Deck 5: Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

Question 1

The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed after World War I to give the United
States an early worldwide monopoly over radio broadcasting.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The aim of early radio networks such as CBS and NBC was to serve the public interest.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

In the 1920s, CBS operated two radio networks, CBS-Red and CBS-Blue.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In its entrepreneurial phase, radio was marketed as a ship-to-shore communication device.

Question 5

Match the items with the names with which they are most closely identified.
A. Buddy Holly
B. Thomas Edison
C. Little Richard
D. Elvis Presley
E. Bing Crosby
F. Chuck Berry
G. Alan Freed
H. Emile Berliner
I. Jerry Lee Lewis
Alexander Popov was a Russian academic whose experiments in wireless communication occurred at roughly the same time as Marconi's.

Question 6

Because of the role of the navy in early broadcast history, the United States today has a national broadcasting system both controlled and supervised by the government.

Question 7

Inventor Lee De Forest developed a vacuum tube capable of detecting and amplifying radio signals.

Question 8

Network radio helped modernize America by deemphasizing local in favor of national programs.

Question 9

Match the items with the names with which they are most closely identified.
A. Buddy Holly
B. Thomas Edison
C. Little Richard
D. Elvis Presley
E. Bing Crosby
F. Chuck Berry
G. Alan Freed
H. Emile Berliner
I. Jerry Lee Lewis
Competition among media meant that with the arrival of television, radio became obsolete.

Question 10

In the 1940s, NBC willingly sold its Blue network because it was losing money.

Question 11

The Radio Act of 1927 created the Radio Corporation of America.

Question 12

The Titanic sank in 1912, resulting in the loss of about fifteen hundred lives; had it not been for radio, seven hundred additional lives would have been lost.

Question 13

Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912 in response to the sinking of the British ocean liner
Titanic.

Question 14

Under the Radio Act of 1927, broadcasters were allowed to own their radio channels.

Question 15

Match the items with the names with which they are most closely identified.
A. Buddy Holly
B. Thomas Edison
C. Little Richard
D. Elvis Presley
E. Bing Crosby
F. Chuck Berry
G. Alan Freed
H. Emile Berliner
I. Jerry Lee Lewis
Guglielmo Marconi is credited with creating FM radio.

Question 16

Match the items with the names with which they are most closely identified.
A. Buddy Holly
B. Thomas Edison
C. Little Richard
D. Elvis Presley
E. Bing Crosby
F. Chuck Berry
G. Alan Freed
H. Emile Berliner
I. Jerry Lee Lewis
During his lifetime, Nikola Tesla received much recognition for his wireless inventions.

Question 17

The word broadcasting derives from the steel industry, in part because KDKA in Pittsburgh was one of the first stations to begin using radio as a mass medium.

Question 18

During the 1920s, the United States was the only country that allowed commercial interests to control broadcasting.

Question 19

The American Marconi Company had trouble developing as a business after World War I in part because the U.S. Navy and U.S. commercial interests did not want a foreigner-controlled company wielding so much power in the field of emergent radio technologies.

Question 20

Match the items with the names with which they are most closely identified.
A. Buddy Holly
B. Thomas Edison
C. Little Richard
D. Elvis Presley
E. Bing Crosby
F. Chuck Berry
G. Alan Freed
H. Emile Berliner
I. Jerry Lee Lewis
Guglielmo Marconi envisioned wireless telegraphy only as point-to-point communication and not as a one-to-many mass medium.

Question 21

In 1948, the FCC approved 10-watt FM stations, allowing more people to participate in radio.

Question 22

The program Amos 'n' Andy started on Chicago radio in 1945.

Question 23

The first transistor radio was marketed by Texas Instruments in 1953.

Question 24

FM radio was an immediate commercial success and made its inventor a rich and happy man.

Question 25

With the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Commission officially became the Federal Radio Commission.

Question 26

The Top 40 format refers to the forty most popular hits in a given week as measured by record sales.

Question 27

Edwin H. Armstrong developed AM radio.

Question 28

Contemporary public (noncommercial) radio mostly follows a mixed rather than a specified format.

Question 29

RCA delayed the deployment of FM radio for many decades because it was more concerned with the development of television.

Question 30

The first person to discover and develop FM radio in the 1920s and the 1930s was David
Sarnoff of RCA. (F)

Question 31

By the 1960s, most radio listening was done outside the home.

Question 32

AM is better than FM for playing music because of its greater clarity and fidelity.

Question 33

By law, nonprofit broadcasters are allocated 25 percent of all the broadcast frequencies in the
United States today.

