(c) Maam Faye Martel

1. Broadcast Communication
Module 1
History of Broadcasting

2. Module Objectives
• Upon completion of this module, you should
be able to:
– Arrange the order of events in the history of
broadcasting
– Identify the main inventors of the technologies
that contributed to the development of today’s
modern broadcasting system
– Realize the important role of broadcast
communication in history.

3. If you would understand
anything, observe its beginning
and its development.
Aristotle

4. • To look at the history of Broadcasting, or any
industry for that matter, is to study the
beginnings of both the technology and it’s
impact to people’s lives and eventually to
society.
• As Communication scholars, we should be
more concerned about how communication is
possible using a particular medium and how
what is being communicated impacts society.
• We will look at the history in this context: the
development of broadcasting technology and
its impact to society.

5. • According to Prof. Irving Fang (The Six
Information Revolutions):
– “…for an information revolution to succeed, media
that will provide new means for communication
must be disseminated within societies already
undergoing change. Communication
technologiesby themselves are not enough. The
media both aid and are aided by whatever has
shaken the existing order…”
– Bold words are conditions for an information
revolution

6. • Take the case of the RADIO, it had to go
through many thinkers and inventors before
people enjoyed “the radio” we enjoy (or
perhaps take for granted?) today.
• It all started with a theory:
Theory of
invisible waves
In 1855, James Clerk Maxwell
published his Theory of Invisible
Waves which became the basis for
the invention of radio.

7. • That Heinrich Hertz proved 31 years later in
1886.
Electromagneti
c waves do
exist!
• Which later became Guglielmo Marconi’s basis
for his “wireless telegraphy”.

8. Signals in the Air
• Guglielmo Marconi
• 1901 founded the
Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Company of
America which later
became Radio
Corporation of America But Marconi’s messages were
(RCA) still not voice messages, they
were like morse-code tappings
• He sent his first wireless sent over the air.
radio broadcast in 1902.

9. • Note that there was no sole credit for the
invention of radio. Same goes for the
development of Television, which built up on
the technology of radio. They wanted a radio
with pictures.
• Following are slides that briefly outline the
inventions that preceded Television and their
inventors.

10. Television Technology: Beginnings
• Literally means “seeing at a
distance”
• First appeared on the
journal, Scientific American in
June 1907
• Other names considered for
TV: Visual wireless, visual
radio, electric vision

11. Television Technology: Beginnings
1884
Paul Gottlieb Nipkow
“Nipkow Disk”
1st major technological
discovery to suggest
that pictures could travel

12. Television Technology: Beginnings
1923
Vladimir Zworykin
Developed an all-electronic
system to transform a visual
image into an electrical signal
that could travel through air.

13. Television Technology: Beginnings
1930
Philo Farnsworth
Improved Nipkow’s
Mechanical scanning device:
Cathode ray, reproduces
electronic images more clearly.

14. • Note that these are the only developments in
the technology and we haven’t tackled their
effects on society yet.
• Over the years, inventors and brave men
would step out and come up with something
brilliant that either 1) improved the existing
technology or 2) used the technology in a
different way and affected society.
• Go to
http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3659
for a comprehensive timeline on the invention
of radio and television.

15. • More than the development of the
technology, as Communication Arts
scholars, we should focus more on how this
medium has been used and how it affected
lives, this is what we’ll pay attention to in the
next slides.

16. Radio Broadcasting
• In Christmas of
1906, Reginald
Fessenden’s voice was
the 1st listeners heard as
he did the his public
transmission of human
voice
– Also the first radio
broadcast of
entertainment and music

17. Radio Broadcasting
• In 1916, Frank Conrad
started broadcasting
songs and his voice via
8XK
• On November
2, 1920, he started the
1st commercial radio
station.

18. Growth of Radio
•1923
•Audience of 2M
•500 stations
•500k sets
•1926
•One house
•1925 in six had a
•2million sets radio

19. Early Radio
• Technology – brought the
radio into the parlor
• Gave multitudes of people a
new, inexpensive source of
information & entertainment
• Commercialization of radio
gave advertisers access to
this audience at home
• Radio programming:
comedy, music, serials, dram
a & news.

20. Television Technology: Beginnings
April 30, 1939
NBC’s Commercial TV debut
1939 World’s Fair, NY
Pres. Franklin Roosevelt –
1st president to appear on TV

21. Early Television Programming
• Like radio with
pictures: variety
shows, sitcoms, dram
a, Westerns, detectiv
e stories, soap operas
and quiz shows

22. Rise of Television News
November 22, 1963
Assassination of JFK
More than 9 out 10 American
watched the coverage
1968
Anti-War Demonstrations and Vietnam War

23. Radio in the TV Era
1936 1935 Gordon McLendon
Edwin Armstrong Martin Block Introduced format
introduces FM 1st DJ radio
(frequency modulation) Licensed recordings -Standardized
radio launch disc jockeys -programs

24. Portable Radios
1928
William Lear
Car Radio
“drive-time audiences”
6-9 am; 4-7pm
Gerald Bartell 1957

25. Radio’s New Role
• Once the leisure-time
“reward”
• Now accompanies
almost every type of
activity
• Radio as companion
• Radio survived because it
adapted to fill a different
need for its audience

26. • The previous notes gave you a quick run down
of the history of Broadcasting.
• Some points to remember:
– A society has to be ready for change, technology
can’t make it all happen.
– Broadcast technologies underwent a lot of
revisions before it truly made an impact in society.
– Older technologies adapt to newer technologies
as they come.

27. Quick Test: Arrange the following
events chronologically.
• Establishment of the “drive time audience” in
radio.
• Guglielmo Marconi sends the first wireless
message.
• Families watched the Vietnam war from their
living rooms.
• The word “television” appears on the journal
Scientific American.

28. Ponder on it.
• Has radio really lost its popularity because of
television? Do you see radio broadcasting
totally discontinuing?
• What is the importance of Frank Conrad’s 1st
radio broadcast from his home?
• What are the functions of radio in society?
• What are the functions of TV in society?

29. See you in class. 