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Com 316: Fundamentals of Broadcasting Development of Radio |
Dr. Janet McMullen Fall 2001 MWF 10:00
Updated: 09/30/01
The Beginnings:
When radio got it's start, people were already getting used to mass media.
Some in fact, had been around for a long time. They were used to getting information from the penny press, motion pictures. Vaudeville was the popular mass entertainment medium of the time. While the shows were live on stage; the same troupe would travel around the country playing all the little towns, doing the same show over and over again. [ Be sure you know a little about each of these. See your text for more information. ]
While each of these was a form of mass information/entertainment media, it was not in one of these that broadcasting, and now electronic media, had their beginnings. The developmental roots of modern electronic media were in wired communication.
The primary form was electrical telegraphy. Cables
which ran under the Atlantic ocean made communication by telegraph possible from
North America to Europe. "Wire Services" like United Press and Associated Press
developed to handle news. Note: At this time telegraph signals could only be
sent through a WIRE.
Electrical telephony was in its infancy, but Alexander Graham Bell had developed the transducer.
As soon as Bell developed the transducer, he knew he could transfer voice through a wire. He formed his company in 1876. Note: Electrical telephony was dependent upon a WIRE.
Broadcasting was dependent up escaping the wire--somehow sending those signals through the AIR. The men who began to solve those problems laid the foundations for modern mass media, and they were working at the same time as Bell was perfecting his telephone.
James Clark Maxwell believed that sound traveled in waves in the air, and that they behaved like light waves.
Heinrich Hertz experimented until he proved Maxwell's theories. He grew up in an educated family in Hamburg, Germany. He was very talented, spoke English, French, Italian and German, and as a teenager turned his room into a lab. His major paper on radio waves was published in 1888.
It was Hertz who discovered
He likened them to the rings in a pond after rock was thrown in. He believed that they traveled at 186,000 mi/sec., which is the speed of light. He was trying to figure out how to use them when he died at aged 37.
His contribution was so great that these radio waves were names after him. They are called Hertzian Waves, and are abbreviated Hz.
(def) Hertz refers to the number of cycles per second; used to denote frequency of a radio wave. Two phases=1 cycle = 1 Hertz.
Guglielmo [Goollyermo] Marconi was born in 1874 in Bologna, Italy. His family was fairly well to do, so he didn't have to get out and work to earn a living. He had time to study and to experiment. His family also was well connected in the community so he had access to the university and to the equipment and research materials he needed. While a teenager, he developed equipment similar to that which Hertz was using.
One of the great Broadcasting historians, Eric Barnouw describes in his book, Tube of Plenty, how Marconi would work in his lab for hours and never come out. His mother would leave food outside the door, because he would lock it and not answer. Sometimes the food would be gone when she came back for the tray, and sometimes it remained untouched.
Marconi's interest in science and learning apparently caused problems in the family. His father was concerned that he was becoming a "wimp" since he wasn't that interested in athletics and other things which usually held the attention of boys his age. He thought Guglielmo was wasting his childhood, reading all the time and staying locked up in his room. He didn't fit the expectations for an Italian young man. While his relationship with his father was strained, Guglielmo was very close to his mother. She even arranged for him to attend lectures at the local university. She was a red-haired Irish woman, and I can only imagine some of the heated discussions which may have taken place over their son's activities.
After months of work, he finally invited his mother in for a demonstration. He adjusted some wires and a bell rang in the next room. She was thrilled, and wireless telegraphy was born. In another experiment in the pasture behind his home, he accidentally discovered how an antenna worked, strengthening signals over distance. Marconi had done what Hertz had wanted to do. He had found a USE for radio waves. He was also convinced that radio waves were more than just a toy. He offered his discoveries and inventions to the Italian government, but they weren't interested in his "way out" inventions.
After that rejection, his mother suggested that they try Great Britain. She was Irish, but a member of the well-respected Jameson family (famous whiskey distillers). She thought they should go to London and get a patent lawyer, and she made arrangements for him to meet important postal and military officials in Britain.
Their welcome in Britain was less than they had hoped. Remember that this was near the turn of the century, and there was serious unrest in Europe and in Ireland. There was concern about terrorism, since a French official had been murdered recently. So here was this unlikely couple; a striking red-haired woman and a dark, Italian young man. Neither origin was particularly popular at the time. In their luggage was an extremely unusual collection of contraptions that no one in customs had ever seen before. These boxes of wires and tubes had to designed for ill. Not accepting the Marconi's explanation of the equipment, the customs official smashed every piece of Guglielmo's equipment on the dock!
Frustrated and discouraged, Marconi rebuilt the inventions and his mother found a good patent advisor. The needed patents were obtained, and the Marconi Wireless Telephony Company was founded in 1897, At that time, Guglielmo was 23 years old.
IMPORTANT POINT: Marconi was unique among the radio pioneers in that he had both the mind of an inventor and a businessman. This is a very rare combination and you will learn how many other great inventors suffered because they didn't have it. Great Britain was the perfect place to begin, because its empire was huge and held together by its great navy. Since it's hard to string wire between them, they eagerly saw the benefits of Marconi's invention. But Marconi wanted more than military and government contracts. He saw the popular market was even greater. So he gave demonstrations all over England. Seafarers quickly saw the practicality. When wireless telegraphs were placed on British Lightships, one later ran into another, and the wireless was used to send for help. That made all the newspapers.
In 1899 Marconi was hired to cover the Kingstown Regatta. This one of the premier sporting events of the time. The newspaper he for which he worked hit the street with the results of the race before the boats were even back in the harbor! This was the FIRST SPORTS EVENT reported by wireless radio.
That yachting race brought him an invitation to cover an American race. After that success, American Marconi was founded. His promotion and expansion didn't stop.
In 1901, Marconi set up another demonstration: the first wireless Morse Code transmission was sent across the Atlantic. At one point, he even promoted his wireless through the P.T. Barnum Circus.
In 1904 he got a patent for a tuner, which meant that reception could be fine tuned for the first time.
By 1913, he had a virtual monopoly on U.S. wireless communication, with 17 land stations and 400 shipboard stations. His European holdings were even stronger.
