Commrc 320 Midterm Study Guide (Pitt, Spring 2019, Bret Malin)

Adolph Ochs

American newspaper publisher under whose ownership (from 1896) The New York Times became one of the world's outstanding newspapers. Despising "yellow [sensational] journalism," he emphasized comprehensive and trustworthy news gathering.American newspaper publisher under whose ownership (from 1896) The New York Times became one of the world's outstanding newspapers. Despising "yellow [sensational] journalism," he emphasized comprehensive and trustworthy news gathering.

Amateur Radio

amateurs assigned to short wave

after the Titanic sinks in 1912. Where jamming up the radio waves, making communication hard

American Journalistic Professionalism

Model of journalism stressing objectivity, can be explained with an inverted pyramid.

Amos n' Andy

is a situation comedy based on stock sketch comedy characters but set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television. It began as one of the first radio comedy series

anti-metanarrative

the fragmentation of the human subject

Antonio Gramsci

was an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician. He wrote on political theory, sociology and linguistics. He attempted to break from the economic determinism of traditional Marxist thought and so is considered a key neo-Marxist.[2] He was a founding member and one-time leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. He is is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class - the bourgeoisie - use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies. The bourgeoisie, in Gramsci's view, develops a hegemonic culture using ideology rather than violence, economic force, or coercion. Hegemonic culture propagates its own values and norms so that they become the "common sense" values of all and thus maintain the status quo. Hegemonic power is therefore used to maintain consent to the capitalist order, rather than coercive power using force to maintain order. This cultural hegemony is produced and reproduced by the dominant class through the institutions that form the superstructure.

Amplitude modulation

a method of broadcasting signals by changing the amplitude of a wave. AM radio

Artist and repertoire agents

talent scouts of the music business who discover, develop, and sometimes manage performers

Arthur Judson

was an artists' manager who also managed the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra and founder of CBS. He co-founded the Handel Society of New York with entrepreneur James Grayson in 1966.

ABC

American Broadcasting Company was created in 1943 when FCC challenged "chain Broadcasting." As a result of this, RCA had to sell NBC-Blue which was bought by Edward J. Noble and changed to ABC.

Agenda Setting

A media research argument that says that when the mass media they pay attention to particular events or issues, they determine-- that is, set the agenda for-- the major topics of discussion for individuals and society

American Marconi

Created by Guglielmo Marconi in 1899 the company installed wireless telegraphs on American naval and private commercial ships.

Analog

a device or system that represents changing values as continuously variable physical quantities.

In TV, standard broadcast signals made out of radio waves. In recording, a recording that is made by capturing the fluctuations of the original sound waves and storing those signals on records or cassettes as a continuous stream of magnetism-- analogous actual sound.

Analytic survey

examine relationships between variables

association priniples

In advertising, a persuasive technique that associates a product with some cultural value or image that has a positive connotation but may have little connection to the actual product.

audience studies

cultural studies research that focuses on how people use and interpret cultural content. Also known as reader-response research.

audion

The Audion was an electronic detecting or amplifying vacuum tube invented by American electrical engineer Lee de Forest in 1906. t is important in the history of technology because it was the first widely used electronic device which could amplify; a small electrical signal applied to the grid could control a larger current flowing from the filament to plate.

bad subjects

don't fit dominant opinion/subject

band wagon effect

Lots of people have it; you're left out if you don't have it; at the very least, you won't be noticed with this product because everyone has it

base

Mode of production. How do you sustain yourself?

Ex: hunter gatherers, agricultural society, industrial capitalism

benjamin day

American printer and journalist who founded the New York Sun, the first of the "penny" newspapers in the United States.

Big Five

Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, film. They all have the following things in common: quantity and anonymity, they are historically modern, they are for profit businesses, the involve industrial technology, they are one-way communications.

brand identity

Those elements that are instantly recognized as representing a particular business or product.

british marconi

Created by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 the company installed wireless telegraphs on British naval and private commercial ships.

canting

to cant means to bend, you often see women in advertisements bent in unusual or impossible positions, just another way of objectifying women

carter family

The Carter Family is a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country music stars, and were the first group to record commercially produced country music in recorded history.

