Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals (programs) to a number of recipients ("listeners" or "viewers") that belong to a large group. This group may be the public in general, or a relatively large audience within the public. Thus, an Internet channel may distribute text or music world-wide, while a public address system in (for example) a workplace may broadcast very limited ad hoc "soundbites" to a small population within its range. Broadcasting has a rich history in a number of mediums around the world and has developed into a legitimate art form.

Introduction to Broadcasting

Television and radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable, often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having decoding equipment in homes, the latter also enables subscription-based channels and pay-per-view services.

A broadcasting organization may broadcast several programs at the same time, through several channels (frequencies), for example the BBC broadcasts BBC One and BBC Two. On the other hand, two or more organizations may share a channel and each use it during a fixed part of the day. Digital radio and digital television may also transmit multiplexed programming, with several channels compressed into one ensemble.

When broadcasting is done via the Internet, the term "webcasting" is often used.

The term "broadcast" was coined by early radio engineers from the midwestern United States. Broadcasting forms a very large segment of the mass media.

History of broadcasting

Broadcasting around the World

United States

File:Frankconrad.jpg

Broadcasting pioneer Frank Conrad in a 1921 portrait.

Defining exactly when broadcasting first began is difficult. Very early radio transmissions only carried the dots and dashes of wireless telegraphy. One of the first signals of significant power that carried voice and music was accomplished in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden when he made a Christmas Eve broadcast to ships at sea from Massachusetts. He played "O Holy Night" on his violin and read passages from the Bible. However, his financial backers lost interest in the project, leaving others to take the next steps. Early on, the concept of broadcasting was new and unusual—with telegraphs, communication had been one-to-one, not one-to-many. Sending out one-way messages to multiple receivers did not appear to have much practical use.

Charles Herrold of San Jose, California sent out broadcasts as early as April 1909 from his Herrold School electronics institute in downtown San Jose, using the identification San Jose Calling, and then a variety of different "call signs" as the Department of Commerce began to regulate radio. By 1912, the United States government began requiring radio operators to obtain licenses to send out signals.

Herrold received licenses for 6XF and 6XE (a mobile transmitter) in 1916. He was on the air daily for nearly a decade when World War I interrupted operations. After the war, the Herrold operation in San Jose received the callsign KQW in 1923. Today, the lineage of that continues as KCBS, a CBS-owned station in San Francisco.

Herrold, the son of a farmer who patented a seed spreader, coined the terms "broadcasting" and "narrowcasting," based on the ideas of spreading crop seed far and wide, rather than only in rows. While Herrold never claimed the invention of radio itself, he did claim the invention of broadcasting to a wide audience, through the use of antennas designed to radiate signals in all directions.

A few organizations were allowed to keep working on radio during the war. Westinghouse was the most well-known of these. Frank Conrad, a Westinghouse engineer, had been making transmissions from 8XK since 1916 that included music programming.

However, a team at the University of Wisconsin headed by Professor Earle M. Terry also had permission to be on the air. They operated 9XM, originally licensed by Professor Edward Bennett in 1914, and usually sent Morse code weather reports to ships on the Great Lakes, but they also experimented with voice broadcasts starting in 1917. They reportedly had difficulties with audio distortion, so the next couple of years were spent making transmissions distortion-free.

Following the war, Herrold and other radio pioneers across the country resumed transmissions. The early stations gained new call signs. 8XK became KDKA in 1920. Herrold received a license for KQW in 1921 (later to become KCBS). 9XM became WHA in 1922.

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) began regular broadcasting in 1926, with telephone links between New York City and other Eastern cities. NBC became the dominant radio network, splitting into Red and Blue networks.

The Columbia Broadcasting System began in 1927 under the guidance of William S. Paley.

Several independent stations formed the Mutual Broadcasting System to exchange syndicated programming.

A Federal Communications Commission decision in 1939 required NBC to divest itself of its "Blue Network." That decision was sustained by the Supreme Court in a 1943 decision, National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, which established the framework that the "scarcity" of radio-frequency meant that broadcasting was subject to greater regulation than other media. This Blue Network network became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Around 1946, ABC, NBC, and CBS began regular television broadcasts. Another network, the DuMont Television Network, was founded earlier, but was disbanded in 1956.

Britain

The first experimental broadcasts, from Marconi's factory in Chelmsford, England, began in 1920.