It is important to remember that distinction between wireless telegraphy and not voice transmission. Marconi is NOT the father of radio, although he has been called that, because he was NOT sending voice transmission or radio telephony.
THREE MEN WHO MADE RADIO....
One of the best references about the founders of radio, is Tom Lewis' book, EMPIRE OF THE AIR. He examines the lives of three men:
We're going to look at their lives and their contributions as well. We will view the Ken Burns documentary of the same name. Be sure you take careful notes.
Wireless radio had a long way to go before it became what we now know. Three things had to be developed in order for that growth to take place.
Attenuation: (def) the weakening of a radio wave signal as it moves farther away from the source.
Reginald Fessenden invented the vacuum tube oscillator. The allowed for the continuous signal which would make voice transmission possible. Fessenden had worked for Thomas Edison and then for Westinghouse. He proposed a new system which used a continuous wave to carry the sound of a human voice. The voice would be superimposed or modulated on a carrier wave. That's radio!
He ultimately obtained the financial support he needed and developed the vacuum tub oscillator.
Christmas Eve, 1906, imagine you're a lonely radio operator out to sea. It's late at night, you're missing your family, you're listening for the only sound you've ever heard come out of your ship's wireless, but all you're hearing is the slap of the water against the side of the boat. Then......suddenly, and without warning, you hear a man's VOICE....a woman's voice SINGING ! ... Then someone begins to read the Christmas Story from the book of Luke...... Is it real? Are you dreaming? Is it an angel? Angels? Who ever dreamed such a thing was possible? Hundreds of sailors heard the broadcast that Christmas Eve, called their shipmates to listen and marveled at what must have truly seemed like a miracle to them. This was Fessenden's first voice transmission, a Christmas present to the world.
Fessenden was a Canadian professor who taught electrical engineering at Pittsburgh. He was a very smart man, a good inventor, but not a businessman. His invention was picked up for a fraction of its value by the United Fruit Company. They used it to communicate among the various Caribbean islands on which they had tropical fruit plantations. He also sold some tubes to the navy, but he was always under capitalized. His company collapsed and his remaining patents were acquired by Westinghouse.
So Fessenden's vacuum tube solved the continuous signal problem; Marconi's tuner solved the detection problem. The remaining problem was amplification.
Lee DeForrest solved the amplification problem by inventing the audion or three-electrode vacuum tube. Before this, vacuum tubes had 2 elements called diodes. The audion had a third element called a grid.
Lee DeForrest was the son of a Congregationalist minister who had been a chaplain in the Union army during the Civil War. Henry DeForrest was a stern man who loved the Lord and dedicated his life to service. He wrote once that he had lived the Battle Hymn of the Republic. After the war, he moved his family to Alabama to establish a college for freed blacks. Talladega was supported by the American Missionary Association, but was in bad condition. During Lee's childhood, Henry rebuilt, improved and expanded the school.
Life was especially hard for Lee. The white kids hated him because his father was helping the blacks, and the black kids didn't feel comfortable with him. So he locked himself in his room with his books and his experiments. He determined early, that even though his father wanted him to be minister, he was going to be an inventor and become rich and famous. He wanted to deliver his father from a life of hard work and financial strain. He eventually won the argument with his father and left for Harvard to study mechanical engineering. It was at Harvard, after reading Darwin and studying under professors who believed that technology would save the world, he began to question his faith. When his father died before he could he could make his fortune, Lee completely lost his faith in God. Instead, he put it where it had largely already been------in himself.
DeForrest was very egocentric, but he never gave up. Defeat did not stop him and he believed in his own genius. Humility was not part of his vocabulary, and as you read Tom Lewis' account of his life, you may be astounded by the degree of his pride, boastfulness, and selfishness.
DeForrest wanted more than anything else to be rich and famous. That was his focus, and without the moral compass of his faith, he was willing to do just about anything to get it. As a result, his judgment was either faulty or selective, because he fell prey to a bogus business partner by the name of Abraham White (hardly a white knight). They formed not one, but several companies in which they sold stock to thousands of people, raising capital in the millions of dollars. These people invested their savings in DeForrest's inventions, even though the companies had few if any assets. DeForrest was to concentrate on the inventing, and White would take care of the business details.
After the companies were capitalized, DeForrest went to visit Reginald Fessenden in Canada. While he was gone, White transferred all the money into a new company which excluded DeForrest. He then left town. DeForrest returned from his trip to find HE, as well as the thousands of people who had purchased stock. The only thing he had left was the audion patent, and the only reason he had that was because White hadn't known about it. DeForrest himself went on to found another company, one of many, most of which went belly up -- at his investors' expense. Several times he formed companies and sold stock to capitalize them, even though much of what he was selling was fabricated. He was brought to trial on stock fraud charges regarding his first company, and as a result there was always a shadow of doubt about his remaining endeavors. Rarely did stockholders get what they'd hope. He even referred to them as "suckers!" It might not have been so bad if he had been able to manage money, but that was not where his talents lay. Neither at home nor at work was he able to stick to a budget of any kind.....
Personal Life:
DeForrest never seemed to be very happy. He was always looking for fame and fortune and that caused his values and priorities to be wrong. He was looking for happiness in all the wrong places. He was married four times, always looking for "his golden girl." The first marriage was to the daughter of a society family and great publicity surrounded their marriage. He set up a wireless unit at her home and he would send messages to her from his home at Yale. The papers wrote that she was "wooed and won by wireless." The wedding was beautiful, but the honeymoon abroad left something to be desired. The marriage was never consummated. DeForrest sent her home. The papers had a field day. She complained of his "cruel treatment" and they were divorced shortly. (Extra credit points to anyone who can find out what eventually happened to her.....)
His second wife was the granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Nora Stanton Blatch. She learned about electricity and worked with him in his lab. She wanted to continue to work with him during their marriage, but that didn't fit his idea of a "golden girl." After marriage, he wanted her pregnant and at home. He even built an enormous house for her, but she refused to live it. When she began to learn that some of his companies were bogus, that the companies were indebt more than $40,000 and others were bankrupt, she left him.
