Why should we care about the concentration of radio ownership?

With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, many corporate giants saw the opportunity to buy more radio stations now that the limit was lifted by said Act. This is a big concern, because diversity is greatly reduced. Fewer people own the stations, so that means fewer input of ideas and variety for radio shows. Another concern is that fewer stations are programmed locally because group owners often supply programming from a central source. Fewer radio station owners than ever are local residents of the areas their stations serve. which limits their ability to understand local interests. News and information content lack genuine local input or diversity.Finally local stations are now automated and play just the prerecorded programming. These are all reasons why we should care about the concentration of radio ownership.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of satellite radio?

Satellite radio has revolutionized the way people listen to radio. Satellite radio gives clearer sound quality which is a great advantage. Also satellite radio has more frequencies, which means more stations and a greater variety. Satellite radio also has no censorship due to the fact that members have to pay a subscription fee. Paying a subscription fee is a disadvantage because not every radio consumer can afford to pay a subscription just to listen to radio. The fact that satellite has no censorship, can be looked as an advantage but at the same time as a disadvantage. No censorship means people can speak their minds and communicate their beliefs without repercussions. At the same time no censorship can also mean that certain radio celebrities can just communicate without any facts or logical reasoning to back his arguments.

How did advertising come to support radio economics?

The idea of entertainment supported by advertising came from AT&T's radio station WEAF, which started in 1922 in New Jersey. AT&T charged content providers a fee for the use of its radio stations. The fee was based on how much airtime they used. This evolved into letting manufacturers sponsor programs to advertise their goods, then into advertisers paying to have their ads carried on programs. WEAF broadcast the first commercial. By 1927, radio had attained a different shape. Privately owned stations focused on popular entertainment, heavily tilted toward music, and supported by commercial advertising , a model it retains today. Radio stations and radio networks discovered a way to make a great deal of money selling advertising. Networks arose to supply stations with the most popular entertainment in a way that spread cost across a number of stations. Advertisers saw a way to help create and then reach a mass consumer public, turning people first and foremost into consumers by promoting their goods on the airwaves.

Reactions to Guest Speaker

Guest speaker Ned Sublette was an interesting speaker, with much experience in the communications and media field. He has changed careers or professions a couple of time, which throughout his lifetime has given him much experience and anecdotes. His subjects throughout the presentation ranged from his experience working in public radio, producing political, music and talk radio, writing books, and his experience in New Orleans before, during, and after the occurrences of hurricane Katrina. Out of all the subjects that he talked about, the fact of how many people in New Orleans did not know that hurricane Katrina was approaching and the intensity which it possessed. Mr. Sublette used the example of how Cuba, a communist totalitarian nation, is very well prepared for hurricanes, which hit their coast every year in more than one occasion. He stated that due to Cuba's restrictions in media, all of Cuba just has a couple of stations in both radio and television. Though oppressive, this allows the government to issue warnings well before the hurricane is approaching, allowing citizens to take precautions and aiding the government in evacuating, thereby avoiding many casualties.

What is your favorite medium, and how does it make money from you?

My favorite medium is television. Television has been around for a while now and has maintained a dominant status over other mediums and forms of communication. Even with the diffusion of other more modern mediums such as the Internet, it seems pretty hard for television to lose its dominant status. Even with society and popular culture, especially teenagers, moving to a new era in communications, television is the preferred among all cultures and people around the world, no matter the age group or other differentiations among people. This might be due to the simplicity of using and accessing a TV set. Television, or broadcast corporations, make most of their profits through advertising. Broadcast corporations sell airtime, which various companies and corporations buy to diffuse their commercials and advertisements, trying to sell a product or service. So u may be asking yourself, if broadcasting corporations make their money through advertisement, how are they making from me? That's easy, broadcasting corporations don't make money directly from me, or the public in general, but the audience helps broadcasting corporations make profits indirectly. How you ask? As already mentioned, broadcasting corporations sell airtime to companies and corporations so these same companies can air their advertising during and between shows. How much a broadcasting corporation asks for airtime, depends greatly on the ratings of their shows. This is were the audience plays a great role. The more audience a show has, the greater the ratings are, which in return equals greater profits. A perfect example is the Super Bowl, where airtime is sold in the millions just for 30 seconds commercials. This is due to the great number of audience the Super Bowl has every year. In conclusion, even though a broadcasting corporations do not profit directly from me, the audience and myself play an important role in the profit making of broadcasting corporations.

Explain text messaging using the SMCR model

The SMCR model is a classic model of mass communication that describes the exchange of information as the message passes from the source, to the channel, and to the receiver, with feedback to the source. The SMCR model stands for the Source-Message-Channel- Receiver model and was developed by Wilbur Schramm in 1982 to illustrate and describe the communication process applied to broadcast media.

The SMCR model is broken down into the following steps or processes: The source, which is the originator of the communication. The message, which is the content of the communication, the information to be exchanged. An encoder, translates the message into a form that can be communicated, often a form which is not interpretable by human senses. The channel, is the medium or transmission system used to convey the message from one place to another. A decoder, reverses the encoding process. The receiver, is the destination of the communication. A feedback, is a mechanism between the source and the receiver which regulates the flow of communication. Finally, noise is any distortion or errors that may be introduced during the information exchange.

Now that the SMCR model has been explained in detail, I will apply the SMCR model to text messaging. First, the source is the sender, the person writing the text message. The message is the words or text (SMS), or images, files, or sounds (MMS). The encoder is the sender's cellphone and/or service provider's network and/or equipment translating the digital message into binary code or some other form of "computer language". The channel is both the sender's and receiver's service providers satellites and antennas. The decoder is the receivers cellphone which translates the message from binary code, back to digital form. The receiver is the person who the text message is addressed to. The feedback is any response or text, images, sounds, and/or files sent back to the source. Finally, the noise can be anything that interferes with the flow of the communication, which might range from the service available in that area to typos. The SMCR model can be applied not only to text messages, but to any type of communication involving more than one person.