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RADIO – A BREAKTHROUGH IN MASS COMMUNICATION:What to broadcast

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Introduction to Mass Communication ­ MCM 101
VU
LESSON 30
RADIO ­ A BREAKTHROUGH IN MASS COMMUNICATION
People around the world were benefiting from the newspapers as one fine mean of mass
communication since the middle of 15th century that in the last decade of the 19th century scientists came
close to opening gates for an entirely different means of communication which would require no paper and
printing press and transportation of the publication. It was a mean to carry your voice to million others in a
flash of an eye. It was the invention of radio.
It was a miracle in the field of mass communication that a person could address a very number of audiences
and that too, to a distance of thousands of kilometers away.
What is radio?
Radio is a technology that allows the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic
waves with frequencies below those of light.
Science of Radio waves
Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, and are created whenever a charged object
accelerates with a frequency that lies in the radio frequency (RF) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
This is the range from a few tens of hertz to a few giga hertz. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of
oscillating electric and magnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space equally well, and
does not require a medium of transport.
By contrast, other types of electromagnetic radiation, with frequencies above the RF range are gamma rays,
X-rays, and infrared, ultraviolet and visible light.
How the miracle came about?
The theoretical basis of the propagation of electromagnetic waves was first described in 1873 by
James Clerk Maxwell in his paper to the Royal Society A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field, which
followed his work between 1861 and 1865.
In 1878 David E. Hughes was the first to transmit and receive radio waves when he noticed that his
induction balance caused noise in the receiver of his homemade telephone. He demonstrated his discovery
to the Royal Society in 1880 but was told it was merely induction.
It was Heinrich Rudolf Hertz who, between 1886 and 1888, first validated Maxwell's theory through
experiment, demonstrating that radio radiation had all the properties of waves. A great achievement indeed
it proved to be.
Marconi recognized as radio inventor
In 1896 Guglielmo Marconi was awarded what is sometimes recognized as the world's first patent
for radio with British Patent 12039, Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-
for. In 1897 he established the world's first Radio Station on the Isle of Wight, England. The same year in
the USA, some key developments in radio's early history were created and patented by Nikola Tesla. The
US Patent Office reversed its decision in 1904, awarding Guglielmo Marconi a patent for the invention of
radio, possibly influenced by Marconi's financial backers in the States, who included Thomas Edison and
Andrew Carnegie. Some believe this was done to allow the US Government to avoid having to pay the
royalties that were being claimed by Nikola Tesla for use of his patents.
In 1909 Marconi, with Karl Ferdinand Braun, was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for
"contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". Marconi opened the world's first "wireless"
factory in Hall Street, Chelmsford, England in 1898, employing around 50 people. Around 1900, Tesla
opened the Wardenclyffe Tower facility and advertised services. By 1903, the tower structure neared
completion. Various theories exist on how Tesla intended to achieve the goals of this wireless system
(reportedly, a 200 kW system). Tesla claimed that Wardenclyffe, as part of a World System of transmitters,
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Introduction to Mass Communication ­ MCM 101
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would have allowed secure multichannel transceiving of information, universal navigation, time
synchronization, and a global location system.
Others work acknowledgement
In 1894 British physicist Sir Oliver Lodge demonstrated the possibility of signaling using radio
waves using a detecting device called a coherer, a tube filled with iron filings which had been invented by
Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti at Fermo in Italy in 1884. Edouard Branly of France and Alexander Popov of
Russia later produced improved versions of the coherer. Popov, who developed a practical communication
system based on the coherer, is often considered by his own countrymen to have been the inventor of
radio.
On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fessenden (using his heterodyne principle) transmitted the first radio
audio broadcast in history from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included
Fessenden playing the song O Holy Night on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible. The world's
first radio news programme was broadcast August 31st 1920 by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan. The
world's first regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment commenced in 1922 from the Marconi Research
Centre at Writtle near Chelmsford, England, which was also the location of the world's first "wireless"
factory.
Early radios ran the entire power of the transmitter through a carbon microphone. While some early radios
used some type of amplification through electric current or battery, through the mid 1920s the most
common type of receiver was the Crystal set. In the 1920s, amplifying vacuum tubes revolutionized both
radio receivers and radio transmitters.