CBS

Columbia Broadcasting System

Charlie christian

was an American swing and jazz guitarist. He was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument.

clear channels

an AM radio station that had the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation

clowning

men are usually shown as being serious whereas women in ads are silly and smiling

communications act of 1934

the far-reaching act that established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the federal regulatory structure for U.S. broadcasting

complementary copy

newspaper and magazine content that reinforces the advertiser's message, or at least does not negate it

compulsory license

when a government allows someone else to produce the patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner.

content analysis

a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film

Control Group

In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

Copyright Act of 1909

defined an unauthorized copy as a form that could be seen and read visually

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

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

Correlations

observed associations between two variables

Cover Music

songs recorded or performed by musicians who did not originally write or perform the music; in the 1950s, some white producers and artists capitalized on popular songs by black artists by "covering" them

Cultivation Theory

idea that long-term immersion in a media environment leads to "cultivation," or enculturation, into shared beliefs about the world. George Gerbner. Ex: "Mean World Syndrome" The more violence you watch on tv / in movies, the more violent you think the world is

Cultural Studies

in media research, the approaches that try to understand how the media and culture are tied to the actual patterns of communication used in daily life; these studies focus on how people make meanings, apprehend reality, and order experience through the use of stories and symbols

Culture as a Prison House of Language

culture is something that can constrain us, setting up norms about how people are supposed to act

Culture as a Site of Struggle

One of the 5 conceptions of culture, and the most academic of the 5. Sees culture as a terrain where people fight over and create meaning about their identities. It is where meanings get constructed and fought over, seen more as a place.

Culture as a Whole Way of Life

*this is what we usually think of when we think of culture, all the kinds of things a group of people do

Culture as Community

One of the 5 conceptions of culture. The thing that you need to have a community. This is where anxiety about losing your culture comes from as it is the thing that actually makes you a community.

Demographic Edition

National magazine edition with advertising targeted to specific audience demographic segmented according to occupation, class, and/or region

Demographics

the characteristics of a population with respect to age, race, and gender.

Dependent Variable

measure of response or outcome "effect" variable

Descriptive Survey

documents current conditions

Desktop Publishing

using a computer and software program to produce high quality, printed documents that combine text and graphics

Digital

Not literal. Examples include CDs and mp3. Uses Sampling at 44.1 khz "Redbook"

Digital Culture

culture in which we spend enormous amounts of time and money on cell phones, iPods and other brands of music players, video games, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Dismemberment

Showing only parts of bodies or things in advertising

Dobyera Brothers

Created the first electric guitar, the "Dobro" in 1928. It was made of metal

Domination

a sense of domination is built into the ad (like a man standing over a woman);

Dr. Brinkley

Broadcast on KFKB in Milford Kansas. Was a Radio personality who was known as the crazy goat guy. He was claiming to be a Dr and was giving untrue medial advice.

Drive Time

in radio programming, the periods between 6 and 10 A.M. and 4 and 7 P.M., when people are commuting to and from work or school; these periods constitute the largest listening audiences of the day.

Early Models for Paying for Radio

endowment by a public-spirited citizen"

municipal financing

common fund controlled by elected board

state financing

tax on radio receives

levy on sale of radio equipment

advertising (ppl thought this was the worst idea)

Edison's Talking Machine

a hand-cranked grooved cylinder and a needle duplicating sounds

Edward R. Murrow

An American journalist who criticized McCarthyism and helped bring about the eventual censure of Joseph McCarthy by the U.S. government.

Edwin Armstrong

American inventor who laid the foundation for much of modern radio and electronic circuitry, including FM radio. He worked with RCA to develop the technology but they, alogn with Sarnoff sabotage it as a means to keep AM radio on top. Sues RCA in 1948 and the suit is settled in 1954 after he commits suicide.

Electrical Telegraph

A device for rapid, long-distance transmission of information over an electric wire. It was introduced in England and North America in the 1830s and 1840s and replaced telegraph systems that utilized visual signals such as semaphores. It was created by Samuel Morse. The technologies limitations included wire and code.

Notable dates:

1861: coast to coast telegraph wires

1866: transatlantic cable

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

Electronic Culture

The communication technology would be the very first telegraph. This is where separation of communication from transportation becomes possible for the first time. Before, someone had to physically carry the message. This altered the human sense of space and time as you could be in two places at once (ex: talking to someone in New York when you're in California). This altered language, we speak the language of the telegraph. It changed the nature of communication, news becomes a commodity. It could be sold like anything else.

Previously unprecedented speed of production and organization. A new brand of imperialism.

We don't have to wait for letters to get passed to and from.

Elite Magazines

characterized by their combination of literature, criticism, humor, and journalism and by their appeal to highly educated audiences, often living in urban areas

Elite -> Mass -> Specialized

History of the magazine

Emergent Culture

A new culture that is different from dominant culture; threatening to dominant culture (ex: grunge look)

Emile Berliner

German-born American inventor who made important contributions to telephone technology and developed the phonograph record disc. Berliner developed a transmitter employing a loose metal contact and, while experimenting with it, made the important discovery that the device could act as a superior telephone receiver. Later he added other inventions to the development of the telephone, and, in 1887, turning his attention to the problem of the phonograph, he made another contribution of major significance, the flat phonograph disc, or record, across which the stylus moved horizontally, rather than vertically (as on a cylinder), thus minimizing the distortions caused by gravity on Thomas Edison's recording stylus. He also invented a method for manufacturing records.

