Radio Beginnings

First Radio Stations

Dr. Frank Conrad got a jump on postwar broadcasting because of his connection with the Navy, for whom he had designed equipment.
October 17, 1919 he began broadcasting phonographic records.
The popularity of hearing music forced Conrad to begin broadcasting for two hours on Wed. & Sunday evenings.

Radio Beginnings

World War I

All governmental radio operations were shut down following the U.S. entry into WWI, but the government continued to make strides in broadcast technology.
By 1904 – the Navy had operated 20 wireless stations, closely following the work of Marconi.
Government passed a law in 1912 where the Dept. of Commerce would issue licenses to private broadcasters and assign them wavelengths that did not conflict with government wavelenghts.
1915 – American Telephone & Telegraph Co. used a Navy station in Arlington, VA to send signals across the Atlantic, which were picked up in Honololu.

Radio Beginnings

Inventors/Inventions

Lee De Forest

“Father of Radio”
Invented the “Audion” - forerunner to the vacuum tube and was able to transmit voice. Adding an element that allowed easier reception and more amplification of sound, was the discovery that would push the growth of radio.
A series of experiments in 1907 led to:
Broadcasting concerts enjoyed by ship operators & other wireless enthusiasts.
He and his wife broadcast music from the top of the Eiffel Tower over a distance of 500 miles.
Began daily music broadcasts in 1916.
His transmitter was located on the High Bridge in the Bronx, he broadcast the election returns on Nov. 7, 1916.
Stated Charles Evans Hughes had defeated Woodrow Wilson, which was an error. But, the spectacle of broadcasting important news was impressive.

Charles David “Doc” Herrold

Opened a broadcasting school in 1909.
Built an antenna on the roof of the Garden City Bank Building that was so large, wires spread from the 7 story building to the tops of several adjoining buildings.
Began regularly scheduled, weekly ½ hour news and music program which was made a daily program in 1910.
His wife, Sybil may have been the first woman to broadcast her own show, a musical program for young people.
Herrold claimed to be the 1st “broadcaster” because he aimed his programs at the widest possible audience and he offered the 1st regular programming.
His 15 watt station, with call letters FN, then SJN, became KQW in 1921, and finally KCBS in 1949 (San Francisco).

Radio Beginnings

Transmission of Sound

Sound was made more powerful through the invention of the carbon transmitter.
1877 – Music transmitted over the phone from NYC to Sarasota Springs, NY was accidentially heard in Boston and Providence.
Electricity had leaked to other trunk lines & the waves were inducted through the air.
This proved that sound waves could be set in motion & that they could be detected or received.

Radio Beginnings

Inventors/Inventions

Alexander Graham Bell
1876
Invention of the telephone
Demonstrated the telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
Instrument could be used to transmit music or information to an audience.

Amos Dolbear
Early 1880’s
Tufts College
Used a wireless telephone to send messages about a mile.

Guglielmo Marconi
1890’s
Experimented with the wireless.
February 1896 - Successfully transmitted dots and dashes across his family’s fields in Italy.
Patented the invention.
Transmitted a signal up to 9 miles.
Formed the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd aka Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd.

Nathan B. Stubblefield
1892
Kentucky melon farmer
Credited with talking to a friend some distance away, on his farm, using a wireless telephone.
Over the next ten years:
Near Washington D.C. he sent a voice message from a boat to shore.

Radio Beginnings

1920’s Radio

The atmosphere of the ’20’s was conducive to entertainment in newspapers.
The sensationalized tabloid gave the period the name, “jazz journalism.”
- Human interest stories
- Pictures
- Comic strips
- Other enticing fare.

Radio Beginnings

1920 – The first American radio stations saw a regular public audience.

1970 – Four or five times as many radio and television stations as there were daily newspapers in the U.S.

Network radio and big-screen televison offered home audiences on-the-spot journalistic coverage of history in the making as well as entertainment.

Radio Beginnings

Radio broadcasting is an essential part of the modern press. It shares the same functions and encounters the same problems as the older agencies of mass communication. …it’s ability to draw millions of citizens into close and simultaneous contact with leaders and with events of the moment gives it a reach and an influence of peculiar importance in the management of public affairs.
- Commission of Freedom of the Press

The Sun

New York Sun aka The Sun
Sept. 3, 1833 -July 2, 1916

-Newspaper that began the Penny Press revolution.
-A daily paper.
-Published by Benjamin Day from 1833 – 1835.
-Emphasized local events, police court reports, and sports in his four-page morning newspaper.
-Advertisements, notably help-wanted ads, were plentiful.
-By 1834, the Sun had the largest circulation in the United States. Its rising popularity was attributed to its readers’ passion for the Sun's sensational and sometimes fabricated stories and the paper’s exaggerated coverage of sundry scandals.
- Its success was also the result of the efforts of the city’s ubiquitous newsboys, who the innovative Day had hired to hawk the paper.
- The Sun added a Saturday edition in 1836.

The Liberator

The Liberator
January 1, 1831- December 29, 1865

-Published in Boston, Mass.
-William Lloyd Garrison, publisher
-Published weekly.
-First abolitionist newspaper.
-Discussed antislavery movements
-Motto: "Our country is the world – our countrymen are mankind."
-After the end of the Civil War in December, 1865, Garrison published his last issue of The Liberator, announcing "my vocation as an abolitionist is ended."
-1,820 issues over thirty-five years.

Daily Courant

Daily Courant
March 11, 1702 - 1735

-The first English daily newspaper.
- Contained foreign intelligence, translated from foreign
newspapers.
-Published by Edward Mallet.
-The paper consisted of a single page with two columns. Mallet advertised that he intended to publish only foreign news, and claimed that he would not take upon himself to add any comments of his own, supposing other people to have "sense enough to make reflections for themselves."
-The Daily Courant was merged with the Daily Gazetteer in 1735.

Publick Occurrences

Publick Occurrences

September 25, 1690

-First newspaper published in America.
-Published by Benjamin Harris in Boston.
-Four-page paper.
-Full of stories lifted from English broadsides and overheard on the streets of Boston.
-Hardly considered quality journalism by modern standards
-Harris stated that he would publish the paper once a month, though would consider doing so more often "if any Glut of Occurrences happen."
-Three of its four pages were jammed with dense type. There were no headlines between stories, so one story would blend into another without a pause or segue. The fourth page, amazingly, was totally blank, the idea being that readers of the paper would jot down comments or contribute their own news, then pass it along to another reader.
-Printed a story about the King of France having an affair.
-Harris' innovative, but ethically flawed journal was doomed from the start. The colonial British authorities did not look kindly upon his newspaper. They were upset with him publishing what they considered diplomatically provocative hearsay; even worse, he never bothered paying for a publishing license. Soon after the first issue was published, they published their own document banning the newspaper.

Actura Diurna

Actura Diurna

-59 B.C.
-1st published newspaper
-Published in Rome.
-Published official business and matters of public interest

HIstory of US Newspapers

HISTORY OF U.S. JOURNALISM

Colonial Period(1690-1780s)
Partisan Period (1780s-1830s)
Penny Press Period (1830s-1890s)
Yellow Press Period (begin 1890s)
Contemporary Period (current)