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1997-02-18
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History of Radio
Radio is an enigma, it is the
most obvious force on the planet.
There is no patch of land anywhere
that is un-touched by radio waves.
Over 1/3 of radio broadcasts
originate from the United States
of America . In 1997 there are over
11,000 radio stations in this land.
99% of all households have a radio
in them , many of these homes have
more than one.
More people tune into to todays
radio for various forms of entertainment
than any other source of media today,
either printed or electronic.
As a matter of fact there are twice
as many car radios in use than the
combined circulations of all daily
newspapers. Even though radio seems to
have been around for-ever, it is just a
little over a century old. Radio was
invented by Guglielmo Marconi, he called
his invention "wireless telegraphy".
It was David Sarnoff who can lay
claim to creating the radio world
we know today. In what was known as
the " Radio Box Memo", Sarnoff suggested
that radio recievers be mass produced
for public consumption. At first the
offer was rejected, but Sarnoff's
persistence paid off. In a few years,
radio's popularity even surpassed
Sarnoff's expectations.
In 1922 Pittsburgh's 'KDKA' radio
station went on the air with a regular
operating schedule.
The first major broadcast network was
established in 1926 by the Radio Corpor-
ation of America (RCA). The network con-
sisted of 24 stations.
It was during the depression that
radio flourished. The home front was
entertained by radio shows like "Fibber
McGee and Molly", and "The Lone Ranger".
As most businesses failed, radio
flourished. Some shows achieved so
much popularity that peoples lives
revolved around them. When " Amos and
Andy " came on life in the country came
to a halt.
In the 40 's radio was at first
threatened by World War II, as the FCC
ordered a war time freeze on radio
construction. And then in the latter
half of the decade, television reared
it's head. Radio was given it's last
rights. Many radio station owners sold
their stations and re-invested in t.v.
stations.
In the 1950 's radio was given a
revival with the advent of Rock & Roll
music. Soon music was pouring out of
radio sets around the world. It was
Rock & Roll music that triggered the
advent of FM music.
In 1961 the FCC authorized the use
of stereo broadcasting on the FM band.
This would be the benchmark of the
medium.
FM reached it's peak in the 70's. By
the mid decade, stereo radio sets were
one of the hottest products in the
stores. Soon stations began to "program
music " station formats arose. Rock,
country, disco, and all sorts of other
music was being run by various stations.
Local disc jockeys became overnight
celebrities,stations fought to be number
one. The Arbitron Ratings became the
guage to how good the station was, and
how much any station could charge
for advertising space on the airwaves.
By the 1980's and well into the 90's
radio became big business, and still
stands there today.
Radio Personel
Radio stations are divided into many
different departments, each of these
departments managed by a professional
radio employees. These employees range
from the General Manager all the down
to part time board operators.
The general manager is the boss, here
is the person who is in charge of all
staff members, he is the final word on
all matters. It is the station manager
name that goes on payroll checks. It is
responsibility to run the entire radio
station.
A G.M. is usually a business major in
college, he has a strong sense of
business, and a good knowledge of radio.
He makes big money, but he has all the
head-aches. The General Manager answers
directly to the owners of the radio
station.
Between the General Manager and the
Operation Manager lies the business
manager, and executive secretary in some
stations. The job of the receptionist is
sometimes linked under that of the
secretary.
Answering to the G.M. directly is the
operations manager. An O.P. is responsi-
ble for the actual running of the
station. He is the person who is the go-
between for the staff and higher
management. The various department heads
like sales manger,the program directors,
and chiefengineer.
After the operation's manager the
chain of command takes a three way split
the departments are sales, maintenance,
and the actual air shifts.
The maintenance of the station is up
to the chief engineer, his job is to
see that all items in the station are
in top working order. This is not just
the transmitters, and other broadcast
equipment, this includes general main-
tenance like lights, and doors, and
furniture as well. The chief engineer
is responsible for the entire upkeep of
the whole station.
Under the chief engineer's jurisdic-
tion is also the station technicians,
and the maintenance personel.
The sales manager is at the other end
of the spectrum. Here is the person who
handles the financial health of the
radio station. The sales people, traffic
and public affairs personel are all the
responsibility of the sales manager.
