Talk:History of broadcasting

Odd use of tenses?
This doesn't read well, in the Britain section: "Its governors are appointed by the government but they did not answer to it."

Could it be changed to (change in italics): "Its governors were appointed by the government but they did not answer to it."

or alternatively, if this is what the writer was trying to get across: "Its governors were (and still are) appointed by the government but they did not answer to it." --Justynb 21:16, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Origin of the term "broadcasting"
I'm dubious of the claim that Charles Herrod coined the term "broadcasting". Here's a quote from a webpage I found that relates to the term:
 * After the Navy Department, the Agriculture Department had been the government agency most involved in pioneering radio work. In particular, it wanted to speed weather and market information to isolated farmers, at that time dependent on mailed daily newspapers. (The August, 1913 Monthly Catalogue of United States Documents noted that the Weather Bureau had begun a daily radiotelegraphic "broadcast" of weather reports, which it explained as follows: "'Broadcast', as the term is used in the Radio Service, means that the message is fired out into the illimitable ether to be picked up and made use of by anybody who has the will and the apparatus to possess himself thereof".)

At that time the Weather Bureau was part of the Agricultural Department, so its adoption of an agricultural term for sending out a signal to be received by many seems quite logical. I'm not disputing that Herrod was involved in early voice broadcasts, merely that he was one who originated the term. He certainly did not use it to describe his work in 1910. Instead he described his activities at that time as "wireless phone concerts" Caerwine Caer’s whines  23:49, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

General Critique of Article
This article utilizes an interesting structure which separates the broadcasting histories of various countries and presents the differences in their evolutions. It presents several clear points about the evolution of broadcasting, but fails to discuss much of what makes those points significant. For example, much is said about Charles Herrold and his early experiments with broadcasting, but no reason is given for why he is important other than he is the self-proclaimed “inventor of broadcasting.” However, this claim runs contrary to information contained in the article which states that one of the first significant broadcasts was accomplished in Massachusetts by Reginald Fessenden in 1906, while Charles Herrold did not begin broadcasting until 1909 in California. In fact, there is no mention of how these two men or events are intertwined other than the fact that one precedes the other, and this is a recurring problem throughout the article. If the article explained the importance of each event it lists, and not simply the order in which they occurred, it would make the history of broadcasting much more apparent to the common person searching for information about it.

For the most part, the citations provided for this article are authoritative enough to satisfy most of the claims for which they are given, but there are a few which are questionable. Reference number ten is a link to what appears to be someone’s personal blog and shouldn’t be accepted as any sort of credible source. Reference number Fifteen is a link to a website which provides no author or source of its information which also calls its credibility into question. Reference fourteen is a dead link altogether. There is also the issue that there are large sections of this article which provide no citations at all. They seem well written enough to be factual statements, but without sources how can they be deemed true?

Overall, the article is well written and the facts presented are easily comprehended, but why one should be concerned with such facts is usually not evident. It appears that the much of the article was written by a person or persons which have a lot of personal knowledge on the subject. Most of the statements made seem true enough, but are not sufficiently reinforced by credible sources. The article provides an excellent framework within which the history of broadcasting may be presented however, it leaves much room for improvement in the way of amplifying information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by HIST406-10gbelaga (talk • contribs) 19:12, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Order of Countries
The order in which the history of broadcasting in various countries appears, is quite subjective. I suggest that country sections should be alphabetical. What do others think? Albert Isaacs (talk) 00:49, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

Spinoff to history of broadcasting in Australia
I created a new article called the History of broadcasting in Australia, with most of the text was here, and some from the article on ABC. I added some entirely new material and new bibliography. The problem with the section here on Australia is that it is delving deeply into minutiae and taking up too much proportional space for an article that has to cover the entire world. Rjensen (talk) 08:48, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

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History of radio in Pakistan
Radio came in sub continent in 1928 In Lahore and it came 16 December 1936. In Dhaka 1939 In 1973 international service radio station came into beings Mlkshbz786 (talk) 19:15, 27 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Do you have sources that can be cited for this, per WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:CS, et al.?

