Intro to Broadcasting.

mass communication: one-way communication to a public via a mass medium such as newspaper, magazine, book, radio, television, the Web, etc.  mass media: systems and devices such as newspaper, magazine, book, radio, television or the Web, for sending one-way communication to a public.

BROADCASTING is the practice of creating audio and video program content and distributing it to the mass audiences of radio, television and Internet media.

Broadcasts usually are intended for recreation, enlightenment, education, experimentation or emergency messaging.

RADIOThe IPOD of the past

History

Pioneers of Radio

• Heinrich Hertz• Nikola Tesla• Ernst Alexanderson• Reginald Fessenden• Guglielmo Marconi• Lee DeForest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFZSlm5d_FE

Important early broadcasts

• 1895- Marconi sends morse code communication via radio signal to a ship in the Atlantic ocean

• 1910- Lee DeForest produces a program starring tenor Enrico Caruso singing from the Metropolitan Opera House

• 1920- KDKA broadcasts the election of President Warren G. Harding

The Golden Age of Radio

Golden age of Radio

• 1925/1926- beginning of the golden age of radio• 1926- The first national network, NBC, was created.

Hindenburg Disaster

• May 7, 1937 – broadcast of live coverage from the day before

• Herb Morrison covering for WLS in Chicago

• ''Oh, the humanity! All the passengers! I don't believe it!'' –famous words

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ad9tholMEM

War of the Worlds

• Oct. 30, 1938• CBS The Mercury

Theatre on the Air• Producer- Orson Welles• Based on novel by

H.G.Wells• Supposedly caused

mass panic• In news bulletin format.

1940’s Golden Age of Radio

• 1941- 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered Fireside chats.

• Dec. 8, 1941- Roosevelt’s speech announcing America’s entry into the war was broadcast into homes.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office in early 1933, would become the only president in American history to be elected to four consecutive terms. He would lead his nation through two of the greatest crises in its history—the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II (1939-45)—and would exponentially expand the role of the federal government through his New Deal reform program and its legacy. From March 1933 to June 1944, Roosevelt addressed the American people in some 30 speeches broadcast via radio, speaking on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches, which became known as the “fireside chats.”

Addressing the Public In combination with the bank holiday, Roosevelt called on Congress to come up with new emergency banking legislation to further aid the ailing financial institutions of America. On March 12, 1933, he took one more important step, delivering a relatively informal address on the banking crisis that would be broadcast over the radio. In that first speech, Roosevelt praised the “fortitude and good temper with which everybody [accepted] the hardships of the banking holiday.” The holiday, as well as the radio address, seemed to have the intended effect: When the banks opened again, the panicked “bank runs” that people had feared did not materialize, showing that public confidence had been restored in some measure for the time being.

During the 1930s, well before the advent of television, some 90 percent of American households owned a radio. Seeing the potential of mass media to communicate directly and intimately with the public, Roosevelt would give around 30 total radio addresses from March 1933 to June 1944. The topics he spoke about ranged from domestic issues such as the economic policies of the New Deal, drought and unemployment, to Europe’s battle with fascism and American military progress in Europe and in the Pacific during World War II.

By the Fireside Roosevelt was not actually sitting beside a fireplace when he delivered the speeches, but behind a microphone-covered desk in the White House. Reporter Harry Butcher of CBS coined the term “fireside chat” in a press release before one of Roosevelt’s speeches on May 7, 1933. The name stuck, as it perfectly evoked the comforting intent behind Roosevelt’s words, as well as their informal, conversational tone. Roosevelt took care to use the simplest possible language, concrete examples and analogies in the fireside chats, so as to be clearly understood by the largest number of Americans. He began many of the nighttime chats with the greeting “My friends,” and referred to himself as “I” and the American people as “you” as if addressing his listeners directly and personally.

In many of the speeches, Roosevelt invoked memories of the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln or other inspirational figures from America’s past. “The Star Spangled Banner” was played after each chat ended, underlining that patriotic message. Finally, the president appealed to God or Providence at the end of almost every speech, urging the American people to face the difficult tasks ahead with patience, understanding and faith. Through depression and war, the reassuring nature of the fireside chats boosted the public’s confidence (and Roosevelt’s approval rates) and undoubtedly contributed to his unprecedented number of election wins.