1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey thereon Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with How 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works and I Heart Radio and love all Things tech. 5 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 1: And in a previous episode just not too long ago, 6 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: I traced the journey of recorded audio and film from 7 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: early commercial efforts up to about nineteen fifty when a 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: couple of really big things were happening. So in the 9 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: film industry around the studio system model was broken up 10 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: by the US government because it was monopolistic type of structure. 11 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: Up to that point, movie studios had had kind of 12 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: a death grip on the entire process of producing movies. 13 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: They had everything from exclusive contracts with talent and directors 14 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: and writers, to owning film processing facilities to owning chains 15 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 1: of movie theaters, so they owned the means of production, 16 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 1: of distribution, and exhibition, and the studios were able to 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: leverage their power through block booking to force independent theater 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: owners to agree to screen mediocre films in order to 19 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: get access to the popular movies that people actually wanted 20 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,039 Speaker 1: to see. So they say, oh, if you want big 21 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: tent pole picture, A you're gonna have to take this 22 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: other dozen of you know, mediocre westerns as well. But 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: then the Supreme Court waded in and brought all that 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: to an end. Now, in the recording industry, the emergence 25 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: of the thirty three and a third and forty five 26 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: RPM records meant that the venerable seventy eight RBM format 27 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: was no longer the only game in town, and micro 28 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: grooves allowed recording studios to fit more audio on each 29 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: side of a record, so that gave birth to the 30 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: long playing album and the forty five single, both of 31 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: which would shape the way music would evolve as well 32 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: as how consumers would access music. That was kind of 33 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: what I ended up talking about in the last one. 34 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: One other thing I did touch upon in the last 35 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: episode was how television was just starting to catch on 36 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: around that same time. Now, technically TV had been around 37 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: in one form or another, mostly in the research and 38 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: development stage, for a couple of decades, but due to 39 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: lots of other things like the Great Depression and World 40 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: War Two, the rollout of television really didn't get started 41 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: in earnest until the late forties and early fifties. TV 42 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: would play a huge role in our relationship with media 43 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: and how we access it. Now, it's do a quick 44 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: jump back to talk about the movie going experience and 45 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: how that changed over time. So we're gonna rewind just 46 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: a bit to go into more of a personal experience 47 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,519 Speaker 1: kind of of of concepts. So, starting around nineteen ten, 48 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: film studios began to produce newsreels in addition to producing 49 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: shorts and features. So these were sort of a predecessor 50 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: to television news programs that would follow a few decades later. 51 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: A newsreel would typically contain numerous stories, ranging from current 52 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: affairs to some rather self serving segments about the entertainment industry. 53 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,360 Speaker 1: So if you were at a Universal owned theater, you 54 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: would likely be seeing some coverage of Universal themed events 55 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: and and movie premieres and that sort of thing. A 56 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: newsreel and a cartoon or two might serve as the 57 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: entertainment before a feature film or maybe even a short film. 58 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: In fact, back in the day, this is where animated 59 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: cartoons really got their start. When Disney started up his 60 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: animation studio, the performance venue for the company's work was 61 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: in theaters. There were no televisions at that point, at 62 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: least not outside those prototype labs. And a few backyard experiments. 63 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: So the early days of Mickey Mouse and other famous 64 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: vintage cartoons were geared towards a theatrical release. You would 65 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: go to a movie theater to see them, So in 66 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: some cities, theater owners would actually open up a dead 67 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: hated theater just to run newsreels and cartoons all day 68 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: long and no feature films at all, so that customers 69 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: could just pay an admission and then drop in to 70 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: catch up on some news, maybe watch a couple of shorts, 71 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: and then leave whenever they wanted. The news reel served 72 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: as a model for documentary films as well as how 73 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: television would first tackle covering the news several decades later. 