Question 34

HD radio is a digital technology that enables broadcasters to multicast within an analog frequency.

Question 35

Internet radio stations are those that either stream or simulcast a version of their on-air signal over the Web, or create a station exclusive to the Internet.

Question 36

Radio soap operas got their name because they were a ''clean'' form of entertainment that lived up to the social and moral codes of the time.

Question 37

Country is the most popular radio format today.

Question 38

Throughout radio's early history-from the 1920s through the 1940s-advertisers exercised very little control over program content.

Question 39

The vast majority of the top radio talk-show hosts promote conservative viewpoints.

Question 40

Politicians have threatened to cut government funding for public broadcasting.

Question 41

The 1996 Telecommunications Act decreased the number of broadcast stations a single person or corporation can own.

Question 42

The nation's largest radio network is owned by telephone giant AT&T.

Question 43

In the late 1990s, hundreds of radio stations shifted from individual to chain ownership.

Question 44

The rise of pirate micropower radio stations in the United States in the 1990s led the federal government to approve a new class of noncommercial low-power FM radio stations in 2000.

Question 45

The was important to radio technology because it allowed radio signals to be amplified.

A) Hertz
B) Audion vacuum tube
C) cathode ray tube
D) telephony
E) electromagnetic wave

Question 46

The nation's largest broadcast group owns more than eight hundred radio stations.

Question 47

Why were AT&T and GE able to undercut Marconi's influence with the U.S. Navy, even though Marconi was the best company?

A) The U.S. Navy wanted to use government-owned companies over private companies.
B) The U.S. Navy was concerned about a foreign-controlled company having so much power over their communications.
C) The U.S. Navy wished to promote international relations by using foreign companies.
D) The U.S. Navy was dissatisfied with the way American Marconi was being run.
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 48

Clear Channel radio stations can be heard throughout most of the United States.

Question 49

Which event led to the Radio Act of 1912 (which required most large ships to carry wireless technology)?

A) Fessenden's 1906 Christmas Eve transmission
B) The sinking of the Titanic
C) David Sarnoff's wedding
D) Lee De Forest's Eiffel Tower broadcast
E) Marconi's founding of American Marconi

Question 50

The 1996 Telecommunications Act set off an unprecedented consolidation in radio station ownership.

Question 51

The very earliest uses of Marconi's wireless radio were for .

A) military and commercial shipping
B) gossip and shipping
C) advertising and the military
D) entertainment and ads
E) playing rock-and-roll records

Question 52

What three companies controlled most of RCA when it was first a government-approved commercial monopoly in the early 1920s?

A) NBC, GE, United Fruit
B) AT&T, GE, Westinghouse
C) GE, AT&T, American Marconi
D) ABC, NBC, CBS
E) AT&T, Clear Channel, CBS

Question 53

Reginald Fessenden is credited with making the first , on Christmas Eve in 1906.

A) wireless telegraph
B) distress call from a sinking ocean liner
C) on-air paid advertisement
D) voice broadcast
E) use of Morse code

Question 54

Podcasting and Internet radio aren't very portable because you need a computer to use them.

Question 55

The Radio Corporation of America bought which of the following companies?

A) British Marconi
B) American Marconi
C) AT&T
D) Westinghouse
E) WNBC

Question 56

The term broadcasting was originally used in .

A) farming
B) construction
C) commercial fishing
D) carpentry
E) manufacturing

Question 57

Payola is the practice of record promoters paying deejays to play certain songs on the air.

Question 58

Radio generates its largest profits by selling big national ads.

Question 59

Which statement best indicates how inventors and government offices were able to establish who was responsible for early developments in radio technology?

A) Patents clearly indicate who invented what piece of technology first.
B) Only Italians and Americans were interested in early broadcasting.
C) Inventors respected other inventors out of a sense of professional courtesy.
D) The early days of radio were heavily regulated, and therefore clearly documented, by government officials.
E) Simultaneous and independent discoveries, along with competing claims for patents, often had inventors going to court over their inventions.

Question 60

The telegraph was useless as a means of communicating between ships at sea or between ships and the shore because .

A) its signal was too weak to travel across bodies of water
B) the telegraph signal was distorted by the electromagnetic spectrum
C) telegraph equipment was too cumbersome to be used aboard ships
D) the telegraph required a wire cable connecting the sending and receiving stations
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 61

As a new network, CBS was able to compete with NBC by .