Uncited material in need of citations
I am moving the following uncited material here until it can be properly supported with inline citations of reliable, secondary sources, per WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:CS, WP:NOR, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Nightscream (talk) 16:01, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

Argentina
Argentina was a world pioneer in broadcasting, being the third country in the world to make its first regular broadcasts in 1920, having been the first Spanish-speaking country in Latin America to offer daily radio broadcasts. The main stations were in Buenos Aires and Córdoba. Among the historical facts related to Argentine radio, it can be mentioned that the first radio broadcast was made with the live broadcast of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, on August 27, 1920, in charge of the Radio Argentina Society of Enrique Susini, César Guerrico, Miguel Mugica, Luis Romero and Ignacio Gómez, who installed a transmitting device on the roof of the building, for which they are remembered as "The crazy people on the roof".

In 1921, the transmission of classical music became a daily occurrence. The following year, the assumption of President Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear was broadcast live. In September 1923 the famous "fight of the century" was issued between Luis Ángel Firpo and Jack Dempsey from the Polo Grounds in New York, and in October of the following year the match between the Argentine and Uruguayan national teams was broadcast. Also at that time the first advertisements, called "reclames", were put on the air. At the end of the decade the radio drama was born.

In those years several radio stations arose, Argentina (originally Radio Argentina), Culture, Excelsior, Mitre (originally South American), Splendid (originally Grand Splendid), Belgrano (originally National), Prieto (originally Broadcasting Critic), Del Pueblo - (originally Quilmes Broadcasting ), America-, Antartida (originally Fénix), Municipal, Rivadavia (originally Muebles Díaz), Porteña and Stentor (originally Sarmiento).

The introduction of the loudspeakers substantially modified the listening conditions. The receiving apparatus was gaining an important place in the home, gathering around the family. Meanwhile, the multiplication of the stations generated the first conflicts over the airwaves, which led to the first regulations on emission frequencies at the end of the 20s.

Australia
The History of broadcasting in Australia has been shaped for over a century by the problem of communication across long distances, coupled with a strong base in a wealthy society with a deep taste for aural communications. Australia developed its own system, through its own engineers, manufacturers, retailers, newspapers, entertainment services, and news agencies. The government set up the first radio system, and business interests marginalized the hobbyists and amateurs. The Labor Party was especially interested in radio because it allowed them to bypass the newspapers, which were mostly controlled by the opposition. Both parties agreed on the need for a national system, and in 1932 set up the Australian Broadcasting Commission, as a government agency that was largely separate from political interference. The first commercial broadcasters, originally known as "B" class stations, were on the air as early as 1925. The number of stations (commercial and national) remained relatively dormant throughout World War II and in the post-war era.

Sealed set system
The sealed set system was devised by broadcasting pioneer Ernest Fisk of AWA – Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia).

Categories in Australia from 1924
From 1929, all A Class stations received all their programs from the one source, the Australian Broadcasting Company which was made up of the following shareholders: Greater Union Theatres (a movie theatre chain), Fuller's Theatres (a live theatre chain) and J. Albert & Sons (music publishers and retailers). A number of B Class stations were also licensed. These did not receive any government monies and were expected to derive their income from advertising, sponsorship, or other sources. Within a few years B Class stations were being referred to as "commercial stations".

The Corporation took over the assets of all A Class stations. It still exists as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Australian Broadcasting Co changed its name to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Company and later the Australian Radio Network. It soon purchased Sydney commercial station 2UW and now has an Australia-wide network of commercial stations.

Types of programs
As with most countries, most Australian stations originally broadcast music interspersed with such things as talks, coverage of sporting events, church broadcasts, weather, news and time signals of various types. Virtually all stations also had programs of interest to women, and children's sessions. From the outset, A Class stations' peak-hour evening programs often consisted of live broadcasts from various theatres, i.e. dramas, operas, musicals, variety shows, vaudeville, etc. The first dramas especially written for radio were transmitted in the mid-1920s. By the 1930s, the ABC was transmitting a number of British programs sourced from the BBC, and commercial stations were receiving a number of US programs, particularly dramas. However, in the 1940s, war-time restrictions made it difficult to access overseas programs and, therefore, the amount of Australian dramatic material increased. As well as using original ideas and scripts, there were a number of local versions of overseas programs. Initially, much of the music broadcast in Australia was from live studio concerts. However, the amount of gramophone (and piano roll) music soon increased dramatically, particularly on commercial stations.

