Extra Credit Essay

Sydni C. Holmes
Mr. Lindberg Radio/TV Broadcasting
As a very outspoken person, I have chosen to go into the Communications field with a focus in Radio/Television Broadcasting. I believe I would be very successful in my workplace and it is something I would enjoy doing daily. Being a radio or a TV host would not only be the ideal career for a lover of music like myself, but for others that are interested in the entertainment field but have no talent.
To get the most research on this topic, I utilized all of my resources and indulged directly in my work. This project is very meaningful to me because it is my future and I take it very serious. I also found successful people currently in my field and those who are no longer in the field; to use as tangible pieces of evidence that relate and have resulted from this project. The history of radio broadcasting (experimenting around 1905-1906, officially around 1920-21) starts with audio broadcasting services which are broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and, thus, to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both.
One of the first signals of significant power that carried voice and music was said to have been accomplished in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden when he made a Christmas Eve broadcast to ships at sea from Massachusetts. He played "O Holy Night" on his violin and read passages from the Bible. It should be noted that recent researchers have cast doubt on this story: there is little doubt that Fessenden did ground-breaking experiments with voice and music; however the Christmas Eve broadcast may be a myth. There is considerable evidence that Fessenden demonstrated voice and music long before Christmas Eve 1906. Despite Fessenden's successful experiments, his financial backers lost interest in the project, leaving others to take the next steps. Early on, the concept of broadcasting was new and unusual—with telegraphs, communication had been one-to-one, not one-to-many. Sending out one-way messages to multiple receivers didn't seem to have much practical use.
He was on the air daily for nearly a decade when World War I interrupted operations. After the war, the Herrold operation in San Jose received the call sign KQW in 1923. Today, the lineage of that continues as KCBS, a CBS-owned station in San Francisco.
Television began to replace radio as the chief source of revenue for broadcasting networks. Although many radio programs continued through this decade, including Gunsmoke and The Guiding Light, by 1960 networks had ceased producing entertainment programs.
As radio stopped producing formal fifteen-minute to hourly programs, a new format developed. "Top 40" was based on a continuous rotation of short pop songs presented by a "disc jockey, or DJ.” Famous disc jockeys in the era included Alan Freed, Dick Clark, Don Imus and Wolfman Jack. Top 40 playlists were theoretically based on record sales; however, record companies began to bribe disc jockeys to play selected artists, in what was called payola.
In the 1950s, American television networks introduced broadcasts in color. (The Federal Communications Commission approved the world's first monochrome-compatible color television standard in Dec., 1953. The first network colorcast followed on January 1, 1954, with NBC transmitting the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif. to over 20 stations across the country.) An educational television network, National Educational Television (NET), predecessor to PBS, was founded.
The rise of FM changed the listening habits of younger Americans. Many stations such as WNEW-FM in New York City began to play whole sides of record albums, as opposed to the "Top 40" model of two decades earlier.
In the 1980s, the Federal Communications Commission, under Reagan Administration and Congressional pressure, changed the rules limiting the number of

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Essay Extra Credit