A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DRadio and Television Broadcasting by Russell NeumanBroadcasting, Radio and Television, the electromagnetic transmission of audio and video signals to a mass audience. Broadcasting is a major industry in most nations, and popular entertainment, news, and educational programs are transmitted directly into people's homes. Because it represents a critical national resource for communicating information and culture, and because the electromagnetic spectrum allows for only a limited number of broadcast stations, virtually all nations regulate broadcasting within their borders. Many nations operate their own broadcasting systems through a ministry of communications. In some countries where it is believed that broadcasting should represent an independent voice, tax revenues support a public broadcasting authority that is independent of the government. Other countries simply license private broadcasters who make their profits by selling advertising time, or they permit a mixed system of commercial and publicly supported stations. The U.S. has a mixed system. Most American stations are advertiser supported; about one in ten, however, is noncommercial, and its income is derived from listener or viewer contributions, corporate donations, and government funding. In the U.S., 98 percent of all households have a television and almost 100 percent have a radio. In a typical week, nine out of ten citizens are exposed to radio and television, and in the average American home the television set is on about 7 hours each day, and the radio is on more than 2 hours a day. The immense size of the audience, especially for prime-time network television, is difficult to comprehend in concrete terms. When the president of the U.S., for example, delivers a television address, between 60 and 80 million Americans are likely to be watching. Because of these audience figures, advertisers in the U.S. alone spend more than $24 billion per year to broadcast commercials. Broadcast programming is dominated by popular entertainment, news, and occasional educational shows. Broadcasting is distinguished from "narrowcasting," that is, the transmission of special-interest programs to much smaller audiences, and from "cablecasting," or the transmission of television and sometimes radio signals directly into the home by means of coaxial cable.
Broadcasting evolved from electronic communication through wires (hence the term Wireless, frequently used in the early years of radio). The roots of broadcasting technology lie in the development of the telegraph (1844) by the American inventor Samuel Morse and of the telephone (1876) by the Scottish-American inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Although the telephone evolved into a means of private two-way communication, some early critics feared it would be used primarily in conjunction with a central station that could transmit propaganda into private houses and disrupt the sanctity of the home.
In the 1860s the British physicist James Maxwell developed a mathematical theory of electromagnetic radiation, and by 1888 the German physicist Heinrich Hertz had demonstrated in the laboratory the existence of radio waves. Their work attracted the attention of an Italian teenager, Guglielmo Marconi, later a physicist and engineer, who by 1894 had sent Morse code signals up to one mile through the air. When the Italian Ministry of Post and Telegraph rejected his invention as impractical, Marconi went to Great Britain, where investors were highly impressed. In 1897 he founded a well-financed corporation and began manufacturing equipment. The critical advantage of the wireless telegraph was in communicating with ships at sea; therefore, Marconi and his colleagues designed most of their products for maritime use. On Christmas Eve, 1906, telegraph operators around the world and at sea were surprised to hear amid the telegraphic codes the sounds of a human voice. The Canadian-American engineer Reginald A. Fessenden had perfected voice communications over radio. His work, along with the invention (1907) of the vacuum tube by the American inventor Lee De Forest, refined the technical basis of radio.