His third wife, Mary May, was an opera singer who loved the life style when the money was coming in. She stuck with DeForrest even when times were bad, but she developed a serious drinking problem. They had some high times in Europe, but it was her jewelry they hocked so DeForrest could hold out when AT&T wanted his audion patent. They were married for a number of years before he divorced her when he met the woman who became his fourth wife. Marie Mosquini was 24 and he was 57 when they married. In fact, they actually married before his divorce from Mary was final. He called the young actress, "the shapeliest girl in Hollywood." She left her acting career and devoted her life to meeting his every need. She was his "golden girl," beautiful, blond, and telling him he was the center of the world.
Later DeForrest authored an autobiography which he titled, The Father of Television.
He was very careless about giving credit to those it was due, and was said to have "borrowed ideas" from a number of inventors including Fessenden, Alexanderson and Armstrong. While we certainly can question that part of his character, we must admire his tenacity. He never gave up, even after disasters. He once tried to broadcast famous opera singer Enrico Caruso from the Eiffel Tower in France. He failed. He was rich at times and he was famous for a while, and he as earned a place in history..
Irony:
One of the supreme ironies of DeForrest's life was that he did not know exactly how the audion worked. He had not developed the theory behind it. Since there was no theoretical understanding of the processes involved, there was no way to standardize the manufacturing process of audion tubes. The ones that were tested and worked, were marked with an "X" and those that didn't were marked "S".
Lewis writes (p. 69) "To a customer who, complaining that his order for the better tube had not been filled, De Forrest wrote: 'X grade audion bulbs cannot be willfully made, but simply occur in the testing process, and so their supply is beyond our control."
The bulbs cost $5.00 a piece, but since they weren't reliable, they were rarely used outside the experimental scientific community.
The person who figured out how the audion worked was Edwin Howard Armstrong.
Armstrong grew up in a middle-class family in a suburb of New York. His family was made up largely of educators, and it was very large and very close. He was always encouraged to study and experiment, and as a boy, Howard, as he liked to be called, began electrical experiments as a boy. Like Marconi and DeForrest, he tended to spend more time with with his lab than with other friends.
Still, he liked to have a good time and he was somewhat of a risk-taker. His parents built a large radio tower in the back yard of their big Victorian house(much to the chagrin of their middle class neighbors). He loved to climb it, and his mother would get frantic calls from neighbors that he was up their dangling and going to fall and break his neck. He attended Columbia University and excelled, although he didn't spend much time socializing.
Armstrong was very much a family man. When his father died, he took on the responsibilities of his mother and younger siblings. Money was very short at that time, and I imagine time was equally short. When he discovered the regeneration process (which was what made the audion work), he had trouble raising the $106.00 required to file the patent. However, he had published a paper on the process. Somewhat naive, definitely distracted by family crises, it never occurred to him that someone would steal his research and take credit for his discovery. That someone was Lee DeForrest, who read the paper and filed a patent. That attempt was rejected because it was not specific. DeForrest tried again, rereading Armstrong's papers, using more of Armstrong's ideas, and got the patent. By that time, World War 1 had begun and family matters where still an issue, and Armstrong didn't follow up. The patent litigation which followed would last for decades and would not be resolved until after his death.
Armstrong was truly surprised by DeForrest's actions. He saw people as basically good. To him, people were either good or bad, and the bad ones were rare. He was not a good businessman, he didn't not keep good records, and because he mostly worked alone, it was hard to get documentation for how and when his ideas had been developed.
The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court -- twice. The first time, the case was decided in DeForrest's favor, largely because they were not scientists and didn't understand the issues under discussion. Engineers could recognize the bogus nature of DeForrest's work, but the justices did not. Armstrong was crushed. The engineering community was furious.
READ p. 217-18 in Lewis [Armstrong attempts to return his prestigious award to the society which had presented it. They refused to take it back and gave him a standing ovation. The passage mentioned includes his speech which is quite touching and very enlightening concerning his character.]
Even into the second decade of this century, wireless was considered something of a toy. Kids and hobbyists built crystal sets [ extra credit if you build one]. That changed in 1909 and 1912 when two ships went down.
1909, the S.S. Republic floundered. All the passengers were saved because the wireless was used to bring help in time.
April 12, 1912, S.S. Titanic was in big trouble. Over the wireless of the Carpathia came the words in morse code..."S-O-S Come at once. We've struck a berg....." Among the wireless operators listening to the wireless account of the disaster and reporting the names of the rescued and lost, was David Sarnoff. He was one of several wireless operators relaying information the only way it could be received. Only through wireless could the people on either coast know whether their loved ones had perished or survived. The world was suddenly focused on what wireless could do.
The point was driven even further when it was learned that two other ships were closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia, but both of them had wireless set which were not in operating order, so they didn't pick up the S.O.S. Many more people could have been saved, and the newspapers made a big story about that.
1916 DeForrest broadcast election returns using voice signals produced with the audion. That brought the attention of the big boys with big billfolds!
AT&T went after DeForrest's audion patent. They initially offered $50,000, but he held out for more money. He and Mary were so broke, he had to pawn her jewelry so they could eat and pay their rent. Finally, he got $70,000 (Check this figure) and $250,000 for the rest of his patents. He didn't know they had set aside $500,000 to get into wireless.
World War I was a watershed for radio:
Let's look at the background of some of these points:
When the war was over several significant decisions were made:
Owen Young, was chairman of the board for G.E.. He contacted Franklin Roosevelt at the Navy. He knew that information was power and Marconi had the potential to have a monopoly. Many "unofficial letters" were sent and Marconi was encouraged to sell his American holdings to General Electric. He finally agreed after lengthy negotiations.
Nov., 29, 1919 RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA (RCA) was formed. Westinghouse and AT&T invested along with General Electric. The companies organized a patent pool which included their patents and those of the former American Marconi. Now they could move forward without the continual complications of patent litigation. One of the primary negotiators of this deal was DAVID SARNOFF.
World War I was a watershed:
Radio was on it's way!!
The third man to make radio what it is.....
David Sarnoff was a remarkable man.
He was born in a Russian village not unlike the one depicted in "Fiddler on the Roof." There was poverty, overcrowding and the ever-present Cossack problem. Sarnoff's father left for the United States to earn enough money to bring his family over. It took four years. They needed $140--60. While the family waited, they lived with Leah's parents, but they decided that since David was bright and learned to read at an early age, he should live with her brother, a rabbi.