A) charging affiliates less for its programs
B) paying affiliates to broadcast its programs
C) being the first network to broadcast in high fidelity
D) advertising its programs on billboards
E) being the first to offer musical programs and quiz shows

Question 62

With the Federal Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Radio Commission became the .

A) Wireless Communication Commission
B) National Broadcasting Company
C) Federal Communications Commission
D) Radio Corporation of America
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 63

The transistor made radio receivers .

A) portable
B) expensive
C) larger
D) stereophonic
E) disposable

Question 64

Prior to the 1950s and 1960s, most radio listening occurred in the home because .

A) people didn't have televisions yet
B) radio sets before the invention of transistors used bulky and delicate vacuum tubes
C) automobiles weren't really widespread yet so most people couldn't leave home
D) radio programs used to be longer and required people's undivided attention
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 65

Which of the following technologies did not cause major changes in the radio industry?

A) Television
B) The Internet
C) The transistor
D) FM transmitters
E) The telegraph

Question 66

Which radio program panicked listeners on Halloween eve in 1938?

A) The Shadow
B) The Green Hornet
C) Amos 'n' Andy
D) War of the Worlds
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 67

One of the driving forces behind the adoption of format radio was that _.

A) radio stations could charge an advertising premium for target audiences
B) paperwork became easier for program directors
C) disc jockeys had a chance to play a wider variety of music
D) it made it easier for record companies to promote new artists
E) radio stations could fulfill their public service requirements

Question 68

What established the Federal Radio Commission?

A) The Radio Act of 1912
B) The Radio Act of 1919
C) The Radio Act of 1927
D) The Radio Act of 1934
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 69

Which of the following best sums up the advantages and disadvantages of FM radio versus AM?

A) FM included less static, had better sound fidelity, but traveled for shorter distances.
B) FM included less static, could travel longer distances, but had uneven results with pitch.
C) FM was an older, cheaper technology, but did better with stereo sound.
D) FM was much better suited to the spoken voice because music sounded clearer on AM.
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 70

Which of the following statements about the news/talk/information radio format is true?

A) From 1987 until 2011, the number of stations with this format rose from just under 200 to almost 2000.
B) It is more expensive to produce than a music format.
C) It appeals to advertisers looking to target working- and middle-class adult consumers.
D) It tends to appeal to listeners over thirty-five years old.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 71

Who set up a crude radio station above his Pittsburgh garage in 1916?

A) Edwin H. Armstrong
B) David Sarnoff
C) Ethan Zuckerman
D) Rush Limbaugh
E) Frank Conrad

Question 72

When the radio industry was forced to reorganize in the 1950s, which of the following was not among the changes made?

A) A turn to format-driven radio
B) A greater dependence on recorded music
C) Featuring top deejays during prime driving periods
D) A move to reach national audiences
E) The repeated playing of top songs

Question 73

In the late 1920s, which of the following was not a part owner of the National Broadcasting Company?

A) RCA
B) General Electric
C) Westinghouse
D) CBS
E) All of the companies were owners of the National Broadcasting Company.

Question 74

Why did the public find it easy to believe that Orson Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds was a real event?

A) Newspapers also printed the story as true.
B) It was done in the style of a real news broadcast.
C) A sizable meteor really did hit New Jersey that day.
D) The broadcast was never identified as fiction or a dramatization.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 75

The most popular music format on U.S. radio today is .

A) country
B) contemporary hit radio
C) urban contemporary
D) top 40
E) adult contemporary

Question 76

The act that first emphasized that broadcasters did not own their channels but were granted licenses provided they operated in the ''public interest, convenience, or necessity'' was the

A) Federal Communications Act of 1934
B) Radio Act of 1912
C) Radio Act of 1927
D) 1932 revocation of RCA's monopoly status
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 77

Radio formats usually target specific audiences according to .

A) age
B) gender
C) race or ethnicity
D) income
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 78

Which of the following indicates how radio listeners today are different from radio listeners in the 1930s?

A) Listeners today are loyal to specific stations or formats rather than to specific shows.
B) Listeners today tune in at a specific time to hear their favorite radio programs, rather
C) Peak listening occurs in the evening hours today, rather than during drive time.
D) Today, people listen to their radio at home more than people did in the 1930s.
E) None of these options is correct.

Question 79

What time period is considered the ''golden age'' of radio?

A) 1960s
B) Early 1900s
C) 1920s and 1930s
D) 1890s
E) 1990s

Question 80

Which company became the first to sell ads on the radio?

A) American Marconi
B) AT&T
C) NBC
D) RCA
E) Westinghouse