Radio Broadcasting

■ Radio has its roots in the

Telegraph.
■ This device was the first
widely-used form of long-
distance communication.
■ In 1836, Samuel Morse
invented a language of
dots and dashes that is
still used today.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1876, Alexander
Graham Bell transmitted
the human voice over
wires for the first time.
■ Soon, his invention
moved from the lab to
the home and life hasn't
been the same since.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Most of these telephones
were wired on party
lines, which means that
many of your neighbors
could listen to your calls.
■ All the phones on the
party line rang at one
time, and each home
had its own ring pattern.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1887, Heinrich Hertz
demonstrated that
electromagnetic waves
could be transmitted
through the air.
■ As a result, the term
"Hertz" is now used to
specify cycles per second
for the frequency of both
sound and radio waves.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1883, a dentist named
Mahlon Loomis received
the patent for wireless
telegraphy, but
■ Guglielmo Marconi is
commonly credited as
inventing radio in 1895
even though there is
credible evidence that
other inventors were first.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Nikola Tesla demonstrated
wireless transmissions
during a lecture on the
potential of high frequency
transmitting in 1891.
■ In 1893, after continued
research, Tesla presented
a paper on the basics of
radio (wireless telegraph).
Radio Broadcasting
■ Once Marconi patented
his invention in England,
his next step was to sell
it to the marine industry.
■ Soon, the majority of
oceangoing ships were
all equipped with his
equipment - which made
Marconi a very rich man.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Ship radio operators who
had never heard anything
but Morse code received
the first radio broadcast
from Boston in 1906.
■ It must have seemed like
the Twilight Zone at sea
when the ships heard
Christmas carols coming
from their radios!
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1912, a tragedy
happened that shook the
World. The "unsinkable"
luxury liner, the Titanic,
hit an iceberg and sank.
■ The tragedy could have
been worse. Thanks to
the new invention of
radio, about 800 people
were saved.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In the early days of radio
there was no way to
record sound - everything
was performed "live."
■ Although the first sound
recording device can be
traced back to 1855, it
was some time before the
concept was applied to
radio.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1898, Danish inventor
Valdemar Poulsen created
the Telegraphone, the
first practical magnetic
sound recorder using a
piano wire as the
recording medium.
■ Soon, wire recorders
begin to appear on the
American market.
Radio Broadcasting
■ 8XK (now KDKA) in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
is widely credited as the
first radio station in the
US, but the truth is that
■ other stations preceded
8XK, but Frank Conrad
did start the first daily
program on that station.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Conrad initially played
music by holding a mic up
to a phonograph.
■ In no time, people were
tuning in, and Conrad
became a mini-celebrity.
■ Westinghouse, who
owned the station, took
notice and expanded
Conrad's operations.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Once radio broadcasting
was launched, people
began to realize just how
significant this new
medium could be.
■ For example, KDKA,
broadcast the 1920
Harding-Cox presidential
election returns well in
advance of the papers.
Radio Broadcasting
■ The popularity of the
new medium enticed
people to build their own
personal radio stations.
■ Soon there were too
many stations for the
number of frequencies
available on the radio
dial.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1922, another element
entered the picture —
broadcast advertising.
■ What was originally
referred to as a “toll
broadcast” is now known
as a commercial.
■ Along with the advent of
ads came sponsors and
the need for regulation.
Radio Broadcasting
■ The Congress passed the
Radio Act of 1927, which
created the Federal
Radio Commission - FRC.

■ Its purpose was to

oversee the licensing of
transmitters, assigning
radio frequencies, call
letters, and power limits.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Call letters for stations
east of the Mississippi
start with a "W", and
stations west of the
Mississippi start with "K."
■ A few stations were
licensed before this rule
was put in to effect, so
there are couple of
exceptions.
Radio Broadcasting
■ In 1934, the FRC was
reorganized into Federal
Communications
Commission or the FCC.
■ The FCC's regulatory
powers were expanded
to include telephone and
telegraph - and some
years later, television.
Radio Broadcasting
■ The FCC reserved some
nonprofit frequencies for
educational and religious
groups.
■ Due to the big-business
bias of the government,
these frequencies were
the least desirable and
were limited in power.
Radio Broadcasting
■ AM stands for amplitude
modulation, and ranges
from 535 to 1705kHz.
■ Kilohertz are thousands
of cycles per-second of
electromagnetic energy.
■ These are the numbers
you see on your AM
radio dial.
 Radio Broadcasting

■ The tan area at the left are AM radio waves and

are at a lower frequency than FM radio or TV
■ Stations can be placed every 10kHz along the AM
band so there are 117 channels available.
Radio Broadcasting
■ The signals of most AM
stations are limited in
their range, so the same
frequencies can be used
many times as long as
they are separated.
■ This is how we can have
nearly 5,000 AM radio
stations in the US on 117
different frequencies.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Modulation refers to how
sound is encoded on a
radio wave (called a
carrier wave) so that the
sound can be detected
by a radio receiver.
■ The top drawing is not
modulated by any sound
so there would be
silence on your radio.
Radio Broadcasting
■ FM or frequency
modulated radio and TV
waves act differently
than AM radio waves.
■ The FM radio band goes
from 88 to 108 MHz
(megahertz, or millions
of cycles per second).
Radio Broadcasting
■ FM stations must be
200kHz apart which
means that there's room
for 200 FM stations on
the FM band.
■ FM stations don't have
nice round numbers like
820 or 1240. Instead, an
FM station may be at
88.7 on the dial.
Radio Broadcasting
■ FM and TV signals travel
in a straight line and
don't bend around the
earth as AM waves do.
■ The farther away from
the FM or TV station you
are, the higher you have
to have an antenna to
receive the signal.
Radio Broadcasting
■ Frequency relates to the
pitch of a sound - how
high or low it is. A 20 Hz
frequency sound is
extremely low-pitched -
almost a rumble.
■ A 20,000 Hz sound is the
highest pitched sound
that can be imagined.
Radio Broadcasting
■ A person with very good
hearing will be able to
hear sounds from
20-20,000 Hz.
■ The common range used
for FM radio and TV is
from 50 to 15,000 Hz.
and AM radio is below
this range.
Radio Broadcasting
■ The average US resident
listens to 22 hours of
Radio per week
■ In the US, Radios out-
number people 3 to 1
■ In most countries, Radio
continues to be the
primary source of news
and information