74 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: Many studios produced newsreels well into the nineteen fifties, but 75 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: by the nineteen sixties the practice would come to an 76 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: end of the United States due to television's rise in 77 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: popularity and the shift from film coverage to TV coverage 78 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: of news events. This is probably a good time for 79 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: me to mention a lot of what I'm going to 80 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: talk about specifically in these episodes has to do with 81 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: the United States. Uh. That's not to say that important 82 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,119 Speaker 1: things in media weren't happening elsewhere. They absolutely were. In fact, 83 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: the early days of the film industry. The whole film 84 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 1: industry owes a lot to French entrepreneurs and innovators and inventors, 85 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: but we're largely concentrating on what happened in the US 86 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: because a lot of the business practices and technological developments 87 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: that happened in the States would end up having massive 88 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: impact across the world. Now, before television really got an 89 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,919 Speaker 1: established foothold in homes, going to the movies for a 90 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: lot of families was essentially a weekly event, sometimes more 91 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: than once a week. You would go to the film 92 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: the movies, and along with newspapers and radio, it was 93 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: how you could find out about news events. You could 94 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 1: see the last in short films and animation. Short films 95 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: gave rise to the establishment of some early franchises like 96 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 1: Our Gang, which later on was called The Little Rascals. 97 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: Laurel and Hardy got uh famous through short films that 98 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: were shown in front of features. They both Laurel and 99 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: Hardy had both been in lots of movies prior to 100 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: being paired together, but they really found fame as the 101 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: comedy duo. It also helped vaudeville acts like the Three 102 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: Stooges come from the stage to the screen, and so 103 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: movie studios had incredible incentives to produce an enormous amount 104 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: of material to keep tempting people back into the theaters 105 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 1: because they were going multiple times a week sometimes, So 106 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: some of these movie studios became sort of content farms. 107 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: They were just churning out content. They produce good movies. 108 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: There were a lot of opportunities for filmmakers to get 109 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: movies made, but they also just turned out a lot 110 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 1: of junk because they needed to fill up all that time. 111 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: But it worked. At the height of the Golden Age 112 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: of cinema, more than eighty million Americans were going to 113 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,119 Speaker 1: the movies at least once per week. And this wasn't 114 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: the era of the blockbuster either. This wasn't when people 115 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: would go back to see the same movie over and over. 116 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: You weren't likely to have the same picture playing in 117 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: a theater for months on end. But again, television would 118 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: change all of that and much of the material that 119 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: has been produced specifically for theaters which shift over to 120 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: TV eventually. Now I bring this up to illustrate how society, entertainment, 121 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: and technology were of folving together over time, and it 122 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: was changing how we access information or entertainment. And here 123 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: we see a shift going from a centralized location, namely 124 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: a movie theater, to accessing the information at home using 125 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: radio and television. Of course, that means we need to 126 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: talk about radio too. That was still a really big 127 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: thing going on in these days, and and so you 128 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: could access news through different radio stations. But the power 129 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: of visuals is a very compelling one for a lot 130 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: of people, and that's what film and TV were able 131 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: to capitalize on. So you had these three prongs all 132 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: existing at the same time, and of course they all 133 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: still exist today, and a lot of radio shows and 134 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: radio studios would get directly involved with producing content for television. 135 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: In the United States, the big networks of NBC, CBS, 136 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: and ABC all started as radio networks that more or 137 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: less quickly moved into television production once it was clear 138 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: that TV was viable. That viability had to wait until 139 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: the end of World War two. It just wasn't really 140 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: possible to create a new industry based off a novel technology. 141 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,239 Speaker 1: During the years of the war, governments around the world 142 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: were imposing rationing on various materials, so companies couldn't produce televisions. 