full chapter 5

Telegraph - invented in the 1940s, it 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; developed by the American inventor Samuel Morse

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

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

Wireless telegraphy - the forerunner of radio, it is a form of voiceless point-to-point communication; it preceded the voice and sound transmissions of one-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

Broadcasting - the transmission of radio waves or TV signals to a broad public audience

Narrowcasting - any specialized electronic programming or media channel aimed at a target audience

Radio Act of 1912 - the first radio legislation passed by Congress, it addressed the problem of amateur radio operators cramming the airwaves

Radio Corporation of America - a company developed during WW1 that was designed, with government approval, to pool radio patents; the formation of RCA 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

Option time - a business tactic, now illegal, whereby a radio network in the 1920s and 1930s paid an affiliate station a set fee per hour for an option to control programming and advertising on tha station

Radio Act of 1927 - the second radio legislation passed by Congress; in an attempt to restore order to the airwaves, the act stated that licensees did not own their channels but could license them if they operated to serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity”

Federal Radio Commission (FRC) - a body established in 1927 to oversee radio license and negotiate channel problems

Communication Act of 1934 - the far-reaching act that established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the federal regulator structure for U.S. broadcasting

Federal Communications Commission - an independent U.S. government agency charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, cable, and the Internet

Transistors - invented by Bell Laboratories in 1947, these tiny pieces of technology, which receive and amplify radio signals, make portable radios possible

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

AM - a type of radio and sound transmission that stresses the volume or height of radio waves

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

Rotation - in format of 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

Progressive Rock - an alternative music format that developed as a backlash to the popularity of Top 40

Album-oriented Rock - the radio music format that features album cuts from mainstream rock bands

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

News/talk/information - the fastest-growing radio format in the 1990s, 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 (CHR) - 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

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

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

Pacifica Foundation - a radio broadcasting foundation established in Berkley, California, by journalist and WW2 pacifist Lewis Hill; in 1949, Hill established KPFA, the first nonprofit community radio station

National Public Radio (NPR) - non commercial radio established in 1967 by the U.S. Congress to provide an alternative to commercial radio

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) - noncommercial television established 1967 by the U.S. Congress to provide an alternative to commercial television

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

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 2-3 additional compressed digital signals within their traditional analog frequency

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

Podcasting - a distribution method (coined from iPod and broad-casting) that enables listeners to download audio program files from the Internet for playback on computers or digital music players

Payola - the unethical (but not always illegal) practice of record promoters’ paying deejays or radio programmers to favor particular songs over others

Telecommunications Act of 1996 - the sweeping update of telecommunications law that led to a wave of media consolidation

Low-power FM - a new 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