Conditions there would seem like child abuse today, but they provided Sarnoff with exactly the talents he needed to lead RCA and NBC for decades. His uncle insisted that he read and memorize 2000 words from the prophets every day or he didn't eat! He had to keep a rigorous schedule, but he learned self-discipline and the ability to memorize quickly. Finally, there was enough money. David Sarnoff and his family arrived in the U.S. on July 2, 1900. After processing, they went to meet his father but he wasn't there. They waited and waited. When he finally did arrive, he was gaunt, thin and looked sick and half-starved......As they journeyed through New York to their new home, they expected to find their dream home. Mr. Sarnoff took them to a tiny apartment in the Jewish ghetto where they had to share a bathroom with 20 other people who lived on the same floor. It was tiny, dirty and depressing.
David immediately went to work to help support the family. He obtained a paper route and trained himself to wake up at 4 a.m. so he could be first with papers to the news stands. He did so well, that he bought his own newsstand, and trained his family to run it. That did well, so he looked for another job. He wanted to get into the newspaper business, so he went to apply at Hearst papers and was sent by accident to the cable department. He was hired as an errand boy, and learned all about wireless. Later he was hired as an errand boy at American Marconi, and he did the same thing. He read everything he filed, observed keenly, and learned everything he could about the company and about the man who founded it. When Marconi visited the New York offices Sarnoff followed him out the door, introducing himself as his "youngest employee."
By the end of the afternoon, Marconi had taken the boy under his wing, showing him the entire building, its operation, and making it clear that he was interested in the bright young Sarnoff. Sarnoff was hired as a wireless operator, and rapidly became a supervisor and later inspector. He was working in Wanamaker's Department store when the Titanic sunk and stayed on the key for hours. He was inundated with requests from people concerned for their loved ones aboard the ship, and as a result received a lot of publicity for his work that day. He was NOT the only person to receive the message, and he did exaggerate his role as he recalled it later in life.
Sarnoff continued to move up in the company until he became Owen Young's assistant after American Marconi was sold to G.E. When RCA was formed, he was made it's president. The names Sarnoff and RCA were synonymous for years.
Like DeForrest, Sarnoff was led by ego. He worked very hard and wanted every ounce of credit that was due him, and sometimes more than was due. His values were focused on making his company a success, because that's where he gained his identity.
The irony is, as Kisstlehoff writes in the preface for his oral history of television, The Box, a switchboard operator and receptionist at NBC didn't even know to spell Sarnoff and certainly didn't know who he had been.......
Sarnoff was not an inventor; he was a visionary and a businessman. He knew how to take this new technology and make it something the public would want. In 1915, he sent a now famous memo to Edward J. McNally, his boss at American Marconi.
"I have in mind a plan of development which would make radio a 'household utility' in the same sense as the piano or phonograph....The receiver can be designed in the form of a simple 'radio music box' and arranged for several different wavelengths, which would be changeable with the throwing of a single switch....The radio music box can be supplied with amplifying tubes and a loud speaking telephone, all of which can be neatly mounted in one box. The box can be placed in the parlor or living room...The principles an be extended to other fields--as for example, receiving at home. This proposition would be especially interesting to farmers and others living in outlying districts removed from cities. By the purchase of a 'Radio Music Box' they could enjoy concerts, lectures, music recitals, etc......"
He further proposed to use the profits from the unit to build radio stations, and to create a TV Guide-like magazine to announce programming McNally sent the memo on, but thought it was pretty "way out." The idea was presented to Owen Young after G.E. bought American Marconi, but he didn't think much of it either. It was thought to be
Later, when Sarnoff was in charge of RCA, he was in a position to act on his idea, but somebody else got there first.....Westinghouse was in the financial dumpster in 1919. They had manufactured wireless sets for the defense department during the war, but after the war the contract was canceled, and the factory sat empty and unused. RCA had most of the good patents, so they were at a disadvantage. They did have Armstrong's new circuit idea, but they needed a station to test it.....But it was really an amateur station which started a ball rolling that hasn't stopped to this day.......The scientists were Frank Conrad and D.C. Little. They put together an experimental station for Westinghouse. Conrad was already known for his amateur station 8XK.. In The Golden Web, Barnouw wrote....
"Night after night, he would enter his garage, turn on the mysterious machine, and read from newspapers into the microphone. Men stationed at listening posts in nearby areas listened and reported on the quality of the reception."
Eventually the men grew tired of Dr. Conrad's voice and news they had already read in their papers. They started asking that he play music, and when he did, letters started pouring in making specific requests for popular songs. If he played the same ones too often, angry letters urged him to get some new records. It wasn't long before the bulk of his mail was song requests. He had no idea at the time that he had become the world's first disc jockey. A manager at the local department store, the Joseph Horn store in Pittsburgh, noticed the attention given Conrad's broadcasts. He saw an opportunity to make some money moving some small radio sets he had in the store. He thought people might want to listen to Conrad who did not have a radio set, so he placed an ad (more like a news story) in the Pittsburgh SUN on September 29, 1920. It read: "Victrola music played into the air over a wireless telephone was 'picked up' on the wireless receiving station recently installed here for patrons interested in wireless experiments." It also referred to a soprano solo which "rang particularly high and clear." It ended by saying wireless sets like the one in operation at the store were on sale for $10.00 and up. "
When Conrad saw the ad he met with Westinghouse V.P., H.P. Davis, who had also seen it. What they realized had nothing to do
with telephony: it was the potential of a potential market for the small box they had made during the war, a little box that could sit in the parlor - - like Sarnoff's music box ! They knew they already had the design and their factories were tooled to make it. It was light, easy to operate, all in one piece..... The sales potential was endless!
Of course, they needed an audience, and a bigger, better station than Conrad's garage operation. So they began to build KDKA in Pittsburgh and planned to begin operation for the Harding-Cox election. They had all kinds of problems. The station was built on a roof, the studio was in a tent, the license arrived at the very last minute, it took so long to hook up the equipment, they went on air without a test -- but it worked!
