its "Blue Network" which became ABC.

1945 -- Associated Press v. U.S. -- When the Chicago Sun newspaper applied for AP membership, the Chicago Tribune newspaper, already an AP member, objected. According to the AP rules at the time, new members had to pay exhorbitant dues to join. The Justice Dept. challenged the Associated Press, and the Supreme Court said that the fact that AP handles news while other companies handle goods "does not afford the publisher a peculiar Constitutional sanctuary... Freedom to publish means freedom for all and not for some ... Freedom of the press from government interfence doesnt sanction repression of freedom by private interests."

1947 - DuMont TV network born, created by Allen Du Mont

1947- Fairness Doctrine established by FCC to ensure both sides of controversial issues (outside of political campaigns) are presented by broadcasters.

1947 -- Transistor replaces tube, makes portable radio possible.

1950 - The Tonight Show is launched with Steve Allen as the host

1950 - the National Television Review Board formed, effort for supervision of TV

1951 - The first television news magazine, See It Now , airs on CBS, produced by Edward R. Murrow

1951 -- Loraine Journal Co. v. US -- An Ohio newspaper refused to accept advertising from anyone who bought ads on a new radio station. This is a classic "refusal to deal" case, and is illegal. Note that this is one of the primary issues in the US v. Microsoft case of 1998 - present.

1952 - NBC Today show launched 1952 - Dwight Eisenhower, for the first time, uses television for political commercials

1955 - DuMont network collapses

1950s -- Radio became local after TV became the national medium in the 1950s. It badly needed programming, and recorded music Ð especially Rock and roll -- rescued radio.

1961 - Kennedy's newly appointed FCC chair Newton Minow atacks the low taste of television as a "vast wasteland."

1962 - Cronkite interviews Kennedy

 

1963 - Walter Cronkite reports the Kennedy assassination

1964 - U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied renewal of a television license to WLBT - TV of Jackson, Mississippi for racism

1964 - President Lyndon Johnson runs the Òdaisy adÓclearly implying that opposing candidate Barry Goldwater's election would lead to nuclear war.

1968 - 60 Minutes introduced by CBS under producer Don Hewitt

1969 - National Public Radio launched by the Corporation for Public Boradcasting; Also, first broadcast from the moon.

1971 - ads for cigarettes and cigars banned on television

1989 - fairness doctrine ended by the FCC

1996 -- Communications Act of 1996 -- One important reason for the trend towards deregulation was the increasing competition between media and the erosion of the Òscarcity rationale.Ó The Communications Act of 1996 essentially deregulated media marketplace It has led to many mergers, reduced distinctions between common carriers and mass media, required V-Chip to filter violent programming in all new TV sets. The Communications Decency Act was part of this and was struck down, but the rest of this law was put in place.

Impact on ownership / horizontal integration:

** Rule of Sevens -- From 1940s thru 1984, no one owner could have more than seven TV, seven AM and seven FM stations. The law was liberalized in 1984 to 12, and again limit raised to 18 in 1992 and 20 in 1994. After 1996, no limit to number, but owners cant reach more than 35 percent of all audiences.

One effect of this change in rules has been a massive reorganization of radio ownership. Where small chains once dominated, large chain ownership is now the pattern in radio with very little actual relationship to a community.

** Cross ownership (two media in one market) Under old rules, one company couldnt own more than one medium in any market. Couldnt own a newspaper and a radio station and a TV station, for example. The cross ownership rule is still in effect for newspapers and broadcasting stations (eg Landmark owns TV stations in Richmond and Raleigh but not newspapers, doesnt own TV stations in Roanoke or Va. Beach). This rule may change. Meanwhile, cross ownership in broadcasting has been allowed in major markets.

Cross ownership between cable systems and telephone companies has also changed under 1996 Telecommunications Act. Changes were intended to promote competition between telcos, cable systems and broadcast owners.

Impact on program production / vertical integration:

** Financial Interest and Syndication (Fin-Syn) Rule -- Adopted in 1970, eliminated in stages during 1990s. This rule worked against horizontal integration between broadcast networks and creative programmers. Fin Syn prohibited TV networks from in-house production of entertainment programming, or from owning controlling interest in independent TV programs. In effect it was a prohibition against vertical integration. Rule kept the networks out of the syndication business, provided a bonanza to independent producers and Hollywood.

By 1990s, the major networks market share dropped from 95 percent to under 60 percent, and prohibiting in house ownership of productions no longer seemed important from an anti trust perspective. Rule was dropped.