Sales staff, these are the folks that
make the phone calls, keep the appoint-
ments, and handle the station's many
clients. They are the folks in the front
line that try to sell the ad space for
the radio station.
Traffic Staff, the people in traffic
handle the paperwork. They take care of
the writing, placing, and billing for
all the commercials that the radio sta-
tion plays. The copy writers are loca-
ted in the staff as well.
The Program Director handles all the
jobs of the air personel. Here is the
backbone of any radio station. He is the
guy that programs the music, makes the
schedules, and handles all jobs that are
connected with the actual air staff.
Under the P.D. are the news director
the sports, director, the music director
the announcers, and the news people. In
most smaller stations the P.D. serves
double and triple duty by taking on all
of the director jobs in the station.
Lastly in the chain of command are
the announcers, these are the people
the actual listeners hear on the radio.
As you can see, even though the air
shift is the only people you can hear
on a radio station, it is a huge staff
that is in the background that keeps
these guys on.
PROGRAMMING MUSIC
As you can tell by scanning the dial
there are all sorts of music, different
stations play different kinds of music.
Why is this ? Well a radio station is a
business, and as such it is competing
against other stations for as many of
the people in that city to listen to it.
To get the most people a station has
to play the music the city's population
wants. This is called "demographics".
Different types of people like various
types of music. Even though there is no
set rule as to what sort of people like
sort of music, various trends have been
noticed by programmers over the years.
Senior Citizens for example, seem to
treat rock and roll like the plaque, yet
the embrace the format known as "Easy
Listening" or "Beautiful Music". Also
listeners tend to gravitate towards the
music that is produced by people like
themselves. Such as jazz and urban are
usually prefered by African -American
listeners.
Even though these trends seem to
hold true, the spectrum is broad, and
there are exceptions to these rules.
However demographics do contribute to
a lot of what a station should play.
But what are the various formats
that a radio station will play. Well
there are quite a number of them, and
they in turn can be broken down even
further. But the most important ones
would include the following:
Adult Contemporary (AC)
Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)
Country
Easy Listening
Album Oriented Rock (AOR)
News/Talk
Oldies
Middle of the Road (MOR)
Urban Contemporary (UC)
Jazz
Classical
Religious
Ethnic
In the terms of listeners Adult Con-
temporary was the most popular music of
the 1980's. It is format of low key pop
hits of the last ten to fifteen years.
It stays away from hard rock, and rap,
it is an easy beat, it is a format that
is heard in shops and stores. People
like Barry Manilow, and The Beatles are
a strong representation of this style of
music.
Contemporary Hit Radio is Top 40.
This is a format widely listened to by
teen-agers and young adults. The focus
of this format is twelve to eighteen
year olds. Any song that has been off
the charts for more than two months will
get rotated off this type of station's
playlist. As of 1997 the representative
artists of this format would be PHISH,
Jonny Lang, and Big Head Todd.
Country is country, in the mid 90's
it is the number #1 format across the
United States. Starting out as the folk
music of rural people, the format has
grown to huge proportions. Nashville
Tennessee is the country music capitol
of the world. Country artists include
people like Reba McIntyre, Garth Brooks,
and Pam Tillis.
Easy listening, or beautiful music
is gaining large audiences, it is very
low key, very ballad oriented. It is the
music of the 40's, 50's, and 60's and
also the lighter hits of the 70's & 80's
it is the music people have while they
do their housework. Older people are the
key group for this music. Artists of the
format include Tony Bennett, Dean Martin
and the Andrews Sisters.
Album Oriented Rock is having a big
resurgence in the 90's. Here is the hits
of the 70's and 80's. It has a strong
male following , but females are also
tuning into this format. The typical age
is between 25 and forty, but teenagers
are finding the stations, as are people
older than the core listening group. A
typical show will include Bob Seger, The
Doobie Brothers , Genesis , and Bruce
Springsteen.
News/Talk here is a format that shows
you don't need music to have a radio
show. Strictly an AM format this station
specializes in keeping people abreast of
the latest news stories. Also sports is
an important aspect of these stations.