The Pittsburgh Post telephoned with wire service reports of the returns as they came in on the ticker, and they were read over the air. KDKA received a full story and pictures in the newspapers and letters poured into Westinghouse asking for more programming. This was a problem, because there was no studio (the tent was not the best studio option), but on they went, with program schedules printed in more than 200 newspapers.
It doesn't take much to imagine just how sick Sarnoff was at the thought of Westinghouse making a profit off of his idea.
RCA
Shortly after the KDKA broadcast, Westinghouse and United Fruit (which now had a station) joined RCA. RCA had to let them join the company because each of them had valuable patents (regeneration and the super heterodyne) RCA needed to move forward with its radio production. United Fruit was more than happy to give up its station in exchange for RCA stock. Owen Young was president of RCA at the time and Sarnoff was his protege. Sarnoff was in on all levels of the negotiations.
When the deal was finally done, RCA stock was divided as follows:
Stations were popping up all over the place. [ Be sure to be able to recognize some of the important call letters of early stations.] Among these early stations there were basically TWO PHILOSOPHIES:
1. Radio Group: This group felt that radio ought to give the public what it wanted in the form of programs. They saw radio as a way to stimulate the sales of radios. This group was anchored by Westinghouse and its flagship station, WJZ. Under this philosophy, the station assumed the responsibility for the program.
2. Telephone Group: This group saw radio more like a common carrier or telephone. Not surprisingly, it was led by AT&T and its station WEAF. Under this approach, radio stations would sell chunks of time to advertisers who would be responsible for content. Stations would not produce programming, but would sell it to anyone who wanted it.
The problems which arose from these two perspectives are not surprising.
The first commercial appeared on WEAF in 1922. At that time it wasn't called a commercial, it was a toll broadcast (a toll or fee was paid to run the program/commercial). It was 10 minutes long. It cost $50.00 It was a real estate commercial for a new subdivision called Hawthorne Court.
The radio group was concerned that advertising would corrupt the quality of programs. Advertisers would be interested in getting a mass audience and the programs might not be of the highest quality or the most enlightening content.
Sustaining Programs (def) were those which the networks provided and which did NOT have sponsors.
Toll Programs (def) were those which had advertising sponsorship.
There were good points in both philosophies, and the system which evolved incorporated those. For many years after, networks continued to provide sustaining programs, and for the same period (and still) people criticized the content of the advertiser sponsored programs. AT&T finally realized their toll system wasn't going to work. They had to provide programming and use the benefits of advertiser sponsorship. Stations similarly were having problems coming up with programs to fill all the hours the stations were on the air....AT&T proposed a solution:
CHAIN BROADCASTING: AT&T would cross-license stations and would connect them using telephone lines. They began by connecting the stations they owned, and then approached others as well. The first connection was WEAF and WMAF in South Dartmouth, MA. The independent owners of WMAF convinced AT&T to feed both its toll and sustaining programs to WMAF in exchange for a fee for the sustaining programs and no additional cost to advertisers for other programs. The fee was called a license. [This is same system TV networks use today.]
By 1924, AT&T had a temporary network of 22 stations. They didn't want to include the radio group in this, so rival station WJZ had to depend on telegraph lines to connect with other stations. These didn't work very well, but still a 14 station network was established by 1925.
There were some serious legal issues developing at this time as well.
Monopoly concerns:
They had to decide how to break the company apart themselves!
THIS is very important, because the decision made on this issue became and remained law for 70+ years. Only with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, were these things changed!!!!!
In 1926, to meet this challenge, Owen Young, David Sarnoff, and the leaders of AT&T and the other stockholders hammered away at the negotiations for what seemed like endless hours. There was a lot of arguing and name-calling. AT&T had not intention of giving up broadcasting, but Sarnoff argued that broadcasting belonged to RCA! Finally, Young offered a compromise. AT&T realized that if it kept broadcasting would still come under fire for monopolistic practices. It gave in.
The agreement they reached included the following main points.
NOTE: In 1926, AT&T got completely out of broadcasting. That deal was necessary to prevent a dangerous monopoly. Now they want back in and have been given permission under new legislation to be involved in cable companies, to deliver entertainment programming over telephone lines, and to have various other levels of participation. No one would have predicted this 10 years ago and certainly not 55 years ago! Owen Young remained the president of RCA until 1930 when personal and financial problems resulting from the stock market crash of 1929 caused his retirement. Sarnoff became President of RCA; He was 30 years old.
In 1926, NBC began to broadcast as a network in earnest.
NBC had TWO NETWORKS
Blue Network: Anchored by WEAF (the old AT&T telephone group anchor station) which would later become WNBC.
Red Network: Anchored by WJZ (the old Westinghouse radio group anchor station) which would later become WABC.
The color distinction was based upon the colors of the wire connections, called patches, which were color coded. The Blue was always the preferred network with the best shows and strongest stations. When NBC had to divest itself of one, again due to monopolistic practices, it kept the Blue and sold Red.
CBS:
CBS entered the network picture when William Paley purchased United Independent Broadcasters in 1928 for $400,000. The company had been partially owned by Columbia phonography company and had been bought by UBI to get working capital. The phonograph company pulled out but left the name.
The company and its network were about a year old and terribly under capitalized when Paley purchased it. NBC already had the best stations, so he had his work cut out for him.
William Paley made the network work because of creative thinking and innovation:
1930 Broadcast to all stations: "Clear All Stations, clear all stations" Then came the sounds of sobbing, screaming, flames and sirens. It was the Ohio State Penitentiary ..... burning!
It was Paley's concept of EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT that revolutionized radio news of the day and laid the foundation for modern broadcast journalism.
This first person account was the mainstay of Edward R. Murrow's reports from London and CBS's coverage of the war. One of the more famous stories was that of a little girl who fell into a well in New England. The nation listened for four days straight to the rescue efforts, and grieved together as they learned the little girl didn't survive.
BEGINNINGS OF BROADCAST REGULATION:
There were some early regulatory efforts by Congress in 1910 and 1912, but by the early 1920's it was clear that those efforts had failed.
In an effort to address these problems, broadcasters met in New York in 1922. The FIRST RADIO CONFERENCE was held by the radio group as an anti-advertising conference, but it didn't take long for the subject to change to interference. 22 broadcasters attended.
