Mass Media

Telegraph

Invented in the 1840s, this device sent electrical impulses through a cable from a transmitter to a reception point, transmitting Morse Code

Morse Code

A system of sending electrical impulses from a transmitter through a cable to a reception point; it was developed in the 1840s by American inventor Samuel Morse

Radio Waves

A portion of the electromagnetic wave spectrum that was harnessed so that signals could be sent from a transmission point and obtained at a reception point

Electromagnetic Waves

Invisible electronic impulses similar to visible light; electricity, magnetism, light, broadcast signals, and heat are part of such waves, which radiate in space at the speed of light, about 186,000 miles per second

Narrowcasting

Any specialized electronic programming or media channel aimed at niche viewer groups

Broadcasting

The transmission of radio waves or TV signals to a broad public audience

Wireless Telegraphy

The forerunner of radio, a form of voiceless point-to-point communication; it preceded the voice and sound transmissions of on-to-many mass communication that became known as broadcasting

Wireless Telephony

Early experiments in wireless voice and music transmissions, which later developed into modern radio

Radio

Wireless transmission of voice and music

Wireless Ship Act

The 1910 mandate that all major U.S. seagoing ships carrying more than fifty passengers and traveling more than two hundred miles off the coast be equipped with wireless equipment with a one-hundred-mile range

Radio Act of 1912

The first radio legislation passed by Congress, it addressed the problem of amateur radio operators increasingly cramming the airwaves. This act required all radio stations on land or at sea to be licensed and assigned special call letters

Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

A company developed during World War 1 that was designed, with government approval, to pool radio patents; the formation of it gave the United States almost total control over the emerging mass medium of broadcasting

Network

A broadcast process that links, through special phone lines or satellite transmissions, groups of radio or TV stations that share programming produced at a central location

Radio Act of 1927

The second radio legislation passed by Congress; in an attempt to restore order to the airwaves, it stated that licensees did not own their channels but could license them as long as they operated in order to serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity.”

Federal Radio Commission (FRC)

An organization established in 1927 to oversee radio licenses and negotiate channel problems

Federal Communications Act of 1934

The far-reaching act that established the FCC and the federal regulatory structure for U.S. broadcasting

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

An independent U.S. government agency charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable

Transistors

Invented by Bell Laboratories in 1947, this tiny technology, which receives and amplifies radio signals, made portable radios possible

AM (amplitude modulation)

A type of radio and sound transmission that stresses the volume or height of radio waves; this type of modulation was sufficient for radio content such as talk, but not ideal for music

FM (frequency modulation)

A type of radio and sound transmission that offers static-free reception and greater fidelity and clarity than AM radio by accentuating the pitch or distance between radio waves

Format Radio

The concept of radio stations developing and playing specific styles (or formats) geared to listeners’ age, race, or gender; in this, management, rather than deejays, controls programming choices

Rotation

In format radio programming, the practice of playing the most popular or best-selling songs many times throughout the day

Top 40 format

The first radio format, in which stations played the forty most popular hits in a given week, as measured by record sales

Country

Claiming the largest number of radio stations in the United States, this radio format includes such subdivisions as old-time, progressive, country-rock, western swing, and country-gospel; also a musical form in which all styles share one element: the country voice, inflected by a twang or drawl

News/Talk

The second most popular radio format in the nation, this format is dominated by news programs and talk shows

Adult Contemporary (AC)

One of the oldest and most popular radio music formats, typically featuring a mix of news, talk, oldies, and soft rock

Contemporary Hit Radio (CHB)

Originally called Top 40 radio, this radio format encompasses everything from hip-hop to children’s songs; it appeals to many teens and young adults

Urban Contemporary

One of radio’s more popular formats, primarily targeting African American listeners in urban areas with dance, R&B, and hip-hop music

Spanish-language Radio

One of radio’s fastest-growing formats, concentrated mostly in large Hispanic markets, such as Miami, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas

Album-oriented Rock

The radio music format that features album cuts from mainstream rock bands

Pacifica Foundation

A radio broadcasting foundation established in Berkeley, California, by journalist and World War 2 pacifist Lewis Hill; he established KPFA, the first nonprofit community radio station, in 1949

Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

The act by the U.S. Congress that established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

A private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 to funnel federal funds to nonprofit radio and public television.

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

The noncommercial television network established in 1967 as an alternative to commercial television.