In the late 1930s, the number of big production variety shows multiplied significantly, particularly on the two major commercial networks, Macquarie and Major. After World War II the independent Colgate-Palmolive radio production unit was formed. It poached most major radio stars from the various stations. Until the 1950s, the popular image of the whole family seated around a set in the living room was the most accepted way of listening to radio. Therefore, most stations had to be all things to all people, and specialised programming was not really thought about at this stage (it did not come in until the late 1950s). Because of this, programming on most stations was pretty much the same.

Canada
For a time, CKAC was broadcasting some programs in French, and some in English: in 1924, for example, the station rebroadcast fifteen Boston Bruins hockey games from station WBZ in Boston. Meanwhile, in other Canadian provinces, 1922 was also the year for their first stations, including CJCE in Vancouver, and CQCA (which soon became CHCQ) in Calgary.

In 1932, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission was formed, and in 1936, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the country's national radio service, made its debut.

Germany
Germany experimented with television broadcasting, using a 180-line raster system beginning before 1935. German propaganda claimed the system was superior to the British mechanical scanning system.

Netherlands
On 6 November 1919, the Dutch radio pioneer Hans Henricus Schotanus à Steringa Idzerda started regular radio transmissions from The Hague. As these were regular transmissions and the program was announced beforehand in the newspaper NRC, this is seen as the start of commercial broadcasting.

Sri Lanka
This broadcasting experiment was successful; barely three years later, on December 16, 1925, a regular broadcasting service came to be instituted. Edward Harper who came to Ceylon as Chief Engineer of the Telegraph Office in 1921, was the first person to actively promote broadcasting in Ceylon. Sri Lanka occupies an important place in the history of broadcasting with broadcasting services inaugurated just three years after the launch of the BBC in the United Kingdom. Edward Harper launched the first experimental broadcast as well as founding the Ceylon Wireless Club, together with British and Ceylonese radio enthusiasts on the island. Edward Harper has been dubbed ' the Father of Broadcasting in Ceylon,' because of his pioneering efforts, his skill and his determination to succeed. Edward Harper and his fellow Ceylonese radio enthusiasts, made it happen.

United Kingdom
Working as its first manager and Director-General, he promoted the philosophy of public service broadcasting, firmly grounded in the moral benefits of education and of uplifting entertainment, eschewing commercial influence and maintaining a maximum of independence from political control.

Commercial stations such as Radio Normandie and Radio Luxembourg broadcast into the UK from other European countries. This provided a very popular alternative to the rather austere BBC. These stations were closed during the War, and only Radio Luxembourg returned afterward. BBC television broadcasts in Britain began on November 2, 1936, and continued until wartime conditions closed the service in 1939.

United States
They operated 9XM, originally licensed by Professor Edward Bennett in 1914, and experimented with voice broadcasts starting in 1917.

1920s
There were other stations on the air around the same time as KDKA, including a station at Union College in Schenectady, New York that became known as WRUC; 8MK in Detroit; 1XE in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts; and several others. KDKA received a commercial license and began broadcasting on November 2, 1920. The National Broadcasting Company began regular broadcasting in 1926, with telephone links between New York and other Eastern cities. NBC became the dominant radio network, splitting into Red and Blue networks. The Columbia Broadcasting System began in 1927 under the guidance of William S. Paley.

Australia
Not including the early television experiments (see above), mainstream television transmission commenced in Sydney and Melbourne in the latter part of 1956, that is, in time for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games in November/December 1956. It was then phased in to other capital cities, and then into rural markets. Many forms entertainment, particularly drama and variety, were considered more suited to television than radio, and many such programs were gradually deleted from radio schedules. The fears of intrusion were addressed by a beep that occurred every few seconds, so that the caller knew that his/her call was being broadcast. There was also a seven-second delay so that obscene or libelous material could be monitored. By the end of the 1960s, specialisation by radio stations had increased dramatically and there were stations focusing on various kinds of music, talk back, news, sport, etc.

Germany
Germany began developing a network of VHF FM broadcast stations in 1955 because of the excessive crowding of the mediumwave and shortwave broadcast bands.

Sri Lanka
They went on to enjoy star status in the Indian sub-continent. This was Radio Ceylon's golden era.