Erving Goffman's Gender Advertising

Dismemberment (you only see parts of women in ads (more rare for men))

Clowning (men are usually shown as being serious whereas women in ads are silly and smiling)

Canting (to cant means to bend)

Domination (a sense of domination is built into the ad (like a man standing over a woman))

Semiotics (the study of sign, has 2 parts: the relationship between the 2 are arbitrary, 1. the signifier (word/image like a pic of a cat) and 2. the signified (concept like what you think when i say "cat"))

Ethnography

the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.

Ex: What are people watching on the shared tv set in the residence hall's common room?

Experimental Group

In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.

Famous Person Testimonial

an advertising strategy that associates a product with the endorsement of a well-known person

Federal Radio Commission

an independent US government agency charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, cable, and the internet.

Fireside Chats

informal talks given by FDR over the radio; sat by White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Focus Groups

A strategy to obtain data from a small group of people using interview questions

Folk Music

a type of popular music that is based on traditional music and that does not use electric instruments

Format Radio

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

Frequency Modulation

(FM) a method of transmitting a radio signal in which the frequency of the carrier wave varies while its amplitude remains the same

General Interest Magazines

types of magazines that address a wide variety of topics and are aimed at a broad national audience

George Beauchamp

accredited for making first guitar; called "frying-pan guitar"(1934); had a magnetic pick up

Glocalization

relative to the past, we are becoming more attached globally and less , attached locally

Gramaphone

the earliest version of the phonograph

Guglielmo Marconi

Italian physicist and inventor of a successful wireless telegraph in the 1890s. He later worked on the development of shortwave wireless communication, which constitutes the basis of nearly all modern long-distance radio.

Half-tone

is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale.

Harold Innis

was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and Canadian economic history. Despite his dense and difficult prose, he was one of Canada's most original thinkers. He helped develop the staples thesis, which holds that Canada's culture, political history, and economy have been decisively influenced by the exploitation and export of a series of "staples" such as fur, fishing, lumber, wheat, mined metals, and coal. The staple thesis dominated economic history in Canada 1930s-1960s, and continues to be a fundamental part of the Canadian political economy tradition. His writings on communication explore the role of media in shaping the culture and development of civilizations. He argued, for example, that a balance between oral and written forms of communication contributed to the flourishing of Greek civilization in the 5th century BC.He warned, however, that Western civilization is now imperiled by powerful, advertising-driven media obsessed by "present-mindedness" and the "continuous, systematic, ruthless destruction of elements of permanence essential to cultural activity".

Harold Lasswell

Wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War (1927). Said that ''If the mass will be free from chains of iron, it must accept its chains of silver'." Was focused on propaganda analysis

Hegemony

the acceptance of the dominant values in a culture by those who are subordinate to those who hold economic and political power

Heinrich Hertz

German physicist who showed that Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism was correct and that light and heat are electromagnetic radiations.

Hidden Fear Appeal

an advertising strategy that plays on a sense of insecurity, trying to persuade consumers that only a specific product can offer relief

Hillbilly Music

folk music combined with elements of popular music in which the banjo, fiddle, and guitar are principal instruments: a type of music that originated in mountain regions of the southern U.S.

Historical Analysis

form of social research that relies on existing historical documents as a source of data

Hock Kultur

One of the 5 conceptions of culture. "The best that's been though and said in the world" Matthew Arnold in Culture and Anarchy. It is something that makes you better or helps you grow. It is the original meaning of culture.

Hyperreality

the condition in which media depictions of the world replace the experience of the "real" world

Hypodermic Needle Model

an early model in mass communication research that attempted to explain media effects by arguing that the media figuratively shoot their powerful effects into unsuspecting or weak audiences; sometimes called the bullet theory or direct effects model

Ideogrammatic Writing

The term "ideogram" is often used to describe symbols of writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian cuneiform and Chinese characters. However, these symbols are logograms, representing words or morphemes of a particular language rather than objects or concepts.

Ideological State Apparatuses

Function primarily through persuasion. Ex: Religious institutions, educational institutions, family structures, communication institutions (advertisements, news, etc).

Incorporation

is the formation of a new corporation. It is a process that extended the protections of the Bill of Rights against the actions of state and local governments

Independent Variable

manipulated by researcher. "casual variable"

Interpellation

the communication process by which one is pulled into the social forces that place people into a specific identity.

Transforms individuals into subjects. You are always already a subject. You were never an individual.