The National Association of Broadcasters was formed at that meeting with the goal of lobbying Congress FOR broadcast regulation.
Herbert Hoover, Sec. of Commerce at that time, believed in free enterprise and refused. He wanted broadcasters to regulate themselves.
THREE more radio conferences were held in 1923, 1924, 1925. By 1925 there were more than 400 in attendance. Each year, broadcasters were more emphatic in their pleas for government help with the interference problem.
In 1924, David Sarnoff suggested that if some stations didn't operate according to their licenses, and stop interference, the big boys should just blow them off the air! WLW in Cincinnati broadcast at 500,000 watts in an effort to demonstrate that just that sort of thing could be done!
Music licensing also became an issue. ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) said that radio should PAY for the music they broadcast, and the courts agreed.
1926 ZENITH RADIO CORPORATION case in federal court totally undermined the authority of the Department of Commerce to enforce current broadcast regulation. No laws on the books empowered that department or any other to regulate the industry.
RESULT: Free for all! In some parts of the country, NO radio station could be tuned because interference. Broadcasters continued to pressure Congress.
1927 RADIO ACT OF 1927 was passed. It established the FRC, the FEDERAL RADIO COMMISSION.
1934 THE COMMUNICATION ACT OF 1934 was passed.
It established the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, the FCC.
This was the beginning of modern regulation of broadcasting.
Radio was a Godsend during the depression.
People were willing to sell furniture, refrigerators, almost anything to keep food on the table, but few would part with their radios. For many, the little time they had to spend near the radio was the only bright spot in their day.
Radio stations themselves were deeply affected by the depression. No money, meant changing the way business was done.
Eric Barnouw writes in The Golden Web about a chief announcer at WEXL in Royal Oak, Michigan. Hired in 1931, his salary for a week was $5.00 cash, a bushel of potatoes and a meal ticket from a local restaurant. Salaries at that time ranged from $4.00 to $5.00 per week.
Frequently the staff of radio stations worked FREE to get into the radio business.
EX: Ed Allen of WAAF worked from November of 1930 to March of 1931 10 hours per day, 7 days a week. He worked at three other radio stations before he got a job which actually paid at WGN.
Innovations in radio were necessitated by the depression.
WJR in Detroit was having trouble selling time, so offered the "Flint Hour," featuring prominent local citizens. Advertisers in Flint, Michigan began advertising on WJR.
The dominance of advertising agencies in radio programming began at this time. Agencies had completely taken over programming by 1931. It was a formula that worked well for all concerned.
How it worked...
This formula meant EVERYBODY was happy. Networks made money. Performers made money. Agencies made money.
Radio became something people looked forward to during the depression. Social workers learned that people would sell refrigerators, telephones, and even their beds rather than sell their radio.
Radio provided an escape from the awful struggle they faced everyday... Kate Smith, Amos 'n' Andy, Ed Wynn, the Lone Ranger and many others.
FDR recognized the significance of radio and used it to communicate with his constituents. He spoke to the public in radio speeches known as FIRESIDE CHATS. The first Fireside Chat was in March, 1993.
Format: It was a short conversation with the public. FDR spoke, not to a crowd, but to each person. Quietly and without anxiety, he described his plan to for the country. He used plural pronouns, "we" and "us," to generate a team spirit. It helped create involvement in the issues and some people characterized the chats as something like a neighbor having a talk over the fence. Other Fireside Chats occurred in May, July, and October of 1933.
They were significant because:
[From The GOLDEN WEB: p. 7-8
" A number of observers have described Roosevelt delivering his chats. After being wheeled into and improvised White House studio for his first broadcast, he delighted the radio personnel with questions about their preparations. Neither Coolidge nor Hoover had shown interest of this sort. Roosevelt remarked that the microphones looked different from those in Albany. He asked, "What's the CBS for?" During the final moments of waiting, he chatted with the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. Mrs. Roosevelt came in a sat with her knitting on her lap. When it was time to start, Carelton Smith of NBC touched the President's shoulder."
During his July chat, devoted to relief problems, Roosevelt created a small sensation by a simple human action that may have been sophisticated showmanship. He stopped and asked for a glass of water. After taking time for a sip--audible coast to coast--he told his listeners: "My friends, it's very hot here in Washington tonight." They told him it was terrific. He often asked their opinion on matters of delivery, and beamed if they approved.
"The radio men soon regarded him with admiration and spoke of him as a 'real pro.' Their network bosses at the time were largely anti-Roosevelt. A natural caution may have prompted announcers and engineers to express their admiration invariably in terms of Roosevelt as performer."
"To Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, watching Roosevelt deliver a fireside chat, he seemed totally unaware of those around him. She felt he was trying to picture in his mind the people he was talking to. "His face would smile and light up as though he were actually sitting on the front porch or in the parlor with them.' The same quality was described in less friendly fashion by John Doss Passos: 'There is a man leaning across a desk speaking clearly and cordially to 'youandme'....leaning towards 'youandme' across his desk...so that 'youandme' shall completely understand."]
At this time most broadcasters were NOT for FDR or his New Deal. They were a very conservative group, who dressed formally and used impeccable English. At this time, prices were not even discussed in commercials. Ethically, however, broadcasters were not all that conservative.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN EARLY RADIO...
ADVERTISING was developing, and not everything was above the board. The leader in the development of advertising was ALBERT LASKAR.
His influence was phenomenal; several of the leaders in the industry for the next 40 years apprenticed under him, including William Benton who later founded Benton and Bowles.
Laskar was a tall, impressive man who was always moving, always talking and and looked like a cross between John Brown and an old testament prophet. He was a powerhouse.
It is said he once left Johns Hopkins Hospital to attend a meeting concerning his very lucrative Lucky Strike account. When all the business was settled, he excused himself, saying that he had to excuse himself so that he could return to Johns Hopkins to continue his nervous breakdown!
He wasn't always so intense. He was born to a wealthy, eccentric and tyrannical father. He was ambitious and began a newsletter at age 10, and he made more than $15.00 per week. (That was more than some grown men were making!) His father, however, didn't like the newspaper business, thinking that it was not a good enough profession for his son. So he sent him to an advertising agency at age 18 where he earned
only $10.00 per week. By the time he was 23, he had bought out one of the partners in the agency and soon bought out the others.
