An historical survey of US radio and television through an examination of their technologies, their institutions, and their programming forms: a study of their impacts on American culture and society. The course begins with the advent of broadcasting in the post–World War I era, the introduction of television in the post–World War II years, and the evolution of broadcasting in the post-network era at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Juan Monroy
Office hours are held remotely. Sign up for an appointment at https://juanmonroy.com/officehours.
Queens College offers loaner devices to students who need them for remote instruction. Contact Queens College ITS for how to request a device.
The Media Studies department has a newsletter. The newsletter aims to offer students an accessible platform to be informed about campus and departmental events, and hiring opportunities within the field. With all that happens throughout the semester, The G Building News overs the projects of students and faculty to inspire creativity and potential collaborations.
“The G Building News. Stay Informed. Stay Creative.”
Subscribe today at https://qcmediastudies.substack.com.
Counseling Services are available to any Queens College student. They assist students with personal concerns that can affect their enjoyment of and success in college. Services are free and confidential. All sessions take place on Zoom or by telephone, depending on student preference.
To make an appointment, students should call 718–997–5420 and leave a message with their phone number and CUNY ID. You can also e-mail counselingservices@qc.cuny.edu to set up an appointment.
We will be using Brightspace for all graded assignments, including quizzes and exams.
Sign in using your CUNY Login, not your college-specific address (the one you use for email).
I recommend downloading and signing into the Brightspace Pulse app. Among the many benefits, you get notifications about announcements and content. You also get reminders about upcoming assignments.
It is available at https://apps.brightspace.com/pulse/launch
This course consists of twelve modules and two exams. The material from each module will be posted in the course schedule below and on Brightspace.
You must complete the material for each module before our weekly discussion session.
Because this is a three (3) unit course, you’re expected to spend an average of nine (9) hours per week working on this course.
Each module requires you to read a chapter or two from the following textbook:
Complete these readings first. Take notes and pay attention to the headings to help you understand how the chapter is organized.
Each module requires you to watch a recorded lecture in multiple parts. The recorded lectures move through the course material quicker than an in-person lecture. As you watch each video, pause and rewind the video as necessary to take notes on the material. This will help ensure you’re ingesting the course material.
The videos are all captioned and a transcript is available on Brightspace.
Each module requires you to listen to a series of radio programs or to watch a series of television programs that are relevant to the course material for that module.
The programs are linked in the course schedule below and on Brightspace.
All students must participate in the weekly discussion session.
During the week discussion sessions, we will review the material covered in the module. We will also be working together on review questions in breakout rooms that you will submit during class on Brightspace.
Zoom Meeting Information
Each week during class, I will post a set of discussion questions for you to complete during our Weekly Discussion Session. The questions are open-ended and due by the end of our meeting.
There will be a total of twelve discussion questions assignments. I will drop your two lowest scores. The remaining ten quizzes are collectively worth 12% of your final grade.
For each module, you will take two quizzes: one on the assigned readings and another on the recorded lectures.
You have two attempts to take each quiz: your score for each quiz is based on the average of your attempts.
Each module requires you to take a quiz on the readings from the textbook. Each reading quiz consists of a mix of true-false and multiple-choice questions. The quiz will be available on Brightspace.
You must open the reading assignment to access the reading quiz for that module
Note the quiz deadlines on Brightspace. Quizzes will not be accepted after they close on Brightspace.
There will be a total of twelve quizzes. I will drop your two lowest reading quiz scores. The remaining ten quizzes are collectively worth 24% of your final grade.
Each module requires you to take a quiz on the lectures from the textbook. Each lecture quiz consists of a mix of true-false and multiple-choice questions. The quiz will be available on Brightspace.
You must watch all the lecture videos to access the lecture quiz for that module
Note the quiz deadlines on Brightspace. Quizzes will not be accepted after they close on Brightspace.
There will be a total of twelve quizzes. I will drop your two lowest lecture quiz scores. The remaining ten quizzes are collectively worth 24% of your final grade.
You are required to complete two exams. Each exam will consist of objective questions, a mix of true-and-false and multiple-choice, and subjective questions, requiring answers in the form of explanations. Your answers to the exam questions should synthesize what you learned in the recorded lectures and the textbook readings.
Exams are available on Brightspace, based on the following course material:
Both exams are required and constitute 30% of your final grade:
All exams must be submitted by the deadline. Exams will not be accepted after each closes on Brightspace.
Complete all activities no later than the date posted on Brightspace.