The idea of using radio for broadcasting to mass audiences was formulated in 1916 by an executive of the American Marconi Company, David Sarnoff. His superiors were skeptical of his idea to "make radio a household utility Ö [so that] by purchase of a 'radio music box' Ö the audience Ö could enjoy Ö lectures, music recitals, etc.," and his proposal was shelved. Four years later the American engineer Frank Conrad, an employee at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, attracted considerable attention when a local newspaper reported on the growing audience listening on crystal radio sets to his evening and weekend amateur broadcasts; a local music store had provided records to play on the Victrola, and Conrad and his family served as disc jockeys. Westinghouse vice president Harry Davis asked Conrad to build a more powerful transmitter in time to announce the outcome of the next U.S. presidential election. Conrad completed his assignment, and on November 2, 1920, station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, broadcast the announcement that Warren G. Harding had been elected president. About 1000 people heard this first news broadcast. Radio communicated news much faster than did newspapers, and because crystal sets were easy to build and inexpensive, radio expanded rapidly in the following years. To stimulate the sale of radio sets, equipment manufacturers provided transmitting facilities. Singers, comedians, and entire orchestras volunteered their services for publicity. The eventual financial basis of the new industry, however, was still unclear. One group in New York City tried to solicit contributions from listeners; others urged that private foundations support radio stations as a public service. In August 1922 the first commercial radio advertisement was broadcast on WEAF (now WNBC) in New York City, promoting real estate on Long Island. In 1926, when about 5 million homes had radios, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in cooperation with the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, established the first commercial radio network. In the 1920s radio was established as a new mass medium and a viable industry, and it became a national forum for news and popular culture. Throughout the early years of radio, interference caused by radio stations competing for the same frequency was an increasingly difficult problem. The Radio Act of 1912 required the secretary of commerce to assign frequencies to new radio stations, but only two frequencies were being used. The Radio Act of 1927 created a Federal Radio Commission (FRC) specifically responsible for cleaning up the jumble of competing voices on the airwaves. The Communications Act of 1934 established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to replace the FRC and, in addition, to oversee telephone, telegraph, and wireless communications.
As the radio industry matured, inventors were busy working on the next innovation in the electronic revolution—television. The idea of broadcast television first surfaced in science fiction of the 1880s. In 1884 the German inventor Paul Nipkow developed a rotating-disc technology to transmit pictures over wire. This limited technology dominated the early years of television research but was ultimately abandoned as impractical. The basic elements of an all-electronic television system became available only after 1927, when the American engineer Philo T. Farnsworth developed his dissector tube. The corporate giants of the electronics field were no longer as skeptical as they had been about a new mass medium. In 1928 the first television drama, "The Queen's Messenger," was broadcast on experimental equipment in Schenectady, New York. Throughout the 1930s Sarnoff, who had become president of RCA, spearheaded the drive to develop television technology. RCA hired the Russian-American physicist Vladimir Zworykin to continue his research on improving the television camera, and the company also conducted experimental telecasts from the Empire State Building in New York City. These efforts culminated in the dramatic debut of television at the 1939 World's Fair. The first television sets transmitted only a black and white picture and had small screens—about 13 cm (about 5 in) across; they sold for between $200 and $600. The new technology was in place, and the audience was curious and willing. The age of television had all but dawned in the early 1940s, when World War II intervened. The attention of industry moved to the war effort, and only six television transmitters continued to broadcast through the war years. After the war, television expanded rapidly until 1948, when about 70 stations were on the air. In that year the FCC, concerned about the limited space available for television transmission in the VHF band (very high frequency, channels 2-13), initiated a 4-year freeze on all new licenses. In 1952 the FCC resumed licensing new stations, and it opened the UHF band (ultra high frequency, channels 14-83) for television transmission. Technical problems plagued UHF, but VHF broadcasting grew dramatically. By 1955, 67 percent of American households had television sets; this figure increased to 87 percent by 1960.
Annual revenues for broadcasting in the U.S. amounted to nearly $25 billion in the late 1980s. The industry directly employs more than 230,000 people; a comparable number are employed in such related services as advertising and independent program production.
The core of the broadcasting industry is the local station. Apart from news, however, local stations produce little of their own programming. Radio stations broadcast prerecorded music; television stations serve primarily as a conduit for network programming or for reruns and old movies. Because they ultimately control and are responsible for programming, however, local stations are a necessary link with the mass audience. Radiobroadcasters operate by selling advertising to local businesses and, through a system of station representatives, gain some income from national advertisers. Network-affiliated television stations share profits from network advertising and have the right to intersperse their own commercials with those of the network. Contracts with the networks do not oblige local stations to carry network programming; but, given television's high production costs together with the audience-attracting power of network programs, affiliated local stations seldom interrupt the network schedule. During the late 1980s in the U.S., more than 9000 radio stations were on the air; they were almost evenly divided between the AM (amplitude modulation) and the FM (frequency modulation) bands. About one-quarter of the FM stations (but none of the AM stations) were noncommercial and were supported by educational institutions, local governments, and nonprofit civic organizations and, in many cases, by listener contributions and federal funding under the auspices of National Public Radio. More than 1300 television stations were active in the U.S. in the late 1980s; over one-half of these were VHF stations. Commercial television stations are still concentrated in the more easily received VHF bands, although the number of commercial UHF stations is increasing rapidly. Commercial stations, which represent 75 percent of the television stations on the air, attract about 98 percent of the audience, and almost all are affiliated with one of the three large networks. The more populous the urban area in which a station is located, the more profitable the station is likely to be. The cost of personnel and equipment necessary for broadcasting to a given geographic area is a fixed investment; densely populated areas generate larger audiences, and the broadcasters, in turn, receive higher revenues for each commercial aired. Because audience size is so critical to the profit margin, stations compete intensely in all but very remote regions (where only a few stations provide service). Program ratings are watched, and stations tend to offer substantial salaries to the disk jockeys and television news announcers who attract the largest audiences.