Most of Laskar's agency income was from patented medicine, things like a mail-order cardboard hearing aid which was sold for $5.00. That was a bonanza for him. BY his early 30's he was a millionaire several times over. (1917)
When the stock market crashed in 1929, he remarked that he wasn't that much worse off -- he was only 17 million dollars poorer and he didn't feel a bit different. He had been prepared.
He had no qualms about the claims he made--whether they were true or not. Pepsodent sponsored Amos 'n' Andy and claimed to have a magic ingredient called irium. It was actually sodium alkyl sulphate, a common chemical. He ignored NBC's advertising guidelines at will and they let him. He was bringing them millions of dollars....
Lucky Strike offers a prime account of his advertising scruples. In the mid 1920s women didn't smoke, at least not in public. He figured that if women smoked, the market would double. So, he used foreign opera stars, thought to be glamorous and daring. They said that they smoked Luckies and the mildness protected their voices. He also used female movie stars in his campaigns and the ad copy read that these glamorous women reached for a Lucky instead of a "sweet!"
During the depression, in 1932, many agencies made across the board cuts in pay for their employees. Laskar's agency (Ford and Thomas) did too. The employees accepted it because they believed it was necessary to keep the company afloat so that they could keep their jobs. That year, Laskar took HOME 3 MILLION DOLLARS!
He did worry about Hitler and Mussolini -- They were bad people, not because of their tyranny, but because people would be reading about them and not paying attention to advertising.
Ethical lapses were not limited to advertising.
Father Charles Coughlin was a catholic priest assigned to the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan. There were only 25 families in the church, and he wanted o expand. So he bought time on WJR in Detroit for $58.00 per program. He actually paid for the line charges and got the time free. Later he paid full commercial fees. (Sunday became a profitable day for radio, because Coughlin was not alone as a church leader going on the air...)
At first Coughlin aimed his program at children. Then he focused on adults, emphasizing the hopes and fears of a depressed nation. Communism was the "red serpent"; he wanted remonetization of silver; he chastened those with wealth and power, and vilified international bankers.
It didn't take long for him to learn which button to push to get the most mailed-in contributions. He preached politics far more than he preached the Gospel, and he organized "Radio League of the Little Flower". The membership was $1.00 per year - more than many people made in a day. He bought time on WLW in Cincinnati, on WLS in Chicago and many other stations. As his influence grew, he began attacking President Hoover. CBS asked him to submit his scripts in advance. He refused to do so, and asked listeners to write CBS. The network was flooded with 1,250,000+ letters. CBS canceled him and replace him with "Church of the Air" which featured a different minister each week.
By 1932, Coughlin was on 26 stations at a weekly cost of $14,000. He was emphatically anti-Hoover. He told FDR he should drop Coughlin's name in some of his speeches because that would help FDR get elected! FORTUNE magazine called him "Just about the biggest thing" to have happened to radio. He built a 150 foot tower studio as the money poured in. In meetings he was friendly but swore frequently.
In 1934, he organized the National Union for Social Justice. This was an active political movement which was anti-Jewish, anti-Wall Street, anti-labor union, and anti-communism, etc.
Neither his church supervisors nor his opponents could stop him. By 1940, his popularity faded and stations refused to sell him air time. For a time he got together with another political leader who knew how to use the medium....
HUEY LONG of Louisiana
Coughlin and Long got together for meetings several times in 1935. This was a nightmare for the Democrats. They recognized that while these two were radical, they were very powerful and they used radio to sway the opinion of the common people. However, the Kingfish was was assassinated on Sept. 10, 1935.
Dr. John Brinkley owned KFKB in Milford, Kansas. He had purchased his medical diploma from a diploma mill, but was still reputed to be a good surgeon. KFKB was a very popular station. Twice he was almost elected Governor of Kansas.
Another significant ethics case....
Trinity Methodist Church v. FRC. This one involved Dr. Shuler who broadcast from Los Angeles. He made vehement attacks on Roman Catholics, the Catholic Church, and he made sensationalist charges against almost everyone. Shuler was convicted of obstruction of justice, then he attacked the Bar Association. He accused the judges of immoral sexual acts. He attacked Jews as a race. His license was revoked; He did not serve the public interest.
PROGRAMMING
During the 1930's network programming expanded. NBC, CBS, and Mutual (in the midwest) Comedy was the mainstay, but drama was growing.
"WAR OF THE WORLDS..."
Probably the most famous radio drama ever, was WAR OF THE WORLDS.
As the broadcast aired, panic ensued. People tuned in late. On NBC Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy were on, and they introduced a singer who wasn't very popular. When that happened, a lot of people turned the channel...just about the time the Martians were landing in Grover's Mill!
RESULT:
| Extra Credit Option: 5 points. Interview someone who was alive at the time and remembers the War of the Worlds broadcast. Write down what they said about the incident, and what you learned from the interview. |
COMEDY:
Comedy was the staple of radio programming. Be sure you know many of the programs named in your book: Amos'n'Andy, Baby Snooks, Charlie McCarthy, Jack Benny.....
The most popular program was Amos' n' Andy. The program was about black characters in Louisiana. The presentations were stereotypical representations, and much of the humor was based on misuse of the language and lack of understanding. The characters were played by their white creators Freeman F. Gosden (Amos) and Charles J. Correll (Andy) . The program's popularity was probably rooted in the universal appeals of human nature and human frailty.
Music
While comedy was a mainstay, so were musical programs, and music became a problem.
Initially, radio play of a song was believed to increase sales, so it wasn't a problem. Later, licensing agencies got worried because they weren't getting their royalties. Copyright law says that if you use the music for profit, you have to pay a fee to the copyright owners.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS, and PUBLISHERS (ASCAP) took action.
In 1937, BMI, BROADCAST MUSIC INC. was formed to break the monopoly ASCAP had developed.
There were similar problems with the American Federation of Musicians which led the fight against recorded music. They were concerned it would put musicians out of work. They made all kinds of demands (to protect orchestra jobs) and succeeded. In some cases, a union member had to put a record on the "platter" before the board operator could cue and play it.
