RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

degree to which the station wil) become a successful member and advocate for the communities it is formed to serve . Notes 1 ) The primary model of rađio at this time was many points transmitting to one localized receiver , or the reverse of the primary model of today (Douglas , 1987) 2 ) The other owners of RCA were ; the Internatlonal Radio Telegraph Co . , the Uniteđ Fruit Co . , And Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co . (Magid and MarKs , p. 105). 3 ) Indeed, the American Telephone and Telegraph Сотрапу sought to establish radio telephone service đunng the early 1 920s . It was decned for , of all thmgs , being too commerclal. But , Its success came with the prođuction of programs , not point-to-point commumcation , and its style of broadcasting was soon followed (Barnouw, 1966, pp. 105-114). 4 ) The advent of "narrowcasting" as a programmmg concept in the U.S. has done little to change this. Programs are still market to narrow segments of an audience , which has no role m deciding what it will hear . The result is a mass of unlmaginative sounds, which seeks тоге to đraw audience through non-ahenation than by providing compelling program servlces (Pareles , 1987 ). 5 ) But, such intra-frequency mterference is a natural conseguence of broadcast stations seekmg maximize their audience and , therefore , their coverage area . There is no inherent technological imperative for the radio to consist of a few highly powered stations transmittmg from the capitol city of the largest commercial market . "Local" radio can consist of a low-powered transmitter sending signals to a small area of village . The same frequency can be used (especiatly on FM , which has a ime-of-sight range ) by several small areas or villages without nsk of mterference (Hein, 1985). A low-poweređ station can be implemented in the smallest of villages in the đeveloping world (Hem, 1985), and it can also be establisheđ to serve a defmable commumty livmg withm the largest metropohs (Schulman, 1985). Thus . "radio" can be useđ to commumcate within a small radius of hsteners , and need not be seen as a necessarily "mass” medium which tnes to reach t.he widest possible auđieriče .

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