Competition for the audience is also intense among the national networks, and to update the race, many newspapers publish the weekly Nielsen ratings (see below) for the top ten programs. In general, the networks do not actually produce the programs they air during prime time (7-11 PM). Instead, they purchase programs from independent production companies and then schedule them for maximum competitive advantage. Each of the three major networks has its corporate headquarters in New York City, and each gains additional revenue from owning stations in major cities (since 1985, 12 is the maximum number of VHF stations the FCC permits for a single owner). All three television networks emerged from existing radio networks. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is part of RCA. In early 1986, RCA was acquired by the General Electric Company. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) was bought by the American executive William S. Paley in 1929, when it was a small, struggling radio network. Through Paley's management the corporation grew and expanded into recorded music, musical instruments, and publishing. The youngest of the three networks came into existence when the U.S. Department of Justice forced NBC to sell one of its two radio networks in 1943. The network was bought by the candy manufacturer Edward J. Noble, who renamed it the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and oversaw its transition to producing television. For more than three decades ABC tended to have the lowest ratings and the fewest affiliate stations of the three major networks. Because of the economics of advertising, it had to struggle to stay in business. In the late 1970s, however, ABC moved to first place in the ratings and remained there for several years. The company grew into a large corporate empire that includes motion picture theaters, a recording company, and publishing companies. In 1986 a merger took place between ABC and Capital Cities Communications, Inc. A fourth U.S. commercial network, the Fox Broadcasting Company, owned by Australian-born publisher Rupert Murdoch, began to capture a significant share of young adult audiences in the late 1980s. A fifth network also exists, which, because of its origins in educational broadcasting, is notably different from the other four. Seeking to provide an alternative to commercial broadcasting, educational stations banded together in 1967 to establish the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Through the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS began to produce its own national programming. What was once strictly educational programming typified by professors at blackboards became public broadcasting with a wide variety of offerings. These include serious drama, the performing arts, science, public affairs documentaries, and children's programs (perhaps the most famous of which is "Sesame Street"). Since cutbacks in federal spending during the early 1980s, public broadcasting receives only about 18 percent of its income from the government; the remainder of its funding comes from private foundations and direct viewer contributions.
National broadcasting policy in the United States is based on the Communications Act of 1934. As a result, a system of privately owned broadcasting stations was established, licensed by the FCC to serve as public trustees and obliged to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. The act prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast content, a practice that would be contrary to the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
An independent government agency, the FCC has seven members, who are appointed for 7-year terms by the U.S. president. The agency's realm of responsibility was recently expanded to include cable television and communications satellites, in addition to broadcasting and telephonic communication. The commissioners review the work of the FCC staff and concern themselves primarily with broad policy issues. Most of the day-to-day work of the FCC's more than 2000 employees involves 3-year license renewals for the country's more than 10,000 broadcasting stations, as well as paperwork related to transferring ownership of individual stations.
One long-standing FCC policy was the Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to devote time to the discussion of controversial public issues while affording a reasonable opportunity for opposing viewpoints to be heard. In the early years of the FCC, broadcasters were forbidden to express their own views on the air, because it was believed that they might exert undue influence on public opinion. This policy was eventually held to be counterproductive and unnecessarily restrictive. The Fairness Doctrine, in effect from 1949 to 1987, explicitly encouraged station editorials and allowed responsible representatives of opposing viewpoints to respond on the air. In 1969 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fairness Doctrine was consistent with 1st Amendment protection of freedom of speech and of the press, but in August 1987 the FCC abolished the doctrine, saying it unconstitutionally restricted free speech in broadcast journalism.