The LEA ACT put an end to that. It banned union limits on electrical transcriptions (ETs) or recorded music, and forbade unions from forcing stations to hire unnecessary employees. It also prevented the unions from keeping amateurs from performing.
THE GROWTH OF RADIO NEWS
NBC had a one man news operation, A.A. (Abe) Schecter was the man.
CBS looked at news differently than the other networks. Paley hired PAUL WHITE, a former UP editor, to set up the news department.
As a result of these efforts, the newspaper industry panicked. They boycotted CBS and CBS sponsors were told they could not buy space in some papers. Some considered canceling or moving to NBC, but few did. AP, UP and INS refused to provide stations with wire copy. The events became known as the PRESS RADIO WAR.
A compromise was worked out at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City. That compromise was known as the BILTMORE AGREEMENT. The participants were CBS, NBC, NAB vs. AP, UP, INS, American Newspaper Publishing Association. This so-called compromise tried to sabotage broadcast news.
This was amended, but it was signed by only 1/3 of the broadcasters. The rest set up their own news service, called TRANSRADIO. The broadcasters set up extensive newscasts. The newspapers found out that it wasn't that easy to get rid of these 'outlaws.' WOR in New York was building an audience because of news. It was also owned by Macy's department store. The papers weren't really ready to refuse Macy's advertising. Major advertisers wanted to sponsor newscasts. They also bought space the papers, and it wasn't a good idea to make them mad.
Finally, the newspapers gave up. AP and UP began providing wire service to stations. More and more papers got licenses for radio stations (if you can't beat 'em...)
DEVELOPMENT OF TELEVISION:
In the early days of television, scientists and entrepreneurs were trying to figure out how make it all work. TWO systems were under development and they were NOT compatible with each other. That meant if we went with one, the other was tossed away.
One system was dependent upon the circulating disk, and it produced beautiful color pictures. However, it required a very large apparatus to handle it.
The other, was an electronic system developed by Philo T. Farnsworth and Vladimire Zworkin. They developed the iconoscope which is the camera pick-up tube. In 1939, at the New York World's Fair. The public was amazed.
However, Hitler was on the move in Europe, and the wise understood that research and development on television was likely to be put on the back burner. They were right.
Meanwhile FM was having its problems getting off the ground.
Few people had receivers and there were even fewer programs.
When Sarnoff didn't seem interested...[ He said it wasn't an improvement, but a whole new system!] Armstrong decided develop his own network. Armstrong began the YANKEE NETWORK in New England.
Receivers were produced, and interest started to grow. Allocation was a problem. Where on the band would FM be located? Sarnoff saw his opening, and convinced the FCC (for a price, it seems) to move the FM allocation to a higher place on the dial. That increased the cost of operation (more electricity needed per oscillation, smaller coverage area for electricity dollar....) and made all existing receivers obsolete. That put the Yankee Network out of business.
Further development was put off by the beginning of World War II, and government and radio communication by military was done exclusively on FM. Every radio-equipped vehicle had an FM receiver. Armstrong donated all his patents to the government, never received a cent for any of it.
Sarnoff, on the other hand, sold his patents tot he government, and he and RCA made a handsome profit. In fact, when Sarnoff was put in charge of communications for D-Day, he was using Armstrong's patents and Armstrong's system.
WORLD WAR II had a tremendous effect on broadcast news.
The names and faces became famous and set standards.
Radio was NOT censored, because it complied with basic common-sense guidelines
(Duty, loyalty, patriotism)
The OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION was formed in 1942. ELMER DAVIS was its head (he was a former broadcaster). That office coordinated information for the U.S. and established what would later be the Voice of America (VOA). Broadcasters were worried that what had happened in WWI would happen again. (Remember Marconi's NNF was confiscated?"
Section 606 of the Communication Act allows the president to take over radio stations in the event of a national emergency. The War Powers of the President allowed FDR to do that by proclamation.
That fostered a spirit of cooperation.
BUT government saw that radio could help win the war.
New agencies were established to help with the radio...
1. White House Office of Facts and Figures, Radio Division.
2. War Department, Public Relations Department, Radio Branch.
Dec. 7th, 1941 "Flash! Washington: The White House announces the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor!"
The army radio staff handled the phones from news agencies around the country, that day and for years to come.
Before the war began, soldiers had established stations at lonely bases around the world.
COMMERCIAL PROGRAMMING WAS ALSO AFFECTED BY THE WAR....
The Army worried that Black soldiers might be having morale problems. The Radio Branch contacted Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hummert. They wrote several favorite soap operas and "Our Gal Sunday." "Our Gal" gained a Black GI character in 1942. It was one of the best dramas on the air, and this program and others they wrote, they planted messages about race which would not be seen on television for anther 25 years.
"Chaplain Jim" was a program to ease the minds of worried mothers and grandmothers. Each episode revealed some part of military life and explain that every lonely GI had a friend he could talk with.
Soon sponsors were beginning to originate programs from military camps. It was okayed as long as no endorsement was implied. The flood gates were opened. BOB HOPE, BING CROSBY, and many others started putting shows on for the "boys."
"ARMY HOUR" was a program with reports from all of the services. All of the networks refused it but the NBC RED. It cost half a million dollars a year, but no stockholder complained.
"COMMAND PERFORMANCE" was a program which featured soldiers request and their answers. The letters came in by the bale! Everything from stars to the cry of a newborn baby born after dad was shipped out.....It was a very popular show.
Government psychologists took a poll asking if people had more confidence in the war news on the radio or in the newspaper, and the response?
It seemed that things were going well for Radio until a new FCC commissioner was appointed in 1941. He became FCC Chairman and his name was James Lawrence Fly. His agenda caused major problems for the industry:
The RESULT:
| Extra Credit Option: Interview someone who was alive at the time and remembers their experiences during World War II. What did radio mean to them during that time? What news programs do they remember? What were their favorite programs? How did radio help the morale of the country then? Write a 1 to 2 page report. 5 points. |
Read: "D-DAY" from the Golden Web
LISTEN TO: THIS WAS RADIO, side 2; Ist half of THE WAR YEARS
Portion of the FIRESIDE CHATS
Resources:
Copyright, 2001
Dr. Janet McMullen