Call in shows like Larry King, and Rush
Limbaugh are key features on these kinds
of stations.
Oldies/Nostalgia the hits of years
gone by are the strong suit of oldies
stations. Hits of the 50's, 60's, and
70's, are the focal point. These kinds
of stations differ from Easy Listening
as the songs have a more rock and roll
edge to them. Typical artists include
Jefferson Airplane, Buddy Holly, and
of course Elvis Presley.
Middle of the Road is exactly what
the name implies. Here is a format that
does not stray to far from the general
populus. It's called the "bridge format"
because that is what it does. It bridges
all formats. Any song from any format
will be played in this genre, as long as
it stays near the core of people's dif-
ferent tastes. The Beatles, and Stevie
Wonder are good examples of this type of
format.
Urban Contemporary is realitively new
to radio, springing out of the disco
sounds of the 60's and 70's, hip hop has
emerged as a popular format for both
african american, and non black youths
across the country. Known as Rap or Funk
this music is known for heavy drum parts
and a stress on talking, or "rapping" on
the tracks. Known artists of the format
are "The Fat Boys", "Snoop Doggy Dogg",
and M.C. Hammer.
Jazz has been around almost as long
as Country music. Jazz is known as Amer-
ica's only true music form. Started in
the mid 19th century in the south, it
soon spread across the country. Cities
like St. Louis, and New Orleans are the
places associated with this music. Black
senior citizens are the strongest demo-
graphic group for this format. Jazz
greats include Louis Armstrong, Count
Basie, and Charlie Parker.
Classical Music is usually the format
played on college radio, the commercial
value of classical music is very small.
There are not to many classical stations
in the market, and those that are, can
be found only in major market cities
like New York, and Los Angelas.
Religious and Ethnic stations have
recently just started to make head-way
in middle market cities. The listening
audience for these stations are choice
select groups of people who belong to
the specific group. As time passes these
formats may become more popular, but as
of now, they cater to a select few.
BROADACSTING EQUIPMENT
Various equipment is needed to run a
successful radio station. The tools of
the trade range from 'high tech' audio
reproducers to simple pencils and paper.
When most people think of a radio
station they picture a huge tower out in
a field behind the radio station. The
tower is a huge metal structure that is
used to transmit the signal from the
station to the surrounding recievers in
the area. The tower must have flashing
lights on it to warn low flying air-
craft of it's presence in the dark.
Transmitters are the huge electronic
devices that turn the music and talk
into the radio waves that are to be
broadcast into the air. The transmitter
is tuned to a certain frequency. These
machines are set to a cetrain power set-
ting that is carefully regulated and
monitored as well.
Consoles or boards, these at control
stations that d.j.'s operate. They house
switches and "pots" that control the
various input devices that are liked to
the board. Meters built into the board
show the volume of the input device.
Turn-tables are record players that
are built into the table top and then
connected to the board. These work like
standard household record players with
the exception that they are activated
by a switch in the board.
Tape Players, these are the machines
that play the various type of magnetic
media that is found on tapes. Like the
turn-tables, they are activated by a
switch on the board. Tape machines come
in a variety of styles, such as reel to
reel, cassette, and cart machines.
Microphones, these are the devices
disk jockeys talk into. The are usually
suspended in front of the board, some of
them however are placed in mike holders
and set on the table in fron of the disk
jockey.
Computers are playing a big part in
radio these days. They are used for the
news, for production, and some stations
use them in lieu of live air talent. In
some instances a station will automate
by bringing in a live "feed" from a lo-
cation away from the station. The com-
puter will play the commercials, and
run the news, station i.d.'s and other
things a d.j. would normally do.
GLOSSARY
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE........Station or agency
sales person.
ACTIVES.........Listeners who call radio
stations for requests, or enter station
contests.
ADI...........Area of Dominant Influence
this is an Arbitron Measurment.
ADJACENCIE.........These are commercials
stregically placed next to a feature.
AFTRA.......American Federation of Tele-
vision and Radio Artists.
AIRCHECK.......Tape of a live broadcast.
A.M..........Amplitude Modulation, this
is the method of signal transmission
using the broadcast band between 535 and
1605 kHz.
