RTA 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Nbc, Todd Storz, Reginald Fessenden
28 Aug 2016
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Variety show = set of sketches, musical numbers, etc. To appeal to as broad an audience as possible. There was a small number of radio and tv stations; cheaper to appeal to a wide audience. Broadcasting: each station was full service, until the 50s, arguably only one north american culture, unlike narrowcasting like today. It appears at times of tech. change (and demonstrates what new mediums can do) Radio broadcasting used to be morse code for ships. Speech, played recording of handel"s largo, performed violin of o holy night, read. Us researcher says fessenden"s a fraud, but historians say he"s real. Montreal"s cfcf = first scheduled commercial station in na (20"s) Cheap variety programming people will listen to anything (the novelty of tech was enough) Live music by local musicians (travelling bands: not paid promotion, like today! Larger audiences, nation sponsors, could pay stars. Was the great depression, where families couldn"t afford records, but radio was free .