Two years later, a consortium of radio manufacturers formed the British Broadcasting Company, later becoming the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a non-commercial organization. Lord John Reith took a formative role in developing the BBC, especially in radio. Working as its first general manager, he promoted the philosophy of "public service broadcasting," firmly grounded in the moral benefits of education and of uplifting entertainment, eschewing commercial influence and maintaining a maximum of independence from political control.

Commercial stations such as Radio Normandie and Radio Luxembourg broadcast into the UK from European countries, providing a very popular alternative to the rather austere BBC. These stations were closed during the War, and only Radio Luxembourg returned afterward.

BBC television broadcasts in Britain began on November 2, 1936, and have continued with the exception of wartime conditions from 1939 to 1945.

Germany

Before the Nazi assumption of power in 1933, German radio broadcasting was supervised by the Post Office. A listening fee for each receiver paid most subsidies.

Immediately following Hitler's assumption of power, Joseph Goebbels became head of the Ministry for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment. Non-Nazis were removed from broadcasting and editorial positions. Jews were fired from all positions.

The Reichsrundfunk programming began to decline in popularity as the theme of Kampfzeit was continually played. Germany was easily served by a number of European mediumwave stations, including the BBC and domestic stations in France, Denmark, Sweden, and Poland. It became illegal for Germans, with the exeption of foreign correspondents and key officials, to listen to foreign broadcasts.

During the war, German stations broadcast not only war propaganda and entertainment for German forces dispersed through Europe and the Atlantic, but provided air raid alerts.

Germany experimented with television broadcasting before the Second World War. German propaganda claimed their system was superior to the British scanning system, but this was disputed by persons who saw the broadcasts.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has the oldest radio station in Asia. The station, originally known as Radio Ceylon, developed into one of the finest broadcasting institutions in the world. It is now known as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

Sri Lanka created broadcasting history in Asia in 1923, when broadcasting was started in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department on an experimental footing, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe. Gramophone music was broadcast from a tiny room in the Central Telegraph Office with the aid of a small transmitter built by the Telegraph Department engineers from the radio equipment of a captured German submarine.

This broadcasting experiment was a huge success and barely three years later, on December 16, 1925, a regular broadcasting service was be instituted.

Edward Harper, dubbed "the father of broadcasting in Ceylon," launched the first experimental broadcast as well as founding the Ceylon Wireless Club together with British and Ceylonese radio enthusiasts.

The 1950s and 1960s

Television began to replace radio as the chief source of revenue for broadcasting networks. Although many radio programs continued through this decade, including Gunsmoke and The Guiding Light, by 1960 networks had ceased producing entertainment programs.

As radio stopped producing formal fifteen-minute to hourly programs, a new format developed. "Top 40" was based on a continuous rotation of short pop songs presented by a "disc jockey." Top 40 playlists were theoretically based on record sales; however, record companies began to bribe disc jockeys to play selected artists.

In the 1950s, American television networks introduced broadcasts in color. The Federal Communications Commission approved the world's first monochrome-compatible color television standard in Dec., 1953. The first network colorcast followed on Jan. 1, 1954, with NBC transmitting the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif. to over 20 stations across the country. An educational television network, National Educational Television (NET), predecessor to PBS, was founded.

Shortwave broadcasting played an important part of fighting the cold war with Voice of America and the BBC World Service augmented with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty transmitting through the "Iron Curtain", and Radio Moscow and others broadcasting back, as well as jamming (transmitting to cause intentional interference) the western voices.

The 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s

The introduction of FM changed the habits of younger listeners. Many stations such as WNEW-FM in New York City began to play whole sides of record albums, as opposed to the "Top 40" model of two decades earlier.

AM Radio declined throughout the 1970s and 1980s due to various reasons including: Lower cost of FM receivers, narrow AM audio bandwidth, and poor sound in the AM section of automobile receivers (to combat the crowding of stations in the AM band and a "loudness war" conducted by AM broadcasters), and increased radio noise in homes caused by fluorescent lighting and introduction of electronic devices in homes. AM radio's decline flattened out in the mid 1990s due to the introduction of niche formats and over commercialization of many FM stations.

The 2000s

The 2000s saw the introduction of digital radio and direct broadcasting by satellite (DBS).

Digital radio services, except in the United States, were allocated a new frequency band in the range of 1,400 MHz. In the United States, this band was deemed to be vital to national defense, so an alternate band in the range of 2,300 MHz was introduced for satellite broadcasting. American companies introduced DBS systems, which are funded by direct subscription, as in cable television. European and Australian stations also began digital broadcasting (Digital Audio Broadcast). Digital radios began to be sold in the United Kingdom in 1998.