United Kingdom
Radio Luxembourg remained popular during the 1950s but saw its audience decline as commercial television and pirate radio, combined with a switch to a less clear frequency, began to erode its influence. BBC television resumed on June 7, 1946, and commercial television began on September 22, 1955. Both used the pre-war 405-line standard. BBC2 came on the air on April 20, 1964, using the 625-line standard, and began PAL colour transmissions on July 1, 1967, the first in Europe. The two older networks transmitted in 625-line colour from 1969. During the 1960s there was still no UK-based commercial radio. A number of 'pirate' radio ships, located in international waters just outside the jurisdiction of English law, came on the air between 1964 and 1967. The most famous of these was Radio Caroline, which was the only station to continue broadcasting after the offshore pirates were effectively outlawed on August 14, 1967 by the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act. It was finally forced off air due to a dispute over tendering payments, but returned in 1972 and continued on and off until 1990. (The station subsequently broadcast legally, initially under 28-day Restricted Service Licences and subsequently via satellite (since closed), internet streams, and (since 2017) a local AM transmitter.)

United States
Television began to replace radio as the chief source of revenue for broadcasting networks. Although many radio programs continued through this decade, including Gunsmoke and The Guiding Light, by 1960 networks had ceased producing entertainment programs. As radio stopped producing formal fifteen-minute to hourly programs, a new format developed. "Top 40" was based on a continuous rotation of short pop songs presented by a "disc jockey." Famous disc jockeys in the era included Alan Freed, Dick Clark, Don Imus and Wolfman Jack. Top 40 playlists were theoretically based on record sales; however, record companies began to bribe disc jockeys to play selected artists, in a controversy that was called "payola". In the 1950s, American television networks introduced broadcasts in color. The Federal Communications Commission approved the world's first monochrome-compatible color television standard in December 1953. The first network colorcast followed on January 1, 1954, with NBC transmitting the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California to over 20 stations across the country. An educational television network, National Educational Television (NET), predecessor to PBS, was founded. Shortwave broadcasting played an important part of fighting the cold war with Voice of America and the BBC World Service, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty transmitting through the "Iron Curtain", and Radio Moscow and others broadcasting back, as well as "jamming" (transmitting to cause intentional interference) the Western stations in the Soviet bloc.

Australia
After much procrastination on the part of various federal governments, FM broadcasting was eventually introduced in 1975. (There had been official experiments with FM broadcasting as far back as 1948.) Only a handful of radio stations were given new licences during the 1940s, 50s & 60s but, since 1975, many hundreds of new broadcasting licences have been issued on both the FM and AM bands. In the latter case, this was made possible by having 9 kHz between stations, rather 10 kHz breaks, as per the Geneva Frequency Plan. The installation of directional aerials also encouraged more AM stations. The type of station given FM licences reflects the policies and philosophies of the various Australian governments. Initially, only the ABC and community radio stations were granted FM licences. However, after a change of government, commercial stations were permitted on the band, as from 1980. At first, one or two brand new stations were permitted in each major market. However, in 1990, one or two existing AM stations in each major market were given FM licences; the stations being chosen by an auction system. Apart from an initial settling-in period for those few stations transferred from AM to FM, there has been no simulcasting between AM and FM stations.

In major cities, a number of brand new FM licences were issued in the 1990s and 2000s. All rural regions which traditionally had only one commercial station now have at least one AM and one FM commercial station. In many cases, the owner of the original station now has at least two outlets. The number of regional transmitters for the ABC's five networks also increased dramatically during this era.

Sri Lanka
The Government of Sri Lanka opened up the market in the late 1970s and 1980s allowing private companies to set up radio and television stations. Sri Lanka's public services broadcasters are the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Independent Television Net Work (ITN) and the affiliated radio station called Lak-handa. They had stiff competition on their hands with the private sector. Broadcasting in Sri Lanka went through a transformation resulting in private broadcasting institutions being set up on the island among them Telshan Network (Pvt) Ltd (TNL), Maharaja Television – TV, Sirasa TV and Shakthi TV, and EAP Network (Pvt) Ltd – known as Swarnawahini – these private channels all have radio stations as well. The 1990s saw a new generation of radio stations being established in Sri Lanka among them the 'Hiru' radio station. In the 1980s public service broadcasters like the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation set up their own FM arm. Sri Lanka celebrated 80 years of broadcasting in December 2005. In January 2007 the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation celebrated 40 years as a public corporation.