Under the Equal Time Rule (section 315 of the 1934 act), broadcasters who permit their facilities to be used by candidates for public office must provide equivalent opportunity for opposing candidates, if requested. If a candidate pays for a political advertisement, the broadcasting station is only required to sell equivalent time to opposing candidates at an equal rate. If the station provides free time for one candidate, it must do the same for the others. To avoid restricting broadcast journalists in their regular coverage of political campaigns, bona fide newscasts and regularly scheduled news interview programs are exempted from the Equal Time Rule.
The FCC has been criticized because many commissioners are former broadcasters or communications lawyers who tend to favor industry interests rather than the public interest. Critics point to the extreme rarity of a license being revoked, and they also note the FCC's restrictive policies, which for years constrained the growth of the cable television industry as a competitor to over-the-air broadcasting. Proponents of the FCC respond that the commission must protect reasonable broadcasting profits so that stations can finance newscasts and other public services. This position, which justifies profits, is known as the Carroll Doctrine. Throughout the 1980s the political trend in the U.S. was toward less government control of industry. The communications industry was identified as a prime candidate for deregulation. It was argued that bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., were unable to determine which broadcasters best serve the public interest and that competition among stations in the open marketplace was the best way to ensure that the public interest was served. Another argument was that in times of rapid technological innovation the marketplace responds more quickly to change than does a government agency. Critics of the deregulation movement argued that, without the Fairness Doctrine, the Equal Time Rule, and the threat of license revocation, broadcasters might not make their facilities available for the discussion of controversial public issues and might not be sensitive to the cultural interests of minority groups-especially of groups that are not primary advertising targets. These critics believe that profit motives in the marketplace do not encourage maximum diversity in programming. Nevertheless, federal government policies of deregulation removed some of the restrictions on the broadcasting industry by the mid-1980s. For example, in 1984 the FCC increased the number of radio and television stations that one company could own. The commission also eliminated the 16-minutes-per-hour limit on television commercials.
Because the income of a local station or a network is directly proportional to the number of its viewers or listeners, the focal point of broadcast programming is the effort to attract the largest possible audience. The exceptions to this are Sunday morning programming, which by tradition emphasizes religious and public affairs; religious or special-interest programming featured by a few specialized radio stations; and programs offered by the noncommercial PBS stations. On the whole, however, broadcasters are heavily rewarded for skill in anticipating which programs will have the widest popular appeal. As competitors copy one another's successful formulas, their programs become strikingly similar. Also, turnover among performers and programs tends to be high, with changes being made quickly when ratings or popularity slip. The ironic result is that the more quickly the faces and program titles change, the more similar they seem to be.
Historians identify four stages in the evolution of broadcast programming. The first stage covers the debut of commercial radio in the 1920s. Having no precedents, experimenters and entrepreneurs were unsure about what kinds of programs people would like to hear. The inaugural broadcast of the NBC Radio Network, a gala event, was attended by more than a thousand celebrities. The tone was proper and formal, and for several years radiobroadcasts emphasized classical or semiclassical music and historical drama. Commercials were brief and discreet.
A trend was begun in 1928 by two actors from Chicago whose serial "Amos 'n' Andy" quickly became a hit. In the second stage of programming, called the Golden Age of Radio, the airwaves were filled with action adventure, including "The Shadow," "The Green Hornet," and "Death Valley Days," and with vaudeville-style comedy by entertainers such as Jack Benny, Fred Allen, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. By 1930 the Crossley ratings were established as a national service that carefully charted the popularity of various programs; competition for the audience was under way. Despite the economic constraints of the Great Depression, radio thrived. The hardships of the 1930s and then of World War II occupied the attention of Americans during the day, but in the evening citizens could relax as radio brought popular entertainers and adventure stories into their homes.