National Public Radio (NPR)

Noncommercial radio established in 1967 by the U.S. Congress to provide an alternative to commercial radio.

Internet Radio

Online radio stations that either “stream” simulcast versions of on-air radio broadcasts over the web or are created exclusively for the Internet.

Podcasting

The practice of making audio files available on the Internet so that listeners can download and listen to them on their electronic devices.

Portable Listening

An effect of the digital turn that resulted in people listening to music using contemporary portable audio devices, such as iPods and smartphones.

Satellite Radio

Pay radio services that deliver various radio formats nationally via satellite

HD Radio

A digital technology that enables AM and FM radio broadcasters to multicast two to three additional compressed digital signals within their traditional analog frequency.

Payola

The unethical (and often illegal) practice of record promoters paying deejays or radio programmers to favor particular songs over others.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

The sweeping update of telecommunications law that brought cable fully under federal oversight and led to a wave of media consolidation.

Low-power FM (LPFM)

A class of noncommercial radio stations approved by the FCC in 2000 to give voice to local groups lacking access to the public airwaves; the 10-watt and 100-watt stations broadcast to a small, community-based area.

Celluloid

A transparent and pliable film that can hold a coating of chemicals sensitive to light

Kinetograph

An early movie camera developed by Thomas Edison’s assistant in the 1890s

Kinetoscope

An early film projection system that served as a kind of peep show in which viewers looked through a hole and saw images moving on a tiny plate

Vitascope

A large-screen movie projection system developed by Thomas Edison

Narrative Films

Movies that tell a story, with dramatic action and conflict emerging mainly from individual characters

Nickelodeon

The first type of movie theater; these small, makeshift theaters were often converted cigar stores, pawnshops, or restaurants redecorated to mimic vaudeville theaters

Vertical Integration

In media economics, the phenomenon of controlling a mass media industry at its three essential levels: production, distribution, and exhibition; the term is most frequently used in reference to the film industry

Studio System

An early film production system that constituted a sort of assembly-line process for moviemaking; major film studios controlled not only actors but also directors, editors, writers, and other employees, all of whom worked under exclusive contracts

Oligopoly

In media economics, an organizational structure in which a few firms control most of an industry’s production and distribution resources

Block Booking

An early tactic of movie studios to control exhibition involving pressuring theater operators to accept marginal films with no stars in order to get access to films with the most popular stars

Movie Palaces

Ornate, lavish single-screen movie theaters that emerged in the 1910s in the United States

Talkies

Movies with sound, beginning in 1927

Newsreels

Weekly ten-minute magazine-style compilations of filmed news events from around the world, organized in a sequence of short reports; prominent in movie theaters between the 1920s and the 1950s

Genres

Narrative categories in which conventions regarding similar characters, scenes, structures, and themes recur in combination

Documentaries

Movie or TV news genre that documents reality by recording actual characters and settings

Cinema Verite

French term for truth film, a documentary style that records fragments of everyday life unobtrusively; it often features a rough, grainy look and shaky, handheld camera work

Indies

Independent music and film production houses that work outside industry oligopolies; they often produce less mainstream music and films

Paramount Decision

The 1948 Supreme Court decision that ended vertical integration in the film industry by forcing the studios to divest themselves of their theaters

Big Five

The five major Hollywood studios that currently rule the commercial film business: Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures, and Disney

Synergy

In media economics, the promotion and sale of a product (and all its versions) throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate

Multiplex

A contemporary type of movie theater that exhibits many movies at the same time on multiple screens

Megaplex

A movie theater facility with fourteen or more screens

Digital Video

The production format that is replacing celluloid film and revolutionizing filmmaking because the cameras are more portable and production costs are greatly reduced

Hollywood Ten

The nine screenwriters and one film director subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and sent to prison in the late 1940s for refusing to discuss their memberships or to identify communist sympathizers

Consensus Narratives

Cultural products that become popular and command wide attention, providing shared cultural experiences

Analog

In television, standard broadcast signals made of radio waves (replaced by digital standards in 2009)

Prime Time

In television programming, the hours between 7 and 11 pm (or 7 and 10 pm in the Midwest), when networks have traditionally drawn their largest audiences and charged their highest advertising rates

CATV (community antenna television)

Early cable systems that originated where mountains or tall buildings blocked TV signals; because of early technical and regulatory limits, it contained only twelve channels

Affiliate Stations

Radio or TV stations that, though independently owned, sign a contract to be part of a network and receive money to carry the network’s programs; in exchange, the network reserves time slots, which it sells to national advertisers