Regular shortwave broadcasts using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), a digital broadcasting scheme for short and medium wave broadcasts began. This system makes the normally scratchy international broadcasts clear and nearly FM quality, and much lower transmitter power.

Business models of broadcasting

There are several dominant business models of broadcasting. Each differs in the method by which stations are funded:

• individually-donated time and energy
• direct government payments or operation
• indirect government payments, such as radio and television licenses
• grants from foundations or business entities
• selling advertising or sponsorship
• public subscription or membership
• fees charged to all owners of TV sets or radios, regardless of whether they intend to receive that program or not

Broadcasters may rely on a combination of these business models. For example, National Public Radio, a non-commercial network within the United States, receives grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which in turn receives funding from the U.S. government), by public membership, and by selling "extended credits" to corporations.

Recorded vs. live

One can distinguish between recorded and live broadcasts. The former allows correcting errors, and removing superfluous or undesired material, rearranging it, applying slow-motion and repetitions, and other techniques to enhance the program. However some live events like sports telcasts can include some of the aspects including slow motion clips of important goals/hits etc in between the live telecast.

American radio network broadcasters habitually forbade prerecorded broadcasts in the 1930s and 1940s, requiring radio programs played for the Eastern and Central time zones to be repeated three hours later for the Pacific time zone. This restriction was dropped for special occasions, as in the case of the German dirigible airship Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937. During World War II, prerecorded broadcasts from war correspondents were allowed on U.S. radio. In addition, American radio programs were recorded for playback by Armed Forces Radio stations around the world.

A disadvantage of recording first is that the public may know the outcome of an event from another source, which may be a spoiler. In addition, prerecording prevents live announcers from deviating from an officially-approved script, as occurred with propaganda broadcasts from Germany in the 1940s and with Radio Moscow in the 1980s.

Many events are advertised as being live, although they are often "recorded live" (sometimes this is referred to as "live-to-tape"). This is particularly true of performances of musical artists on radio when they visit for an in-studio concert performance. This intentional blurring of the distinction between live and recorded media is viewed with chagrin among many music lovers. Similar situations have sometimes appeared in television ("The Cosby Show is recorded in front of a live studio audience").

Distribution methods

A broadcast may be distributed through several physical means. If coming directly from the studio at a single broadcast station, it is simply sent through the airchain to the transmitter. Programming may also come through a communications satellite, played either live or recorded for later transmission. Networks of stations may simulcast the same programming at the same time, originally via microwave link, and now mostly by satellite.

Distribution to stations or networks may also be through physical media, such as analogue or digital videotape, CD, DVD, and sometimes other formats. Usually these are included in another broadcast, such as when electronic news gathering returns a story to the station for inclusion on a news programme.

The final leg of broadcast distribution is how the signal gets to the listener or viewer. It may come over the air as with a radio station or TV station to an antenna and receiver, or may come through cable TV or cable radio (or "wireless cable") via the station or directly from a network. The Internet may also bring either radio or TV to the recipient, especially with multicasting allowing the signal and bandwidth to be shared.

The term "broadcast network" is often used to distinguish networks that broadcast an over-the-air television signal that can be received using a television antenna from so-called networks that are broadcast only via cable or sattelite television. The term "broadcast television" can refer to the programming of such networks.

Broadcasting as Art

Asides from being a profit-making science, broadcasting is a tremendous medium for art. Those who work with the spoken word, film, or in music are able to utilize broadcasting to convey their work to more people simultaneously than could ever fit in an assembly or concert hall. Broadcasting also allows for art to spread over vast expanses of terrain quicker than moving in person.

The new media of television and radio led to the creation of entirely new methods to best suit them. Radio personalities develop personas unique unto themselves that allows for the best connection with their audience. Television has led to a spur of technological and art advances as producers, actors, and directors had the freedom of working in a shorter format than full length feature films. Television allowed for the direct control of images and sounds to be seen by the audience, creating an entirely engrossing experience. Though broadcasting represented great opportunity, perfecting the new media was difficult. Modern audiences looking back on historical performances can see the advances made in stories, pacing, direction, and performance.

The Broadcast Audience

Broadcasting has somewhat removed the communal aspect of performances as people watch or listen to broadcasts in their homes rather than in the public movie theaters of yesteryear. This could be considered as contributing to the weakening of social ties as it takes away another opportunity for socializing. The importance of this removal of social ties was made clear in the work of Emile Durkheim, who wrote of the phenomenon known as anomie, which describes a state of normlessness brought about by lack of human contact and belonging.