Advancement on radio technology continues
·  Aircraft used commercial AM radio stations for navigation. This continued through the early 1960s
when VOR systems finally became widespread (though AM stations are still marked on United
States aviation charts).
·  In the early 1930s, single sideband and frequency modulation were invented by amateur radio
operators. By the end of the decade, they were established commercial modes.
·  Radio was used to transmit pictures visible as television as early as the 1920s. Standard analog
transmissions started in North America and Europe in the 1940s.
·  In 1954, Regency introduced a pocket transistor radio, the TR-1, powered by a "standard 22.5V
Battery".
·  In 1960, Sony introduced their first transistorized radio, small enough to fit in a vest pocket, and
able to be powered by a small battery. It was durable, because there were no tubes to burn out.
Over the next twenty years, transistors displaced tubes almost completely except for very high
power, or very high frequency, uses.
·  In 1963 color television was commercially transmitted, and the first (radio) communication satellite,
TELSTAR, was launched.
·  In the late 1960s, the U.S. long-distance telephone network began to convert to a digital network,
employing digital radios for many of its links.
·  In the 1970s, LORAN became the premier radio navigation system. Soon, the U.S. Navy
experimented with satellite navigation, culminating in the invention and launch of the GPS
constellation in 1987.
·  In the early 1990s, amateur radio experimenters began to use personal computers with audio cards
to process radio signals. In 1994, the U.S. Army and DARPA launched an aggressive, successful
project to construct a software radio that could become a different radio on the fly by changing
software.
·  Digital transmissions began to be applied to broadcasting in the late 1990s.
World grabs radio for a range of uses
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Introduction to Mass Communication ­ MCM 101
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AM broadcast radio sends music and voice in the Medium Frequency (MF -- 0.300 MHz to 3
MHz) radio spectrum. AM radio uses amplitude modulation, in which louder sounds at the
microphone causes wider fluctuations in the transmitter power while the transmitter frequency
remains unchanged. Transmissions are affected by static because lightning and other sources of
radio add their radio waves to the ones from the transmitter.
FM broadcast radio sends music and voice, with higher fidelity than AM radio. In frequency
modulation, louder sounds at the microphone cause the transmitter frequency to fluctuate farther,
the transmitter power stays constant. FM is transmitted in the Very High Frequency (VHF -- 30
MHz to 300 MHz) radio spectrum. FM requires more radio frequency space than AM and there are
more frequencies available at higher frequencies, so there can be more stations, each sending more
information. Another effect is that the shorter radio waves act more like light, travelling in straight
lines that are not reflected back towards the Earth by the ionosphere, resulting in a shorter effective
reception range.
Aviation voice radios use VHF AM. AM is used so that multiple stations on the same channel can
be received. (Use of FM would result in stronger stations blocking out reception of weaker stations
due to FM's capture effect). Aircraft are often so high that their radios can see hundreds of miles,
even though they are using VHF.
Marine voice radios can use AM in the shortwave High Frequency (HF -- 3 MHz to 30 MHz) radio
spectrum for very long ranges or narrowband FM in the VHF spectrum for much shorter ranges.
TETRA, Terrestrial Trunked Radio is a digital cell phone system for military, police and
ambulances.
Civil and military HF (high frequency) voice services use shortwave radio to contact ships at sea,
aircraft and isolated settlements.
Government, police, fire and commercial voice services use narrowband FM on special frequencies.
Fidelity is sacrificed to use a smaller range of radio frequencies, usually five kilohertz of deviation (5
thousand cycles per second) for maximum pressure, rather than the 75 used by FM broadcasts and
25 used by TV sound.
What to broadcast
Early radio stations faced the problem of target audience, especially in a pluralistic society. The
economic growth in certain parts of the world also helped radio stations to shape their program. So a part
of broadcast was meant to the specific nature of audience along side news and entertainment. In Pakistan all
radio stations begin their transmission with recitation from Quran due to specific nature of the audience.
Other societies with religious dominance do the same.
Distribution of time
For religious programs
News and views
Entertainment ... music, plays, children and women.