The third stage of programming lasted from 1945 until the early 1950s, when television began its explosive growth. Unlike that of radio, the debut of television was free from confusion about what constituted effective programming. Television was perceived as "radio with pictures," and the industry's structure and ratings system were modeled on those of radio; performers and executives were drawn from radio; and many entertainers and entire programs were transferred successfully to television. During this transition period, radio was forced to redefine its role. As one observer commented, "the radio sets were displaced from the living room and had to be content with the bedroom, the bathroom, the car, or the beach." Radio turned to popular music and the disc-jockey format. As the need for elaborate studio production and famous stars diminished, radio networks declined in importance, and radio became primarily a locally operated medium. In the 1960s FM radio expanded dramatically, stimulated in part by growing listener interest in the high-fidelity stereophonic offerings of many FM broadcasters.
At the beginning of the fourth stage, known as the Golden Age of Television, the reconstituted radio programs dominated the television ratings. Jack Benny, his fellow comedian Red Skelton, and the singer Kate Smith were especially successful. As performers and producers adjusted to the new medium, new stars and programs gradually emerged, notably Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who starred in the situation comedy "I Love Lucy," and Milton Berle, who hosted the variety program "Texaco Star Theater." In the early years of television's golden age the variety show was the most popular program format. "Your Show of Shows" with comedians Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, shown on Saturday nights, and "Toast of the Town" with host Ed Sullivan, shown on Sunday nights, became rituals for millions of viewers. Sullivan's program continued as a focal point of popular culture for many years, introducing such performers as the singer Elvis Presley and the British rock group the Beatles. Another television staple of this era was the Western, including "Have Gun, Will Travel" and the long-running "Gunsmoke." In the late 1950s the action-adventure program became the most prominent format. Throughout the history of television programming the situation comedy has remained popular, proving especially successful for the CBS network. In the 1960s the television networks began to feature movies; reedited motion pictures and special 2-hour "made-for-TV" dramas became major elements in prime-time programming.
All but a fraction of American television programs are produced in Hollywood, most often in one of several major facilities. Most are modernized motion picture studios that became available as television displaced movies in popularity. An industry ritual is performed each year when Hollywood producers submit proposals for new television series to network executives in New York City. Most proposals are rejected, but a few-usually associated with a strongly successful performer or producer-are accepted for the second phase: the writing of sample scripts. The networks review the scripts and select a small number of them to be developed into pilot programs. Those pilots that appeal to the instincts of the programming executives and produce good ratings in a trial broadcast eventually emerge as regularly scheduled programs. A typical half-hour program episode costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce. Not until the program is re-aired as a rerun are the expenses covered and a profit returned to the producers and network. About one-third of the cost goes to the salaries of the performers and writers. The remaining costs are those of studio-space rental, equipment, and the large technical staff needed to handle cameras, lights, sound, editing, and special effects.
Between the ages of 2 and 65 the average American will watch 72,000 hours of television—at 24 hours a day, a total of 8 full years. The daily average is about 4 hours. The heaviest viewers are housewives and senior citizens. Children watch the same amount of television as do adults; teenagers watch about an hour less per day.
Much information about television viewing is available, primarily because advertisers and broadcasters want to know the size and type of each program's audience. Independent research companies such as Nielsen Media Research and the Arbitron Company keep a watchful eye on viewers. In one system of research, more than 4000 randomly selected homes are wired to devices called People Meters that determine how many set are turned on during a given time period, which channels are being watched, and who is watching. Several thousand additional households are asked to maintain continuous television diaries, noting each program watched by any household member over the age of two. If appropriate procedures are followed, the size of the national audience can usually be estimated within a few percentage points. Two kinds of ratings are published: the audience rating, in which the number of homes having television sets tuned to a given program is compared with the number possessing a TV set; and the audience share, in which the number turned to a given program is compared with the number of homes in which sets are turned on at the time. To be considered successful and to continue in the following year, a program generally must have an audience share of about 30 percent.
Research indicates that the television picture is seldom a focus of mental concentration. Brain-wave studies show that viewers tend to fall into a recognizable pattern of relaxation and passivity. Films of people's faces while they watch television at home indicate that about one-third of the time their attention is devoted to some simultaneous project or occurrence; eye contact with the set is highest for movies (76 percent of the time) and lowest for news and commercials (55 percent of the time). About one viewer in four is primarily involved in another activity, such as household chores, conversation, or even reading. Research on the recall of news broadcasts reinforces the conclusion that casual viewing is the norm. In one study, viewers who saw 19 stories in a typical newscast could, later the same evening, spontaneously recall only one; when given brief descriptions of the remaining stories, these viewers could remember seeing only about half of them. Failure to remember details of a specific story from a single newscast, however, is no indication that viewers acquire no information from television. Most news stories, for example, deal with continuing economic or political issues that are covered over long periods of time. The more subtle, cumulative character of knowledge acquisition should not be underestimated.
