1. Company
Radio Broadcasting
LOGO
The Golden Age 1930 – early 1950s
2. Progress of Radio
Early Golden
Early Broadcasting
Experimental Age
Era
1890 - 1910 1900 - 1920 1920 - 1930 1930 – 1953
Radio is
Pioneer
Scientists Military
dominant
Broadcast
Researchers Government
entertainment
Stations
Universities Maritime
Universities
Hobbyists
3. Mass Media Market
Newspapers
Magazines/Books
Phonograph
1930s Mass Media Market
1877
Movies
1904
Radio
9. Rapid Growth
• 1922 – 100,000 sets
sold; avg cost $50
• 1929 – Avg cost $100 –
4 weeks salary
• 1930 – Over ½ half of
homes have a set
10. Ideas for Financing Radio
• Tax on radios
• Public tax
• Wealthy Contributors
• 1922 AT&T – Proposed a network
supported by advertisers
• Toll Broadcasting – Would pay a few to
broadcast
• WEAF (1922) 15 minute program pitching
apartments
11. It Cost Money to Run a Station
• Radio News (1922) – “Advertising by radio
cannot be done; it would ruin the radio
business; for nobody would stand for it
• Herbert Hoover – “It is inconceivable that
we should allow so great a possibility to be
drowned in advertising chatter.”
• Radio Broadcast – (1924) $500 for best
essay – “Who is to pay for broadcasting
and how?”
12. Major Source for Entertainment
• 1934 – 593 broadcast stations in U.S.
• 1935 – 67% of homes had radio sets;
grows to 81% by 1940
• Networks provided 24 hours programming
• Daytime – soaps, children’s Shows, music
• Primetime – dramas, comedies, quiz
shows, specials & music
13. Networks
• David Sarnoff (RCA) suggested a co.
specializing in programming
• Through negotiations got AT & T to get out
of broadcasting and provide connections
• RCA would manufacture receivers
• 1926 NBC goes on air with 4 hours of
programming; 25 stations hooked up
• Two networks (NBC – Red & NBC - Blue
14. Other Networks
• Agents wanted to organize talent to NBC
• When shunned, they formed CBS (1927).
• WGN Chicago formed Mutual
Broadcasting Network - 1936
15. Network Programming
• Soap Operas (38 daily in
1939)
• Comedy such as Amos
& Andy (75% market
share at high)
• Game & talk shows
• Variety
• Political
• News
16. The Nation Enters the ‘30s
Entering the 1930s Approaching the 1940s
• 2,000 daily newspapers • Radio spreading hard
reached about 40-million news
readers • Newsreels provided
• 10,000 weekly visuals
newspapers • 1934 -- advertising
• Advertising revenue revenue ½ of 1929 high
approached $900-million • 1939 a number of dailies
• Seen as a necessity & weeklies disappeared
17. Music
• Programming targeted to
national audience
• Similar to today’s TV blocks.
• Did not want recorded
programs
18. A Radio Broadcast Day
• Sept. 21, 1939
• WSJV
• Washington, D.C.
• Music
• News
• Game Shows
• Commentary
• Baseball
19. Power of Broadcasting
1. Presidential Election – 1932
2. Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping – 1932
3. Hindenburg – 1937
4. Orson Welles' Broadcast of War of the Worlds – 1938
5. Trouble in Europe
20. Radio News
• Only 4 network
newscasts 1933
• 1930s crisis in Europe
created market for news
•CBS received enormous
praise for broadcasts from
war torn Europe
21. War of the Worlds
• On the night of October 30, 1938, families
everywhere were gathered around their
radios for another episode of CBS’s
Mercury Theater On The Air. The
evening’s episode was a radio adaptation
of the H.G. Wells classic War Of The
Worlds, in which the Earth is invaded from
outer space. The story was familiar to
many, but was about to be presented in a
way that had never been heard before.
23. Newspapers Face Competition
We fight the growing encroachment
of our field by radio, only to have the
news organizations to which we
belong turn around and help the
radio thumb its nose at our honest
effort. Every bulletin we printed in
our extra was second hand. The
radio with the assistance of the
Associated Press scooped us
miserably. – Editor & Publisher 1928
25. Newspaper Radio War
American Newspapers
Publisher Association
Convention - 1933
Stopped providing
newspapers with bulletins
and printing schedules.
Biltmore Agreement
Two 5-minute newscasts
daily
No spot news
Press described it as a
complete defeat for
broadcasters
31. Golden Age of Radio Fades
In 1950s, more turning to TV for entertainment
The “leftovers”
Tried various strategies to off TV’s impact
In Dec. 1955, Nielsen ratings did not list one evening
radio program in top ten
How could radio survive
Portability
Innovative programming
Recorded music
Top 40 format
32. Mass Media Market - 1950
Competing for Consumer Attention
Magazines
TV Newspapers
Radio Theatres
& Books
33. Business Headlines
• 1951 – Business Week – Radio Rates
Start to Crack
• 1952 - TV Is Hot on Radio’s Heels
• 1954 – Radio Network Revenue Down,
Down, Down
