Radio Broadcasting

RADIO IS FREE!
Formats
Some History

 First to simultaneously
transmit entertainment to
millions
 Continues to grow, with or
without technology
 Marconi usually thought of as
the inventor or at least the
innovator
 AM broadcasting began in 1920
Antenna

Radio

Speaker

Tuner Detector Amplifier

AM – FM difference
Transmissions Technologies

 Amplitude Modulation (AM)

 Varies signal strength
 Electrical interference
 Frequency Modulation (FM)
 Varies frequency of signal
 Smaller coverage area

 1978: FM passed AM in number of listeners

Ownership

 Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted

ownership limits
 Could only own seven stations
 Then eighteen
 Now, no limit
Owners

 Clear Channel Communications

 1200 stations a few years ago
 1000 stations now
 Cumulus Media
 336 stations
 Business organizations and not technology
innovators
Substitutes for Radio

 Smartphone
 Digital Media Player or Tablet
 40% of Americans listen to audio on digital
devices each week
 This number will double by 2015
SDARS

 Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service

 XM Satellite Radio
 Sirius Satellite Radio
 Sirius XM
 Music comes commercial free for $10-$13 a
month
 Costs a lot to set up subscribers
Satellite Radio
Blunders

 Broadcast radio station owners have made

SDARS possible by what they play and how
they program their stations
 Fewer formats
 Less mass appeal
DAB

 Digital Audio Broadcasting

 HD Radio from IBiquity Digital
 No hiss
 CD quality
 Pause, fast forward, etc.
 Weather, Traffic info
 Combines Analog and Digital
IBOC

 In-band, on channel system

 Simultaneous broadcast of analog and digital
signals
 Uses no new
spectrum
Where we listen

 75% of radio listening takes place in cars

 55% of 18-24 year olds listen to iPods in cars
Low Power FM (LPFM)

 Short range
 Educational uses mostly
 Non-profit organizations
The Fight Ahead

 MP3 players
 Cellular phones

 Radio stations as DAB streaming MP3 audio

to cell phones?