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How has technology influenced US society in general
How has technology influenced US society in general
Radio in the 1920s
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Since the beginning of history, humans have been searching for ways to more effectively communicate with one another. Into the 19th century, Americans searched for more efficient ways to communicate than through letter and newspaper. The invention of the radio and subsequent revolution it caused forever changed the ways in which we interact with each other. Up until the invention of the radio, Americans were isolated in their homes and communities and news spread relatively slowly. In the words of Howard Smith, “Radio had converted America from being isolationist to internationalistic,” in more ways than one (Keith, 12). Homes were no longer quiet: they were now filled with the sounds of radio plays, sports games, music, talk shows, and much more. America blissfully accepted the radio and radio reached its peak well into the 1940s (3). However, another up and coming medium of communications was beginning to form from the funds radio brought in. Television, originally called “Radio-vision,” by its developer David Sarnoff, was to replace radio altogether and change not just America, but the world forever (10). To a certain extent, Sarnoff was correct. Radio was the first step in bringing media into the homes of Americans, but television was much more personal. By the 1950s, radio took a beating as ½ of the United States had televisions in 1953 (12). However, radio adapted and persevered through it’s adaptability and endless possibilities of subject matter. Radio had, and still does, hold a place in the hearts of Americans and people around the world for what it brought to the lives of everyone. Radio brought entertainment and excitement into the hearts of everyone, and it is the remembrance of this legacy that allows radio to live o...
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...household name again for music, instead of talk radio. In the present day, internet and satellite radio have developed as a modern adaptation to the medium that is so beloved by Americans everywhere. Radio, truly, is here to stay despite all the complications that came in its way.
Works Cited
Empire of the Air. Dir. Ken Burns. Perf. N/A. PBS Video, 1996. DVD.
Graham, Ian. Radio and Television. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn Company, 2001. Print.
Keith, Michael C.. Talking Radio: An Oral History of American Radio in the Television Age. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. Print.
Maltin, Leonard. The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age. New York: Dutton, 1997. Print.
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Wilk, Max. The Golden Age of Television: Notes From the Survivors. New York: Delacorte Press, 1976. Print.
...ry on television as an extension of radio that the TV program does not provide. One of the biggest differences is the side-by-side timeline of radio events and timeline of contemporary events. This definitely helps provide a frame of reference for when the events of radio were happening and how they may have been affected by current events. The site also provides a page of resources for additional information and a glossary of terms used in the timeline and film. The website also expands on the idea that sound attracts and that radio is not dead in today’s society.
Tuchman, Gaye. The TV Establishment: Programming for Power and Profit. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., l971.
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
"Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
In the 1930s, the United States was recovering from the Great Depression, and the urban audience needed products that would bring comfort and get-away opportunities. At the same time, radio broadcasting became more common in the country, bringing affordable entertainment to the public. In one account, ordinary southerners would listen to the radio on Saturday night as “there wasn’t nothing else doing.” Producers travelled in the South, including the Appalachian region, to record the rich, local, and traditional mus...
"Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
Wireless communication across the country was something no one ever imagined. The creating of the commercial radio in 1920, created a feeling of belonging to many citizens of the United States. Starting off as a hobby for amateurs, radio quickly expanded. With the creation of NBC, and emerging radio stars like Ernie Hare and Billy Jones radio, families tuned in on a daily basis. Music was brought to lower income families who couldn’t afford to buy a piano. As well as streaming music, radio provided advertising outlets. Promotions regarding cigarettes, automobiles, and soap
In “Wires and Lights in a Box,” the author, Edward R. Murrow, is delivering a speech on October 15, 1958, to attendees of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. In his speech, Murrow addresses how it is his desire and duty to tell his audience what is happening to radio and television. Murrow talks about how television insulates people from the realities in the world, how the television industry is focused on profits rather than delivering the news to the public, and how television and radio can teach, illuminate, and inspire.
The ‘Golden Age of Television’ is what many refer to as the period between the 1950s and 60s when the television began to establish itself as a prevalent medium in the United States. In 1947, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and the Du Mont Network were the four main television networks that ran stations with regular programming taking place. (Television, 2003) While regular television programming was a new innovation, the television itself had been commercially available for over twenty years prior to the 50s. It was conceived by many worldly innovators and went through several testing stages before it was finally completed in the late twenties. The three main innovators were Niplow - who first developed a rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern in 1884, Zworykin - who developed the Iconoscope which could scan pictures and break them into electronic signals (a primitive form of the Cathode Ray Tube) in 1923, and lastly Fansworth - who demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to transmit an electrical image in 1927. (Rollo, 2011) However, one of the many reasons why this medium was successful in the 50s was due to the fact that it became more accessible to the public. Television sets were more affordable to middle class citizens which created further interest in the new technology. Through an historical account of the medium, the spread of television across America throughout this particular decade will be examined.
Ever since technology has advanced, it played a major role in bringing the American culture in Canadian homes, especially through radio. This resulted Canadians to become more familiar with American artists and performers, because of this, the Aird Commissions were concerned of Canada losing its identity to Americanization, thus was the birth of the successful Canadian Broadcasting Commission as its purpose was to “engage in the quick distribution of news across Canada...and providing exposure to Canadian compositions.” (“Creation of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation”) To begin with, CBC radio was successful because it established a powerful sense of national unity across Canada. This connected Canadians coast to coast with news about what was happening everyday in the urbanized life, and exchanged cultural expressions that were made available in French and English to reflect on national consciousness and identity. Without having to rely on American culture, CBC allowed more airtime with only Canadian content by replacing American cult...
The following year a Los Angeles radio station covered the ceremony and as time went by, the development of new technologies brought the rise of television during the 1950s. It was the year 1953 when the first TV broa...
McKibben, Bill. “TV, Freedom, and the Loss of Community.” Colombo, Cullen and Lisle, ed. Rereading America. Boston: Bedford Books, 1995: 712-23.
American life was much different with radios starting to become popular and the creations of “talkies”. Radios started to become popular “13,750,000 American households had radios a figure that more than doubled in 1939” (1930s). Most people used it as entertainment and a way to get news in the house without news papers...
Stanke, Jaclyn. On the Air with the Cold War. War of the Black Heavens: The Battles of Western Broadcasting in the Cold War. Humanities and Social Science Net Online. July 1999. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Mitchell, Michael C. "Television and The Vietnam War." Naval War College Review 37.3 (1989): 42-52.