Building A Radio Empire

"Media do not simply present cultural products for consumption; they provide much of the stuff of every day life through which we construct meaning and organize our existence."--Michael R. Real, Super Media

DEFINING MOMENTS IN MASS MEDIA

Newspapers. Media began with the written word . . . To date, the oldest existing written document dates back to 2200 B.C. By 500 B.C. Persia had developed a form of pony express and the Greeks had a ¡§telegraph¡¨ system consisting of trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon fires, smoke signals, and mirrors; transmitting a form of communication to the masses. In 200 B.C. the Chinese circulated the first ¡§newspaper,¡¨ the Tipao gazette, to government officials. Newsletters began circulating in Europe by 1450. Over 150 years later, in 1609, the first regularly published newspaper was circulated in Germany. Advertising began to shape the media industry by 1631 with the first classified ads featured in a French newspaper. And, in 1833 a New York newspaper was sold for one penny, enabling this media to reach a mass market.

Radio. At first there was the print, and then there was sound . . . In 1821 an English man named Wheatstone reproduced sound. However, the future of radio didn¡¦t really begin until 1890 when Branly transmitted the first radio waves in France. In 1901 the American Marconi Company, the forerunner of RCA, sent radio signals across the Atlantic. And five years later, ¡§a program of voice and music was broadcast in the United States.¡¨

In 1907 DeForest began a regular radio broadcast featuring music. In 1909 the first talk-radio format, covering women¡¦s suffrage, was broadcast. And in 1912, the United States Congress passed a law to regulate radio stations. In 1917 the first radio station, KDKA, was built; and in 1920 the first scheduled programs on KDKA were broadcast. The going rate for ten minutes of commercial airtime was $100. By 1924, the first sponsored radio program, The Eveready Hour, began. In that same year there were two and a half million radio sets in the United States.

The 1930¡¦s are characterized as the ¡§Golden Age¡¨ of radio. In 1929 automobile manufacturers began installing radios in cars. In 1933 Armstrong discovered FM waves. And in 1934, the government passed the Communications Act, creating the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In that same year, half of all American homes had at least one radio set. In 1935 A.C.