Viewers frequently tell pollsters that television is not as good as it used to be. The Golden Age of Television, when ideas seemed fresher and comedies funnier, may, however, be an illusion of memory. The number of hours viewed per day in the average American home has increased steadily since television was introduced, and watching television remains a constant favorite among leisure activities. Commercials continue to be a primary target for viewer criticism. In a recent study, 43 percent of those surveyed agreed that commercials are generally in poor taste; although 48 percent stated that they would prefer television without the commercials, only 30 percent said they would be willing to pay a small amount to fund noncommercial television. Apparently most viewers believe that commericals are a fair price to pay for "free" television.
Television influences people's mental picture of the world, especially their perceptions of distant events. This is particularly true for younger viewers, who rely heavily on television and other media for their understanding of the world beyond their neighborhoods. As the predominant mass medium, television is greatly criticized for failing to provide a complete, unbiased picture of reality. Similar critiques were leveled at radio, motion pictures, and comic books in the past and may in the future be directed toward new media of mass communications. Criticism of television has focused on three issues: violence, racial and sexual stereotyping, and commercialism.
Some individuals and citizens' groups have expressed concern about the level of violence in television programs, particularly in action-adventure series and cartoons. They argue that viewers, especially children, may learn to see violence as the only way to resolve conflicts. Early experimental researchers compared the play of children who had seen aggressive behavior on television with the play of a control group of children who had watched nonviolent programs. Concern was intensified by findings that indicated a higher level of aggressive play in the violent-television group. Other researchers attempted to determine whether violent programs simply stimulated higher energy levels in children or actually caused them to learn violent and antisocial behavior. The results of different studies conflicted. Some researchers claimed that televised violence actually had a positive cathartic effect, allowing some viewers to release pent-up tensions; these findings, however, were not replicated in further studies. Other scholars pointed out that both prosocial and antisocial behavior can be learned from television. Social scientists find it especially difficult to assess accurately the subtle, cumulative effects of viewing a broad variety of television programs throughout childhood. Distinguishing the possible effects of television from other influences at home and at school is also difficult. Current research suggests that slightly to moderately higher levels of antisocial behavior can be traced to television viewing, but a final verdict has not been reached. Because of the long-standing tradition in the U.S. of freedom of speech and of the press, the government would probably not attempt to directly limit or censor the depiction of violence on television. Among the networks and producers, pressure from concerned citizens continues to be balanced by the undiminished popularity of high-energy action-adventure programs.
Television's treatment of sexual and racial stereotypes also has aroused concern. Blacks were long underrepresented in television drama and were rarely shown in roles involving leadership and professional achievement. Few roles depicted women as successful professionals; most often they played the parts of housewives and mothers. In the 1970s the level of televised violence remained unchanged, but the number of women and blacks shown in professional roles expanded greatly. It is unclear, however, whether television simply reflected a changing American society, or whether it played a role in bringing these issues to public attention.
Television's emphasis on commercials and on conspicuous consumption of material goods is also criticized. In radio's early days many people believed that even a single commercial would be inappropriate on a public medium and that hucksterism on the airwaves should be forbidden. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, that belief is still strong, and no advertisements are broadcast. In the U.S., however, commercial support became the economic base of the industry. Although the average American accepts the mixture of commercials with regular programming as natural, critics still decry television advertising's subtle forms of propaganda and its emphasis on competitive consumerism. In the absence of public dissatisfaction, however, such critiques are unlikely to bring about change. With the advent of spot advertising in the 1960s, individual sponsors could no longer control or censor particular programs. Nonetheless, most industry observers agree that sponsors seek to protect the image of their products. This concern leads to an atmosphere in which direct confrontation over controversial issues is avoided.
