Talk Radio and Its Impact on Society
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Project Number: 46-SYS-0101 Talk Radio and Its Impact on Society An Interactive Qualifying Project Report: Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science by ___________________ Justin Butterfield ___________________ Nicole Corriveau ___________________ Shaun McGee Date: March 1, 2001 1. Radio 2. Radio Technology 3. Talk Shows Approved: Professor Satya Shivkumar, Major Advisor TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction pg. 2 Objectives pg. 4 Reasons for listening to talk shows pg. 5 Procedures pg. 6 2. Evolution of Talk Radio pg. 7 Invention of Radio pg. 7 Evolution of Radio pg. 10 Impact of Technology pg. 12 Study of Internet Radio Listening pg. 16 Definition of Talk Radio pg. 24 3. Observed Talk Shows pg. 29 Car Talk Analysis pg. 30 Imus in the Morning pg. 37 The Connection pg. 38 The Big Show pg. 40 Dr. Laura pg. 41 Kim Komando pg. 43 Talk Radio Study pg. 44 4. Conclusion pg. 49 5. Appendix 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Radio brought the way individuals communicate to a new light. As the Industrial Era grew, mass communication became necessary. Individuals could not receive news fast enough through newspapers, word of mouth, or town meetings. A new approach to how information was relayed to individuals was required. This new means of communication would come to be known as the radio. The founding fathers of radio were consistent in their views of how radio would change the lives of individuals worldwide. Radio would be broadcast to every household that has a radio box nationwide. The demand for radio boxes grew exponentially as individuals realized the convenience of radio. Due to the availability of news and entertainment in the privacy of their own homes, intrigued individuals wanted more programs and more stations. The need for minimizing static resulted in the development of the FM bandwidth. Prior to the FM dial, AM was all that people knew. AM was capable of broadcasting over a wide area, however the quality was lost and programs were left with static. The static turned many people off to radio, including one of its founding fathers. FM made way for more stations and better quality in broadcasting. One of the ways radio used to try to change the lives of their listeners was through the use of talk show radio programming. These shows were some of the first programs that provided education and entertainment. Many of the first talk shows were political shows designed to spark the moral or political values in the listeners, as well as to convince them that the way the host thinks is correct. Another form of talk show was entertainment, featuring hosts like Amos and Andy, whose sole purpose was to entertain the general public. All of these talk shows have played an important part of the social and political development of society, either by providing 2 moral and political support or simply making people laugh about their situations. Talk shows became so important that they have transferred themselves from AM to FM radio over the course of years and through the changes of technology. Also the topics of talk radio shows have emerged in a broad sense to include a plethora of topics, entertainment, and information. The move away from a more conservative point of view has helped more talk radio shows grow to include anything from beer talk to sewing talk. From this point on, technology would play a major role in the enhancement of radio and its impact on society. Radio stayed popular contrary to predictions of television overpowering radio’s efficacy. The role that technology played had to be significant enough to keep up with advances in other areas of communication technology. Though television, improved means of travel, and the Internet have made communication easier through the years, radio is now and will continue to be a major player in the world of communication as long as its accessibility is just as convenient as any other. 3 Objectives · To examine the evolution of radio · To examine the historical development of talk radio · To develop a definition of “talk radio” · To examine the evolution of talk radio from a primarily conservative institution to being accepted by the main stream media · To examine the potential political and social impact of talk radio · To examine the content, tone of discussion, and nature of listeners in observed talk shows · To examine the topics of discussion in national and local talk shows · To forecast the future of talk radio · To examine past effects of technology on talk radio · To forecast future impacts of technology on talk radio · To examine the role of the internet and its technological impact on talk radio 4 Procedures: The first step in beginning the Talk Radio and Society IQP was to select the six talk shows to be monitored. The selections were based on interesting listener bases and preconceptions of the current members of the group. A common system of surveying the criteria was developed and used by all of the members. Another process for collecting information was conducting interviews with local members in the radio communities. During the same time data was collected from books, the FCC, the Internet, and other sources as to how radio developed and what impact it had on the American Culture. After collecting all of the data, it was compiled, analyzed and placed into both the paper and the interactive compact disk. 5 The reason for listening to the designated talk shows · To examine the listener base · To determine if common preconceptions about talk radio are correct · To examine the distribution of callers · To examine the attitude of the shows and determine if it is stable · To monitor the tone of the shows · To monitor the content of the shows · To monitor the nature of listeners in the shows · To monitor the types of shows that are being broadcast 6 Chapter 2: Evolution of Talk Radio Invention of Radio The history of radio is a segment of history that is full of magnificent discoveries, as well as some th eavesdropper.” Radio was designed to entertain, educate, anger, and delight Americans of every kind, age, and class. “Radio made America into a land of listeners, entertain angering and delighting, and joining every age and class into a common culture (Lewis, 2).” , a PBS Home Video, gives credit to three main developers, Dr. Lee De Forest, Edward Armstrong, and David Sarnoff for the succe invented the first spark transmitter with antenna at his home in Bologna, Italy, in December 1894. Guglielmo Marconi, the true father or radio, brought his spark transmitter to Britain in r the first British patent on the second of June of the same year. Marconi founded his first Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company in Britain in 1887 at the age of -three. He then founded the first radio factory a year later. The founding of both establishments led to the founding of The American Marconi Company in 1899, which controlled the patents for the Lodge 1900 tuner and dial, and the Fleming 1904 valve that acted his many consumers for the spark transmitters was the United States Navy, which used the transmitter for ship to- other point--point communication. These inventions set the basis for the three men that made ociety in America from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. “Marconi was, it turned out, the first entrant and thereby the first leader— 7 race to control wireless communications. But he knew that the field would not remain his alone for long (Lewis, 37).” Doctor Lee De Forest, the self-proclaimed father of radio, was given credit for the audion tube in 1906, however he may have stolen the design from Reginald Fessenden of Canada. The patent for the “spade detector” was issued to De Forest in 1906. The “spade detector” was the foundation for the De Forest Wireless Company, which showed and won first place at the St. Lewis worlds fair for the product. De Forest even used his device to court his first wife, who divorced him soon after. Edwin Armstrong was the second inventor to make major developments in the history of radio. Armstrong made several key inventions that allowed the radio to become a staple in the American home. Armstrong was the son of a wealthy printer. He became interested in wireless at the age of thirteen. He attended Columbia University where he was known to question many basic assumptions of his professors. Armstrong was not like his peers in college who partied and played sports; he had a vision to be an inventor, which enveloped his heart, body, and soul. “Instead he filled his days and nights with the study of wireless and directed his unswerving visions toward his career as an inventor (Lewis, 65).” On September 22, 1912 Armstrong discovered how to use De Forest’s audion tube so that he could increase the power to amplify the radio signal by looping the signal up to 20,000 times per second through a radio tube. He called this phenomenon “regeneration.” Armstrong also found that as he increased regeneration above a certain rate it would oscillate and produce its own radio waves. He had inadvertently invented a new type of transmitter. During World War I Armstrong went on to develop the superheterodyne circuit. The superheterodyne took a high frequency wave and a lower frequency wave and combined them together to form a new wave that would travel over a greater 8 distance. He was awarded a promotion to major in the Army Signal Corps.