ANNOUNCEMENT.....Commercial Spot or Live
ad of variable length.
AOR..................Album oriented rock
ARBITRON............Audience measurement
service employing a seven day diary.
AUDIO...................Sound modulation
BACK ANNOUNCE.........Recap of preceding
music selections.
BARTER..........Exchange or trade of air
time for programming or goods.
BED......Music behind voice in a commer-
cial.
BLASTING......Excessive volume resulting
in distortion.
BOOK........Term used to describe rating
information.
BULK ERASER..........tool used to remove
magnetic impressions from tapes.
CALL LETTERS......Assigned station iden-
tification, begins with a "W" east of
the Mississippi, and "K" in the west.
CART......Plastic cartridge containing a
continuous loop of tape.
CLOCK.......Wheel indicating sequence of
order of programming ingredients.
COMPACT DISK (CD)......Digital recording
using laser beam to decode surface.
CONSULTANT.....Station advisor
CONTROL ROOM.........Center of broadcast
operations. The studio.
COPY........Advertising message, script.
CROSSFADE......Fading out of one element
while bringing up another.
DAT...................Digital Audio Tape
DAYPARTS......Periods or segments of the
broadcast day.
DEAD AIR.......Silence where audio is to
be heard.
DEEJAY............Announcer, disk jockey
DEMOGRAPHICS........Audience statistical
data based on age, race, sex, etc.
DUB.........Copy of one tape to another.
EBS........Emergency Broadcasting System
FCC......Federal Communication Comission
F.M.........Frequency Modulation, method
of broadcasting using an 88-108 mHz band
width.
FORMAT.....Type of programming a station
offers.
FREQUENCY....Number of cycles-per-second
of a sine wave.
GAIN...............Volume, amplification
GROUND WAVE........A.M. signal traveling
along the earth's surface.
HEADPHONES.......Speakers mounted on the
ears.
HERTZ.........Cycles per second, unit of
frequency.
I.D...............Station Identification
JACK.....Plug for patching sound sources
patch cord, socket, input.
JINGLE......Musical commercial or promo.
KILOHERTZ (kHz)......One thousand cycles
per second.
LEVEL......Amount of volume units. Audio
units.
LIVE COPY....Material read over the air.
LIVE TAG....Postscript of taped message.
MAKE-GOOD.......Replacement spot for one
missed.
MARKET........Area served by a broadcast
service.
MASTER................Original recording
MEGAHERTZ (mHz).......Million cycles per
second.
MONITOR...................Studio speaker
MONO...........Single or fulltrack sound
MULTI-TRACK.....Recording sound on sound
overdubbing, stacking tracks.
NAB..............National Association of
Broadcasters.
NETWORK......Broadcast combine providing
programming to affiliates.
NETWORK FEED...........Programs sent via
telephone lines or satellites to affili-
ate stations.
OUTPUT..........Transmission of audio or
power from one location to another.
PACKAGE...............Canned programming
PASSIVES.....Listeners of radio stations
who do not call or make them-selves
known.
PLAYBACK........Reproduction of recorded
sound.
PLAYLIST.....Roster of music for airing.
PLUG...............Promotion, connector.
RAB.............Radio Advertising Bureau
RATE CARD.......Statement of advertising
rates and terms.
REMOTE........Broadcast originating away
from the station control room.
REVERB.........Echo, redundancy of sound
SBE.......Society of Broadcast Engineers
SHARE.....Percentage of stations listen-
ership compared to competition.
SIGNAL................Sound Transmission
SPLICE.........To join ends of recording
tape with adhesive.
SPONSOR.....Advertiser, sponsor, client.
SPOTS..................Commercials, ads.
STATION.........Broadcast facility given
specific frequency by FCC.
STEREO..........Multi-channel sound: two
program channels.
TALENT........Radio performer, announcer
deejay, sportscaster.
TRANSMIT....................To broadcast
TSA........Total Survey Area, geographic
area in a radio survey.
VOICE-OVER...............Talk over sound
VOLUME.................Quantity of sound
V.U. METER...........Gauge for measuring
units of sound.
WINDSCREEN........Microphone filter used
to prevent popping and distortion.