Education ... on health and common social life matters.
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Table of Contents:
  1. MASS COMMUNICATION – AN OVERVIEW:Relationships, Power
  2. EARLY MASS COMMUNICATION AND PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
  3. SEVEN CENTURIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION – FROM PRINTING TO COMPUTER
  4. ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION AND EARLY COMMUNICATION MODELS
  5. COMMUNICATION MODELS – GRAPHIC PRESENTATION OF COMPLEX ISSUES
  6. TYPES AND FORMS OF COMMUNICATION:Inter personal, Combination
  7. MESSAGE – ROOT OF COMMUNICATION I:VERBAL MESSAGE, Static Evaluation
  8. MESSAGE – ROOT OF COMMUNICATION II:Conflicts, Brevity of Message
  9. EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION:Helping Out Others, Relaxation
  10. COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE:Enculturation, Acculturation
  11. LANGUAGE IN COMMUNICATION:Polarization, Labeling, Static meanings
  12. STEREOTYPING – A TYPICAL HURDLE IN MASS COMMUNICATION:Stereotype Groups
  13. MASS MEDIA – HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:Early analysis on manuscripts
  14. EMERGENCE OF PRINT MEDIA AROUND THE WORLD:Colonial journalism
  15. TELEGRAPH DOES MIRACLE IN DISTANCE COMMUNICATION TELEX AND TELEPHONE ENTHRALL PRINT COMMUNICATION
  16. TYPES OF PRINT MEDIA:Newspapers, Magazines, Books
  17. PRESS FREEDOM, LAWS AND ETHICS – NEW DEBATE RAGING STILL HARD
  18. INDUSTRIALIZATION OF PRINT PROCESSES:Lithography, Offset printing
  19. EFFECTS OF PRINT MEDIA ON SOCIETY:Economic ideas, Politics
  20. ADVERTISING – HAND IN HAND WITH MEDIA:Historical background
  21. RENAISSANCE AND SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION: ROLE OF PRINT MEDIA:Science
  22. RECAP:Elements of communication, Books, Printing, Verbal Message
  23. MEDIA MANAGEMENT:Division, Business section, Press
  24. IMAGES IN MASS COMMUNICATION – INVENTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY:Portrait photography
  25. MOTION PICTURES – A NEW WAY IN MASS COMMUNICATION-I:Definition
  26. MOTION PICTURES – A NEW WAY IN MASS COMMUNICATION (Cont...):Post-Studio Era
  27. FILM MEDIA IN SUBCONTINENT AND PAKISTAN-I:Accusations of plagiarism
  28. FILM MEDIA IN SUBCONTINENT AND PAKISTAN (II) & ITS EFFECTS:First Color film
  29. PROPAGANDA:Types in another manner, Propaganda in revolutions
  30. RADIO – A BREAKTHROUGH IN MASS COMMUNICATION:What to broadcast
  31. EFFECTS OF RADIO ON SOCIETY:Entertainment, Information, Jobs
  32. TELEVISION – A NEW DIMENSION IN MASS COMMUNICATION:Early Discoveries
  33. TV IN PAKISTAN:Enthusiasm, Live Broadcast, PTV goes colored
  34. EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ON SOCIETY:Seeing is believing, Fashion
  35. PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MASS COMMUNICATION - I:History, Case Study
  36. PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MASS COMMUNICATION - II:Audience targeting
  37. ADVERTISING BEYOND PRINT MEDIA:Covert advertising
  38. IMPACT OF ADVERTISING:Trial, Continuity, Brand Switching, Market Share
  39. MEDIA THEORIES:Libertarian Theory, Social Responsibility Theory
  40. NEW MEDIA IN MASS COMMUNICATION:Technology forcing changes
  41. GLOBALIZATION OF MEDIA:Media and consumerism, Media centralization
  42. MEDIA MERGENCE:Radio, TV mergence, Economic reasons
  43. MASS MEDIA IN PRESENT AGE:Magazine, Radio, TV
  44. CRITICISM ON MEDIA:Sensationalize, Biasness, Private life, obscenity
  45. RECAP:Legends of South Asian Film Industry, Radio, Television, PTV goes colored