The Complete Encyclopedia of Games 3/GAMES1000V3_d1.iso/adven/wsim/on_line.txt

Text File | 1997-02-17 | 21KB | 633 lines

            History of Radio

   Radio  is  an  enigma,  it  is   the
most   obvious   force  on  the  planet.
There  is  no  patch  of  land  anywhere
that  is  un-touched   by  radio  waves.
   Over  1/3   of  radio      broadcasts
originate   from   the   United   States
of  America .  In  1997  there  are over
11,000   radio   stations  in this land.
99%  of  all  households  have  a  radio
in  them ,  many  of  these  homes  have
more than one.
   More  people  tune  into  to   todays
radio for various forms of entertainment
than  any  other  source of media today,
either printed or electronic.
   As  a  matter of fact there are twice
as  many  car  radios  in  use  than the
combined   circulations  of  all   daily
newspapers.  Even  though radio seems to
have  been around for-ever, it is just a
little  over  a  century  old. Radio was
invented by Guglielmo Marconi, he called
his invention "wireless telegraphy".
   It  was  David  Sarnoff  who  can lay
claim   to  creating   the  radio  world
we  know  today.  In  what  was known as
the " Radio Box Memo", Sarnoff suggested
that  radio  recievers  be mass produced
for  public  consumption.  At  first the
offer   was   rejected,  but   Sarnoff's
persistence  paid  off.  In  a few years,
radio's   popularity   even    surpassed
Sarnoff's expectations.
   In  1922  Pittsburgh's  'KDKA'  radio
station  went  on the air with a regular
operating schedule.
   The first major broadcast network was
established in 1926 by the Radio Corpor-
ation of America (RCA). The network con-
sisted of 24 stations.
    It  was  during  the depression that
radio  flourished.   The  home front was
entertained  by radio shows like "Fibber
McGee and Molly", and "The Lone Ranger".
As    most   businesses   failed,  radio
flourished.  Some   shows   achieved  so
much   popularity  that   peoples  lives
revolved  around  them.  When " Amos and
Andy "  came on life in the country came
to a halt.
   In  the  40 's   radio  was  at first
threatened  by  World War II, as the FCC
ordered  a  war  time  freeze  on  radio
construction.   And  then  in the latter
half  of  the  decade, television reared
it's  head.  Radio  was  given it's last
rights.  Many  radio station owners sold
their  stations  and  re-invested in t.v.
stations.
   In  the 1950 's  radio  was  given  a
revival  with  the advent of Rock & Roll
music.  Soon  music  was  pouring out of
radio  sets  around  the world.  It  was
Rock  &  Roll  music  that triggered the
advent of FM music.
   In  1961  the  FCC authorized the use
of  stereo  broadcasting on the FM band.
This  would  be  the  benchmark  of  the
medium.
   FM  reached it's peak in the 70's. By
the  mid  decade, stereo radio sets were
one  of  the  hottest  products  in  the
stores.  Soon stations began to "program
music "  station  formats  arose.  Rock,
country,  disco, and  all sorts of other
music was being run by various stations.
   Local  disc  jockeys became overnight
celebrities,stations fought to be number
one.  The  Arbitron  Ratings  became the
guage  to  how good the station was, and
how   much   any  station  could  charge
for advertising space on the airwaves.
   By  the 1980's and well into the 90's
radio  became  big  business,  and still
stands there today.

