chapter 7- radio, recording, and popular music 

  • hist of radio and sound recording
    • early radio
    • guglielmo marconi successfully transmitted sound across the english channel in 1899, and across the atlantic in 190; monopole antenna
    • 1903- reginald fessenden invented the liquid barretter
      • diode for detection of radio waves
    • early sound recording (scott and edison)
    • 2008→ sound recording re-discovered from 1860 made by edouard-leon soctt de martinville on a device called phonautograph, has some audio historians rethinking recording’s roots
    • 1877→ edison patented the ‘talking machine’
      • called it a phonograph
    • 1887: emile berliner developed the flat disc gramophone
    • 1905: columbia phonograph company introduced the two-sided disc
    • the coming of broadcasting
    • patent fights and lawsuits delayed intro of broadcasting to a mass audience
    • radio act
    • the radio act of 1912 required wireless operators to be licensed by the Secretary of commerce and labour
    • act established rungs of authority for both federal and state govs, provided for allocating an revoking licenses and fining violators among powers
    • affiliates
    • delivered larger audiences
    • realized greater advertising revenues
    • hired bigger stars
    • produced better programming
  • cannot, cont from there
  • television
    • tv arrives (lates 40s- early 50s)
    • radio advertising begins to lose its influence after growth of tv
    • radio started promoting more of music related content
    • radio stations became ‘local’
    • led to more music specialization
  • radio and its audiences
    • radio survived by changing the nature of its relationships w its audiences- became specialized
    • today’s radio is dominated by formats (eg. talk radio hits)
    • radio’s audience growth is stagnant
    • time spent listening by young ppl is in decline
  • radio is
    • local: advertising on radio cheaper than tv and specific to locales
    • personal: we listen alone; radio speaks to us
    • fragmented: there are many stations serving many areas
    • specialized: there are numerous, various formats
    • mobile: we can listen anytime, anywhere
  • recording industry (covers)
    • recording industry flourished w radio
    • radio DJs were often ‘color deaf’; until the mid-1950s, the work of african-american artists had to be covered - re-recorded- by white artists before it was aired
  • industry (art vs profit)
    • cultural homogenization
    • make everything about profit, focus on selling many albums, but then lose out on independent voices and talent
    • mathematical songwriting
    • AI songwriting
    • dominance of profit over artistry
    • catalogue albums/ recent catalogue albums
    • collection of artists album being bought out
    • promotion overshadows the music
  • trends and convergence in radio and sound recording (terrestrial and web)
    • terrestrial digital radio
    • in-band-on-channel (IBOC) compression tech
      • allows high def broadcasting; beyond analog, but not yet replacing it
    • web radio
    • podcasts
    • bitcasters
      • streaming
  • convergence (electronic devices)
    • radio and music on smartphones, tablets, SNS
    • streaming now accounts for 83% of industry revs
    • spotify
    • musician centric sites like bandzoogle
  • convergence (listening habits)
    • american stats
    • growth in streams
  • developing media literacy skills
    • you are what you listen to
    • ppl define themselves through music and related to other ppl through it
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