The anonymous nature of the broadcast market now, however, allows for the refinement and expression of exact tastes as audience members do not have to feel ashamed of viewing or listening to any type of program as it is in the privacy of their home. The power of the anonymous market is also key in economic free markets.

Broadcasting Ethics

There are a number of standards to which broadcasters around the world must adhere. In America, the body that decides these standards is the Federal Communications Commission, which lays out standards of decency. The FCC defines the amount of public service programming each broadcaster must do, rules of ownership, and what is appropriate for public viewing at certain hours. The FCC levies fines against broadcasters that broadcast material considered to be obscene. The FCC has been criticized as too puritanical in light of recent rulings over the broadcast of the film Saving Private Ryan and the Janet Jackson exposure during the Super Bowl

There also exist a number of private watchdog groups that monitor and critique decency and accuracy in radio, film, and television. These groups include Fairness & Accuracy In Media (FAIR)[1] and Accuracy in Media (AIM)[2].

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Aitkin Hugh G. J. The Continuous Wave: Technology and the American Radio, 1900-1932 (Princeton University Press, 1985).
• Barnouw Erik. The Golden Web (Oxford University Press, 1968); The Sponsor (1978); A Tower in Babel (1966).
• Briggs Asa. The BBC—the First Fifty Years (: Oxford University Press, 1984).
• Briggs Asa. The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom (Oxford University Press, 1961).
• Covert Cathy, and Stevens John L. Mass Media Between the Wars (Syracuse University Press, 1984).
• Crisell, Andrew An Introductory History of British Broadcasting. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. (2002)
• Douglas B. Craig. Fireside Politics: Radio and Political Culture in the United States, 1920-1940 (2005)
• Tim Crook; International Radio Journalism: History, Theory and Practice Routledge, 1998
• John Dunning, On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
• Ewbank Henry and Lawton Sherman P. Broadcasting: Radio and Television (Harper & Brothers, 1952).
• Gibson George H. Public Broadcasting; The Role of the Federal Government, 1919-1976 (Praeger Publishers, 1977).
• Maclaurin W. Rupert. Invention and Innovation in the Radio Industry (The Macmillan Company, 1949).
• Robert W. McChesney; Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for the Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-1935 Oxford University Press, 1994
• Gwenyth L. Jackaway; Media at War: Radio's Challenge to the Newspapers, 1924-1939 Praeger Publishers, 1995
• Lazarsfeld Paul F. The People Look at Radio (University of North Carolina Press, 1946).
• Tom McCourt; Conflicting Communication Interests in America: The Case of National Public Radio Praeger Publishers, 1999
• Peers Frank W. The Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1920- 1951 (University of Toronto Press, 1969).
• Ray William B. FCC: The Ups and Downs of Radio-TV Regulation (Iowa State University Press, 1990).
• Rosen Philip T. The Modern Stentors; Radio Broadcasting and the Federal Government 1920-1934 (Greenwood Press, 1980).
• William A. Rugh; Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics Praeger, 2004
• Scannell, Paddy, and Cardiff, David. A Social History of British Broadcasting, Volume One, 1922-1939 (Basil Blackwell, 1991).
• Schramm Wilbur, ed. Mass Communications (University of Illinois Press, 1960).
• Schwoch James. The American Radio Industry and Its Latin American Activities, 1900-1939 (University of Illinois Press, 1990).
• Slater Robert. This . . . is CBS: A Chronicle of 60 Years (Prentice Hall, 1988).
• F. Leslie Smith, John W. Wright II, David H. Ostroff; Perspectives on Radio and Television: Telecommunication in the United States Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998
• Sterling Christopher H. Electronic Media, A Guide to Trends in Broadcasting and Newer Technologies 1920-1983 (Praeger, 1984).
• Sterling Christopher, and Kittross John M. Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting (Wadsworth, 1978).
• White Llewellyn. The American Radio (University of Chicago Press, 1947).

External links

• Radio Locator, a service that helps you find out information about any American radio station such as format, power, coverage, etc.
• Arbitron Offers dozens of free studies on American radio listening habits of interest to radio stations and listeners alike, as well as free access to basic station information.
• TVZ, TV Broadcast Services information and directory.
• TVNewsday, Current news about the U.S. TV broadcasting industry
• Waveguide Broadcasting News
• SWDXER ¨The SWDXER¨ - with general SWL information and radio antenna tips.
• DXing.info News and info on international radio broadcasting
• Vernon Corea The Golden Voice of Radio CeylonThe story of broadcasting in Sri Lanka(Ceylon)
• Broadcasting Timeline

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