               Radio Personel

   Radio  stations are divided into many
different  departments,  each  of  these
departments  managed  by a  professional
radio employees. These  employees  range
from  the  General  Manager all the down
to part time board operators.
   The general manager is the boss, here
is  the  person  who is in charge of all
staff  members,  he is the final word on
all  matters.  It is the station manager
name  that goes on payroll checks. It is
responsibility  to  run the entire radio
station.
   A G.M. is usually a business major in
college,   he  has  a  strong  sense  of
business, and a good knowledge of radio.
He  makes  big money, but he has all the
head-aches.  The General Manager answers
directly  to  the  owners  of  the radio
station.
   Between  the  General Manager and the
Operation   Manager  lies  the  business
manager, and executive secretary in some
stations. The job of the receptionist is
sometimes  linked   under  that  of  the
secretary.
   Answering to the G.M. directly is the
operations manager. An O.P. is responsi-
ble for the actual running of the
station. He is the person who is the go-
between for the staff and higher
management. The various department heads
like sales manger,the program directors,
and chiefengineer.
   After  the  operation's  manager  the
chain of command takes a three way split
the  departments are sales, maintenance,
and the actual air shifts.
   The  maintenance of the station is up
to  the  chief  engineer,  his job is to
see  that  all  items in the station are
in  top  working order. This is not just
the  transmitters,  and  other broadcast
equipment,  this  includes general main-
tenance  like  lights,  and  doors,  and
furniture  as  well.  The chief engineer
is  responsible for the entire upkeep of
the whole station.
   Under  the chief engineer's jurisdic-
tion  is  also  the station technicians,
and the maintenance personel.
   The sales manager is at the other end
of  the spectrum. Here is the person who
handles  the  financial  health  of  the
radio station. The sales people, traffic
and public affairs personel are all the
responsibility of the sales manager.
   Sales staff, these are the folks that
make  the phone calls, keep the appoint-
ments,  and  handle  the  station's many
clients. They are the folks in the front
line  that  try to sell the ad space for
the radio station.
   Traffic  Staff, the people in traffic
handle  the paperwork. They take care of
the  writing,  placing,  and billing for
all  the commercials that the radio sta-
tion  plays.  The copy writers are loca-
ted in the staff as well.
   The  Program Director handles all the
jobs  of  the  air personel. Here is the
backbone of any radio station. He is the
guy  that  programs the music, makes the
schedules, and handles all jobs that are
connected with the actual air staff.
   Under  the P.D. are the news director
the sports, director, the music director
the  announcers, and the news people. In
most  smaller  stations  the P.D. serves
double  and triple duty by taking on all
of the director jobs in the station.
   Lastly  in  the  chain of command are
the  announcers,  these  are  the people
the  actual listeners hear on the radio.
   As  you  can see, even though the air
shift  is  the  only people you can hear
on  a  radio station, it is a huge staff
that  is  in  the  background that keeps
these guys on.

         PROGRAMMING MUSIC

   As  you can tell by scanning the dial
there  are all sorts of music, different
stations  play different kinds of music.
Why  is this ? Well a radio station is a
business,  and  as  such it is competing
against  other  stations  for as many of
the people in that city to listen to it.
   To  get the most people a station has
to  play the music the city's population
wants.  This  is  called "demographics".
Different  types  of people like various
types  of music. Even though there is no
set  rule as to what sort of people like
sort  of music, various trends have been
noticed by programmers over the years.
   Senior  Citizens for example, seem to
treat rock and roll like the plaque, yet
the  embrace  the  format known as "Easy
Listening"  or "Beautiful  Music".  Also
listeners  tend to gravitate towards the
music  that  is  produced by people like
themselves.  Such  as jazz and urban are
usually  prefered  by  African -American
listeners.
    Even  though  these  trends  seem to
hold  true,  the  spectrum is broad, and
there  are  exceptions  to  these rules.
However  demographics  do  contribute to
a lot of what a station should play.
    But  what  are  the  various formats
that  a  radio  station  will play. Well
there  are  quite  a number of them, and
they  in  turn  can  be broken down even
further.  But  the  most  important ones
would include the following:
    Adult Contemporary       (AC)
    Contemporary Hit Radio   (CHR)
    Country
    Easy Listening
    Album Oriented Rock      (AOR)
    News/Talk
    Oldies
    Middle of the Road       (MOR)
    Urban Contemporary       (UC)
    Jazz
    Classical
    Religious
    Ethnic