Kinescopes

Before the days of videotape, a 1950s technique for preserving television broadcasts by using a film camera to record a live TV show off a studio monitor

Sketch Comedy

Short Television comedy skits that are usually segments of TV variety shows; sometimes known as vaudeo, the marriage of vaudeville and video

Situation Comedy (sitcom)

A type of comedy series that features a recurring cast and set as well as several narrative scenes; each episode establishes a situation, complicates it, develops increasing confusion among its characters, and then resolves the complications

Anthology Dramas

A popular form of early TV programming that brought live dramatic theater to television; influenced by stage plays, anthologies, offered new teleplays, casts, directors, writers, and sets from week to week

Episodic Series

A narrative form well suited to television because main characters appear every week, sets and locales remain the same, and technical crews stay with the program; episodic series feature new adventures each week but establish a handful of ongoing characters with whom viewers can regularly identify

Chapter Shows

In television production, situation comedies or dramatic programs whose narrative structure includes self-contained stories that feature a problem, a series of conflicts, and a resolution from week to week

Serial Programs

Radio or TV programs, such as soap operas, that feature continuing story lines from day to day or week to week

TV Newsmagazines

A TV news program format, pioneered by CBS’s 60 minutes in the late 1960s, that features multiple segments in an hour-long episode, usually ranging from a celebrity-focused or political feature story to a hard-hitting investigative report

Basic Cable

In cable programming, a tier of channels composed of local broadcast signals, nonbroadcast access channels (for local government, education, and general public use), a few regional PBS stations, and a variety of popular channels downlinked from communication satellites

Superstations

Local independent TV stations, such as WTBS in Atlanta or WGN in Chicago, that have uplinked their signals onto a communication satellite to make themselves available nationwide

Premium Channels

In cable programming, a tier of channels that subscribers can order at an additional monthly fee over their basic cable service; these may include movie channels and interactive series

Pay-per-view (PPV) Channels

A cable-television service that allows customers to select a particular movie for a fee, or to pay $25 to $40 for a special one-time event

Video-on-demand (VOD)

Cable television technology that enables viewers to instantly order programming, such as movies, to be digitally delivered to their sets

Network Era

The period in television history, roughly from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, that refers to the dominance of the Big Three networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—over programming and prime-time viewing habits; the era began eroding with a decline in viewing and with the development of VCRs, cable, and new TV networks.

Infotainment Programs

A type of television program that packages human-interest and celebrity stories in the style of TV news

Fin Syn

FCC rules that prohibited the major networks from running their own syndication companies or from charging production companies additional fees after shows had completed their prime-time runs; most fin-syn rules were rescinded in the mid-1990s.

Must-carry Rules

Rules established by the FCC requiring all cable operators to assign channels to and carry all local TV broadcasts on their systems, thereby ensuring that local network affiliates, independent stations (those not carrying network programs), and public television channels would benefit from cable’s clearer reception.

Access Channels

In cable television, a tier of nonbroadcast channels dedicated to local education, government, and the public

Electronic Publishers

A communication business, such as a broadcaster or a cable TV company, that is entitled to choose what channels or content to carry

Common Carriers

A communication or transportation business, such as a phone company or a taxi service, that is required by law to offer service on a first-come, first-served basis to whoever can pay the rate; such companies do not get involved in content.

Videocassette Recorders (VCRs)

Recorders that used a half-inch video format known as VHS (video home system), which enabled viewers to record and play back programs from television or watch movies rented from video stores.

Time Shifting

The process whereby television viewers record shows and watch them later, when it is convenient for them

Digital Video Recorder (DVR)

A device that enables users to find and record specific television shows (and movies) and store them in computer memory to be played back at a later time or recorded onto a DVD.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS)

Satellite-based services that for a monthly fee downlink hundreds of satellite channels and services; they began distributing video programming directly to households in 1994.

Deficit Financing

In television, the process whereby a TV production company leases its programs to a network for a license fee that is actually less than the cost of production; the company hopes to recoup this loss later in rerun syndication.

Retransmission Fees

A fee that cable service providers and satellite services have to pay to broadcast networks to carry network channels and programming.

Syndication

Leasing TV stations the exclusive right to air older TV series

Evergreens

In TV syndication, popular, lucrative, and enduring network reruns, such as The Andy Griffith Show or I Love Lucy