In the 1970s and early '80s, worldwide broadcasting expanded dramatically. All industrialized nations now have extensive domestic radio and television facilities, and many are involved in international radiobroadcasting on the short-wave bands. Nearly all developing nations have built or are planning to build a radio and television system; these countries consider mass communications a critical force for economic progress and allocate scarce resources to broadcasting. The governments often play a direct role in programming to promote education, economic awareness, and national consciousness.
Mountainous terrain, widely dispersed population, and lack of electricity have limited the expansion of broadcasting in some areas. The development, however, of inexpensive battery-operated transistor radios has helped to overcome the lack of electricity. In large geographic areas where terrestrial transmitters would be prohibitively expensive, the next step in expanding radio and television broadcasting will probably involve direct transmission from satellites. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that more than 1.6 billion radios are now in use in the world-nearly one for every three persons. Radio receivers are not, however, evenly distributed; three out of four are located in the industrialized nations of Europe and North America. Nevertheless, the diffusion of radiobroadcasting has been swift and is continuing. In 1960 only 7 percent of the world's nations had one radio for every five people; by the late 1980s a majority had. Because of the much higher costs for television production and receivers, its broadcasting development generally lags behind that of radio. Of more than 735 million television sets in the world, roughly 80 percent are concentrated in Europe, North America, and Japan. In most developing countries television is limited to major urban areas.
International trade in television programs is growing rapidly. Each year the U.S. exports several hundred thousand hours of television programming. The price per program varies dramatically; a small developing country may pay only $50, while a major European broadcasting system may pay $5000 or more. Some countries import up to 75 percent of their programming because equivalent local production is expensive and facilities are limited. Some citizens in these countries believe that foreign-dominated programming limits the growth of local culture and language. In some cases strict limits have been set on the percentage of programming that may be imported and rebroadcast. With the development of direct transmission from satellites to entire continents, individual countries may have increasing difficulty in controlling what programs their citizens see and hear.
In the 1980s mass communications technologies underwent dramatic changes, which are continuing in the 1990s. Innovations in video recording, as well as improved cable-television technology, have brought much greater diversity in programming as well as increased viewer control over what is watched and when. Some observers believe that narrowcasting to smaller, special-interest audiences will become increasingly prominent. By the early 1990s, about 62 percent of all U.S. households were connected to cable television. Many of these cable systems carry more than 30 channels into the home. Many cable systems offer diverse and specialized programming, that includes religious programs, extensive entertainment programming in Spanish and Chinese, children's channels, news channels, sports channels, and channels that screen old movies and reruns. On special premium channels subscribers can view newly released music videos and motion pictures, uncut and uninterrupted by commercials. Cable system operators are facing competition, however, from direct-broadcast satellites, which beam television signals directly to viewers' homes and, in effect, bypass the cablecast. In 1985 the FCC ruled that government restrictions on so-called backyard dish antennas, which receive satellite-delivered signals, cannot be used to limit competition in distributing television programs. By the late 1980s nearly 9 million such antennas were in use. Competition in the video marketplace is intensifying as videocassette recorders, or VCRs, enable viewers to copy programs off the air or purchase programs directly. Videodisc players are also available. They are generally less expensive than VCRs, and the prerecorded discs they play are easier to manufacture, costing only about one-third the price of prerecorded videotapes. Discs, however, cannot yet be rerecorded or reused in the home, as tapes can. In 1984 about 10 percent of U.S. households had VCRs; by 1993 the proportion had reached some 77 percent. Videotapes of movies are now being widely distributed for sale or rental. Viewers can also choose to record programs from a broadcast station or satellite for viewing at a more convenient time. The growing use of VCRs for this purpose caused some legal objections among broadcasters. In 1984 the Supreme Court ruled that home use of VCRs for noncommercial purposes did not constitute copyright infringement. Another new element in television communications is the computer. Through the use of coaxial cable or fiber optic cable, or modified use of the existing telephone system, two-way communication can take place between a home computer terminal and a central facility that provides information and entertainment. Millions of dollars have been spent in developing and marketing new video technology. Whether these new offerings will lead to fundamental changes in the nature of broadcast television and popular entertainment is still unclear. It is apparent, however, that in the 1980s and 90s, as in the early days of radio, broadcasting entered an age of rapid technological change.
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