THE ORIGINS OF BROADCASTING

As Starr states in Chapter 10, " There couldn't have been a more fitting occasion for the debut of American broadcasting than an election night. In the following years, political decisions about the basic structural arrangements and rules of broadcasting would determine what kind of medium radio was going to become. With the advent of broadcasting, moreover, the age of the print-dominated public sphere would begin to wane: Within two decades, according to public opinion surveys, radio would overtake newspapers as Americans' primary source of news, and national political leaders would use radio to communicate directly with the public." In such a quick turn around, the radio has taken over all media outlets and become the primary source of communication. During World War I, the military used radio telephones to have air to ground communication. The telephone industry was planning to use radio links where wires couldn't reach. " There was clearly a business in conveying conversation from point to point, but there didn't seem to be any profit or justifiable purpose in sending voiced out to the world." This began the radio boom, and the popularity of recieveing news over radio waves grew more and more. The United States wanted to retain the radio waves in public ownership so there won't be an nfluence by the government in what is broadcasted. This became a positive impact in the broadcasting business. As stated, " At least in the formal sense, this decision represented a middle ground; in practice, the system created was overwhelmingly commercial, dependent on advertising revenue and driven by competition for listeners, in keeping with the commercial incentives dominating newspapers, magazines and movies."