Before starting the class, you might find it helpful to orient yourself with some terms and concepts about the development of radio and of television. The following lectures are from my Media Technologies course.
Think of these lectures as a prelude to this course: these lectures cover a broad overview of some of the material we will cover in more detail throughout the semester.
In this module, we’ll cover the beginnings of radio, including the discovery and harnessing of electromagnetic radiation in the nineteenth century. We’ll cover some of the better-known pioneers to develop this discovery into a commercial industry. Some of these included using radio to offer a wireless telegraph for seafaring ships and a offer a wireless telephone. Lastly, we’ll look at how the invention of wireless would be controlled.
In this module, we look at how the culture of post–World War I America shaped the development of radio. We will look at how wireless telephony evolved from point-to-point communication into broadcasting, which allows for radio to become a mass medium capable of affecting popular culture. We will also trace the evolution of the Radio Corporation of America up to 1926. Large electronics companies, such as RCA, would shape broadcasting into a set of programming forms borrowing from contemporary popular culture. Lastly, we will look at the government’s attempts to reign in the chaos that ensued with the explosion of broadcasting. It wasn’t pretty.
In this module, we look at beginning of the Great Depression, the new transmission and reception technologies, and the regulatory environment that developed at the end of the 1920s. Two major milestones mark this period: the passage of the Federal Radio Act and the beginnings of network broadcasting—with not one, not two, but three major networks. Also, new program forms emerge: the musical variety show, the comedy variety show, the soap opera, and a president speaks directly to the American people.
In this module, we look at beginning of the Golden Age of Radio, a period where radio grew dramatically as not just an entertainment medium, but a force that created a national culture. This is incredible despite the fact that radio sets were expensive products but people thought them essential during the Depression. Two events mark this period. First, there is the growth of network radio at the expense of local stations that weren’t affiliated with a network. Second, the Communications Act, passed in 1934, expanded government involvement in broadcasting and would ultimately begin weakening network control of radio.
World War II affected radio just as it affected every other aspect of American life. Radio was deployed for the war effort in myriad ways, but also in the background of these activities, the ground was being set for the next stages: television in the postwar years, and two decades later FM radio.
After World War II, television development—already in progress as early as the 1920s—accelerated and then became a commercial medium in the late 1940s. Networks emerged just like they did in the radio age, and just like in the radio years, there were many regulatory missteps for allocating scarce spectrum. Also, network radio died in these years, and radio began to evolve with more time devoted to music and local advertising and programming. Does that sound familiar?
Exam 1 covers the material for modules 1–6 and is available on Brightspace
In this module, we look at how the broadcast networks dominated US television. Network radio ends as a mere news-distribution service, and radio becomes the music-jukebox format that is familiar to many of us today. In this period, we lose a television network—and the three remaining networks rule American television for three decades. Lastly, networks wrest control from the sponsors and make a ton of money at the same time. (Win-Win!) Programming begins an awkward transition from radio formats to ones that are more appropriate for the social change in the 1960s. I included Bewitched and Sit-In in the list of screenings below because they both reflect civil rights issues of the day, albeit in very different ways.
FM radio finally achieved the “preferred service” envisioned by Edwin Armstrong in the 1940s, a static-free, high-fidelity service. Television networks dominated during this period but evolved to adapt to social changes in the 1960s and 1970s. The FCC imposed rules to diversify television, including “fin-syn” and PTAR: television programs reflected these changes. Finally, new television channels and technologies, such as cable television, satellite cable, and public television, which challenged the commercial broadcast model.
New technologies and deregulation transform the television industry, leading to new competition and transforming the broadcast network system. Despite this, network television programming dominates viewership during this era.
The 1980s saw deregulation in television, including the cancellation of Fin-Syn rules, leading to vertical integration and the emergence of new networks like Fox. Programming shifted towards smaller audiences in this new environment.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996, the largest revision to communications law, coincided with a technological revolution. This era saw the rise of personal computers, the Internet, and digital media, leading to innovations like digital radio and television.
The digital age in the new century fully brings digital convergence between radio and television—as well as other media—to personal computing devices. The programming that comprised radio broadcasts shifts to new platforms using new distribution technologies, including satellite radio and podcasting. The broadcast networks join the ranks of media conglomerates, and there’s a major realignment of broadcast television in 2006 that results in two new broadcast networks. Lastly, the age of convergence also bring new television programming producers and distributors, not from the world of media, but from technology companies.
Exam 2 covers the material for modules 7–12 and is available on Brightspace