United Kingdom
A new pirate station, Swiss-owned Radio Nordsee International, broadcast to Britain and the Netherlands from 1970 until outlawed by Dutch legislation in 1974 (which meant it could no longer be supplied from the European mainland). The English service was heavily jammed by both Labour and Conservative Governments in 1970 amid suggestions that the ship was actually being used for espionage. Radio Caroline returned in 1972 and continued until its ship sank in 1980 (the crew were rescued). A Belgian station, Radio Atlantis, operated an English service for a few months before the Dutch act came into force in 1974. Land-based commercial radio finally came on air in 1973 with London's LBC and Capital Radio. Channel 4 television started in November 1982. Britain's UHF system was originally designed to carry only four networks. Pirate radio enjoyed another brief resurgence with a literal re-launch of Radio Caroline in 1983, and the arrival of American-owned Laser 558 in 1985. Both stations were harassed by the British authorities; Laser closed in 1987 and Caroline in 1989, since then it has pursued legal methods of broadcasting, such as temporary FM licences and satellite. Two rival satellite television systems came on the air at the end of the 1980s: Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting. Huge losses forced a rapid merger, although in many respects it was a takeover of BSB (Britain's official, Government-sanctioned satellite company) by Sky. Radio Luxembourg launched a 24-hour English channel on satellite, but closed its AM service in 1989 and its satellite service in 1991.

The Broadcasting Act 1990 in UK law marked the establishment of two licensing authorities – the Radio Authority and the Independent Television Commission – to facilitate the licensing of non-BBC broadcast services, especially short-term broadcasts. Channel 5 went on the air on March 30, 1997, using "spare" frequencies between the existing channels.

United States
The rise of FM changed the listening habits of younger Americans. Many stations such as WNEW-FM in New York City began to play whole sides of record albums, as opposed to the "Top 40" model of two decades earlier. In the 1980s, the Federal Communications Commission, under Reagan Administration and Congressional pressure, changed the rules limiting the number of radio and television stations a business entity could own in one metropolitan area. This deregulation led to several groups, such as Infinity Broadcasting and Clear Channel to buy many stations in major cities. The cost of these stations' purchases led to a conservative approach to broadcasting, including limited playlists and avoiding controversial subjects to not offend listeners, and increased commercials to increase revenue. AM radio declined throughout the 1970s and 1980s due to various reasons including: Lower cost of FM receivers, narrow AM audio bandwidth, and poor sound in the AM section of automobile receivers (to combat the crowding of stations in the AM band and a "loudness war" conducted by AM broadcasters), and increased radio noise in homes caused by fluorescent lighting and introduction of electronic devices in homes. AM radio's decline flattened out in the mid-1990s due to the introduction of niche formats and over commercialization of many FM stations.

The 2000s
The 2000s saw the introduction of digital radio and direct broadcasting by satellite (DBS) in the USA. Digital radio services, except in the United States, were allocated a new frequency band in the range of 1.4 GHz. Regular shortwave broadcasts using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), a digital broadcasting scheme for short and medium wave broadcasts have begun. This system makes the normally scratchy international broadcasts clear and nearly FM quality, and much lower transmitter power. This is much better to listen to and has more languages.

Australia
The ABC currently has five AM/FM networks and is in the process of establishing a series of supplementary music stations that are only available on digital radios and digital television sets. SBS provides non-English language programs over its two networks, as do a number of community radio stations.

Canada
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission plans to move all Canadian broadcasting to the digital band and close all mediumwave and FM stations.

Europe
European stations have begun digital broadcasting (DAB). Digital radios began to be sold in the United Kingdom in 1998.

United States
In the United States, this band was deemed to be vital to national defense, so an alternate band in the range of 2.3 GHz was introduced for satellite broadcasting. Two American companies, XM and Sirius, introduced DBS systems, which are funded by direct subscription, as in cable television. The XM and Sirius systems provide approximately 100 channels each, in exchange for monthly payments. In addition, a consortium of companies received FCC approval for In-Band On-Channel digital broadcasts in the United States, which use the existing mediumwave and FM bands for transmission. However, early IBOC tests showed interference problems with adjacent channels, which has slowed adoption of the system.