   In  the terms of listeners Adult Con-
temporary  was the most popular music of
the  1980's. It is format of low key pop
hits  of  the last ten to fifteen years.
It  stays  away from hard rock, and rap,
it  is an easy beat, it is a format that
is  heard  in  shops  and stores. People
like Barry Manilow,  and The Beatles are
a strong representation of this style of
music.
   Contemporary  Hit  Radio  is  Top 40.
This  is  a format widely listened to by
teen-agers  and  young adults. The focus
of  this  format  is  twelve to eighteen
year  olds.  Any  song that has been off
the charts for more than two months will
get  rotated  off this type of station's
playlist.  As of 1997 the representative
artists  of  this format would be PHISH,
Jonny Lang, and Big Head Todd.
   Country  is  country, in the mid 90's
it  is  the  number #1 format across the
United  States. Starting out as the folk
music  of  rural  people, the format has
grown  to  huge  proportions.  Nashville
Tennessee  is  the country music capitol
of  the  world.  Country artists include
people like Reba McIntyre, Garth Brooks,
and Pam Tillis.
   Easy  listening,  or  beautiful music
is  gaining  large audiences, it is very
low key, very ballad oriented. It is the
music  of  the  40's, 50's, and 60's and
also the lighter hits of the 70's & 80's
it is the  music people  have while they
do their housework. Older people are the
key group for this music. Artists of the
format include Tony Bennett, Dean Martin
and the Andrews Sisters.
   Album  Oriented  Rock is having a big
resurgence in the 90's. Here is the hits
of  the  70's  and 80's. It has a strong
male  following ,  but  females are also
tuning into this format. The typical age
is  between  25 and forty, but teenagers
are  finding the stations, as are people
older  than  the core listening group. A
typical show will include Bob Seger, The
Doobie  Brothers ,  Genesis ,  and Bruce
Springsteen.
   News/Talk here is a format that shows
you  don't  need  music  to have a radio
show. Strictly an AM format this station
specializes in keeping people abreast of
the  latest news stories. Also sports is
an  important  aspect of these stations.
Call  in shows like Larry King, and Rush
Limbaugh are key features on these kinds
of stations.
   Oldies/Nostalgia  the  hits  of years
gone  by  are  the strong suit of oldies
stations.  Hits  of  the 50's, 60's, and
70's,  are  the focal point. These kinds
of  stations  differ from Easy Listening
as  the  songs have a more rock and roll
edge  to  them.  Typical artists include
Jefferson  Airplane,  Buddy  Holly,  and
of course Elvis Presley.
   Middle  of  the  Road is exactly what
the  name implies. Here is a format that
does  not  stray to far from the general
populus. It's called the "bridge format"
because that is what it does. It bridges
all  formats.  Any  song from any format
will be played in this genre, as long as
it  stays near the core of people's dif-
ferent  tastes.  The Beatles, and Stevie
Wonder are good examples of this type of
format.
   Urban Contemporary is realitively new
to  radio,  springing  out  of the disco
sounds of the 60's and 70's, hip hop has
emerged  as  a  popular  format for both
african  american,  and non black youths
across the country. Known as Rap or Funk
this music is known for heavy drum parts
and a stress on talking, or "rapping" on
the  tracks. Known artists of the format
are  "The Fat Boys", "Snoop Doggy Dogg",
and M.C. Hammer.
    Jazz  has been around almost as long
as Country music. Jazz is known as Amer-
ica's  only  true music form. Started in
the  mid  19th  century in the south, it
soon  spread  across the country. Cities
like  St. Louis, and New Orleans are the
places associated with this music. Black
senior  citizens are the strongest demo-
graphic  group  for  this  format.  Jazz
greats  include  Louis  Armstrong, Count
Basie, and Charlie Parker.
   Classical Music is usually the format
played  on college radio, the commercial
value  of classical music is very small.
There are not to many classical stations
in  the  market, and those that are, can
be  found  only  in  major market cities
like New York, and Los Angelas.
   Religious  and  Ethnic  stations have
recently  just  started to make head-way
in  middle  market cities. The listening
audience  for  these stations are choice
select  groups  of  people who belong to
the specific group. As time passes these
formats may become more popular, but  as
of now, they cater to a select few.

       BROADACSTING EQUIPMENT

   Various  equipment is needed to run a
successful  radio  station. The tools of
the  trade  range from 'high tech' audio
reproducers  to simple pencils and paper.
   When  most  people  think  of a radio
station they picture a huge tower out in
a  field  behind  the radio station. The
tower  is a huge metal structure that is
used  to  transmit  the  signal from the
station  to the surrounding recievers in
the  area.  The tower must have flashing
lights  on  it  to  warn low flying air-
craft of it's presence in the dark.
   Transmitters are the huge  electronic
devices  that  turn  the  music and talk
into  the  radio  waves  that  are to be
broadcast into the air. The  transmitter
is tuned to a  certain frequency.  These
machines are set to a cetrain power set-
ting  that  is  carefully  regulated and
monitored as well.
   Consoles  or boards, these at control
stations that d.j.'s operate. They house
switches  and "pots"  that  control  the
various  input devices that are liked to
the board.   Meters built into the board
show  the  volume  of  the input device.
   Turn-tables  are  record players that
are  built  into  the table top and then
connected  to the board. These work like
standard  household  record players with
the  exception  that  they are activated
by a switch in the board.
   Tape  Players, these are the machines
that  play  the various type of magnetic
media  that  is found on tapes. Like the
turn-tables,  they  are  activated  by a
switch  on the board. Tape machines come
in a  variety of styles, such as reel to
reel, cassette, and cart machines.
   Microphones,  these  are  the devices
disk  jockeys talk into. The are usually
suspended in front of the board, some of
them however  are placed in mike holders
and set on the table in fron of the disk
jockey.
   Computers   are playing a big part in
radio  these days. They are used for the
news,  for production, and some stations
use  them in lieu of live air talent. In
some  instances  a station will automate
by  bringing in a live "feed" from a lo-
cation  away  from the station. The com-
puter  will  play  the  commercials, and
run  the  news, station i.d.'s and other
things a d.j. would normally do.

           GLOSSARY

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE........Station or agency
sales person.

