The Role Of Radio In The 1920's

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INTRODUCTION
Radio has evolved greatly since its birth in the late 1800’s. Although it was growing and evolving since birth, the greatest period of change occurred after World War II to present day. From privatized AM broadcasting, to commercial FM radio to the current crop of internet & satellite radio stations, technological advancements have changed the way we use radio in our daily lives. The commercialization of radio significantly changed the entire radio/broadcast medium. In the early days of radio, companies did not believe that broadcasting entertainment and news programs could generate revenue and become profitable.
Radio’s power to reach the masses over far distances has been it’s greatest strength. Radio opened the door for global …show more content…

. The sale of affordable & user friendly receivers made listening to the radio a national craze and a viable entertainment source. Radio’s development came about at a time that was pivotal to it’s long term success The economic stability of the 1920’s gave fledgling broadcasting operations the financial support that was needed to grow and prosper. Advertising became the sole financial breadwinner for radio stations once companies realized the far and wide reach that radio could take their …show more content…

Television may have defeated radio very easily as the radio stations struggled to compete with little to no socio-economic capital. The invention and spread of television forced radio stations to change their content as well as their sources of funding. TV quickly became the dominant entertainment source in most homes in the US. In the 50’s to 60’s stations lost large amounts of programming to television and were forced to adopt specialized formats to set themselves apart and appeal to certain segments of the listening population. The “Top 40” music format was born during this period and encouraged radio stations across the country to experiment with different formats. The Top 40 format was the preferred choice of young listeners with expendable income to buy the records that were played. The need to be in the Top 40 to sell records led to a situation known as payola, in which radio DJ’s would illegally be paid or otherwise compensated for playing certain records in the interest of their benefactors (Hilmes, 2014). Payola had great effects on what music made it to market, and the DJ served as the

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