ACTIVES.........Listeners who call radio
stations for requests, or  enter station
contests.

ADI...........Area of Dominant Influence
this is an Arbitron Measurment.

ADJACENCIE.........These are commercials
stregically placed next to a feature.

AFTRA.......American Federation of Tele-
vision and Radio Artists.

AIRCHECK.......Tape of a live broadcast.

A.M..........Amplitude Modulation,  this
is  the method  of  signal  transmission
using the broadcast band between 535 and
1605 kHz.

ANNOUNCEMENT.....Commercial Spot or Live
ad of variable length.

AOR..................Album oriented rock

ARBITRON............Audience measurement
service employing a seven day diary.

AUDIO...................Sound modulation

BACK ANNOUNCE.........Recap of preceding
music selections.

BARTER..........Exchange or trade of air
time for programming or goods.

BED......Music behind voice in a commer-
cial.

BLASTING......Excessive volume resulting
in distortion.

BOOK........Term used to describe rating
information.

BULK ERASER..........tool used to remove
magnetic impressions from tapes.

CALL LETTERS......Assigned station iden-
tification,  begins  with  a "W" east of
the Mississippi, and "K" in the west.

CART......Plastic cartridge containing a
continuous loop of tape.

CLOCK.......Wheel indicating sequence of
order of programming ingredients.

COMPACT DISK (CD)......Digital recording
using laser beam to decode surface.

CONSULTANT.....Station advisor

CONTROL ROOM.........Center of broadcast
operations. The studio.

COPY........Advertising message, script.

CROSSFADE......Fading out of one element
while bringing up another.

DAT...................Digital Audio Tape

DAYPARTS......Periods or segments of the
broadcast day.

DEAD AIR.......Silence where audio is to
be heard.

DEEJAY............Announcer, disk jockey

DEMOGRAPHICS........Audience statistical
data based on age, race, sex, etc.

DUB.........Copy of one tape to another.

EBS........Emergency Broadcasting System

FCC......Federal Communication Comission

F.M.........Frequency Modulation, method
of broadcasting using an 88-108 mHz band
width.

FORMAT.....Type of programming a station
offers.

FREQUENCY....Number of cycles-per-second
of a sine wave.

GAIN...............Volume, amplification

GROUND WAVE........A.M. signal traveling
along the earth's surface.

HEADPHONES.......Speakers mounted on the
ears.

HERTZ.........Cycles per second, unit of
frequency.

I.D...............Station Identification

JACK.....Plug for patching sound sources
patch cord, socket, input.

JINGLE......Musical commercial or promo.

KILOHERTZ (kHz)......One thousand cycles
per second.

LEVEL......Amount of volume units. Audio
units.

LIVE COPY....Material read over the air.

LIVE TAG....Postscript of taped message.

MAKE-GOOD.......Replacement spot for one
missed.

MARKET........Area served by a broadcast
service.

MASTER................Original recording

MEGAHERTZ (mHz).......Million cycles per
second.

MONITOR...................Studio speaker

MONO...........Single or fulltrack sound

MULTI-TRACK.....Recording sound on sound
overdubbing, stacking tracks.

NAB..............National Association of
Broadcasters.

NETWORK......Broadcast combine providing
programming to affiliates.

NETWORK FEED...........Programs sent via
telephone lines or satellites to affili-
ate stations.

OUTPUT..........Transmission of audio or
power from one location to another.

PACKAGE...............Canned programming

PASSIVES.....Listeners of radio stations
who  do  not  call  or  make them-selves
known.

PLAYBACK........Reproduction of recorded
sound.

PLAYLIST.....Roster of music for airing.

PLUG...............Promotion, connector.

RAB.............Radio Advertising Bureau

RATE CARD.......Statement of advertising
rates and terms.

REMOTE........Broadcast originating away
from the station control room.

REVERB.........Echo, redundancy of sound

SBE.......Society of Broadcast Engineers

SHARE.....Percentage of stations listen-
ership compared to competition.

SIGNAL................Sound Transmission

SPLICE.........To join ends of recording
tape with adhesive.

SPONSOR.....Advertiser, sponsor, client.

SPOTS..................Commercials, ads.

STATION.........Broadcast facility given
specific frequency by FCC.

STEREO..........Multi-channel sound: two
program channels.

TALENT........Radio performer, announcer
deejay, sportscaster.

TRANSMIT....................To broadcast

TSA........Total Survey Area, geographic
area in a radio survey.

VOICE-OVER...............Talk over sound

VOLUME.................Quantity of sound

V.U. METER...........Gauge for measuring
units of sound.

WINDSCREEN........Microphone filter used
to prevent popping and distortion.