143 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: They couldn't get the raw materials needed to make the 144 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:22,119 Speaker 1: TVs really until after peace was declared. And I should 145 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: also talk about the business side of media for a bit, 146 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: because that's a very important component to all of this. 147 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: The technology obviously enables media, but the business is what 148 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: supports it. Like without the business, there's no there's no media, 149 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: there's no nothing for you to go out and see 150 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,319 Speaker 1: because something has to pay for all of that. Now 151 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: I've covered the business side with film. You know, the 152 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: film studios were making money by essentially owning the whole 153 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: production pipeline and selling blocks of films to theaters, as 154 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: well as taking a share of the box office at 155 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: least until and then the box office theater relationship was 156 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:03,079 Speaker 1: still important but had changed dramatically. But the movie business 157 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,439 Speaker 1: was a really profitable business for the successful studios at least, 158 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,200 Speaker 1: and block booking meant a studio could make money even 159 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: from a real stinker of a movie, because again, theater 160 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: owners had no choice but to accept those stinkers if 161 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: they also wanted to get the good stuff. But what 162 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: about radio and television. How did they make money? Well, 163 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: let's start with radio. Now, back in the very very 164 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: early days of radio, in the wake of World War One, 165 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: there was no radio advertising. So how do you make 166 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: money with a radio station, assuming you weren't in the 167 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: business of communicating wireless telegrams across the country and acting 168 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:38,959 Speaker 1: like a communication system. Well, primarily you did it by 169 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: also being in the business of selling radio sets. So, 170 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: in other words, you weren't producing radio programs to make 171 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: money directly. You were producing radio programs to create a 172 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: business case to convince customers to buy a radio set. 173 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: No one's gonna buy a radio if there's nothing to 174 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: listen to, So they the companies that were trying to 175 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: sell radios, whether they were manufacturers or retailers, would create 176 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: radio stations in order to create the demand for the 177 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:07,680 Speaker 1: product they were trying to sell. There were a lot 178 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: of department stores in the United States that sold radio 179 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: sets and also owned a radio broadcast station. Sometimes it 180 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: was a pretty small one that had a very limited range, 181 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: but that was how they convinced people to buy radio sets. 182 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: But there is a big problem with this particular model, 183 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: and you've probably already spotted it. Eventually you're gonna hit 184 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: market saturation, which means everyone who can afford a radio 185 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: has one already, and it's pretty darn hard to convince 186 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: someone to upgrade their radio set if they're old, one 187 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: works just fine. Also, keep in mind that radios were 188 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 1: really expensive luxuries when they first debuted. They were not cheap. 189 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: You couldn't just go out and buy one for ten bucks. 190 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: They were sometimes hundreds of dollars. And then in August 191 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:54,960 Speaker 1: nineteen two everything changed, because that's when a New York 192 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: radio station with the station I D of w e 193 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: A F aired the for paid commercial and it was 194 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,319 Speaker 1: for the Hawthorne Court apartments in Jackson Heights. It was 195 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: an innovative approach for the era. A radio station would 196 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: charge people or company's money and in return, those entities 197 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: would get air time on the radio. So the more 198 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: time you wanted, the more you had to pay. The 199 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: company running w e A F was at the time 200 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,839 Speaker 1: A T and T, and A T and T had 201 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: already established the same sort of concept. They applied it 202 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: to long distance phone calls. You guys might not remember this, 203 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,080 Speaker 1: and the older ones of us remember quite well, but 204 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: back in the old days, you had to pay for 205 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,679 Speaker 1: long distance calls, and the amount you paid would depend 206 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: upon how long you're on the phone, and we still 207 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: sometimes see this with many providers when it comes to 208 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: international calls. At least, if you happen to be the 209 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,079 Speaker 1: one traveling internationally, then you want to use a cell 210 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: phone on our partnered service. But these days you don't 211 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: really hear about paid long distance that much any But 212 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:57,959 Speaker 1: in the day that that was true, and the longer 213 00:11:58,000 --> 00:11:59,679 Speaker 1: you stay on the phone, the more you would owe 214 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: the phone company. Well, this was the same idea, but 215 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 1: applied to radio stations. The W E a F model 216 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: would spread far and wide, with other radio stations following suit. Now, 217 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: this in turn created a new need in the industry. 218 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: Stations needed to get an idea about how many people 219 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: were tuning into their programs, because the more people that listened, 220 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: the more valuable that block of programming would be. Right, 221 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: and then the more money a station could charge for airtime. 222 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: The station could say, well, if you want to air 223 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: a commercial during this block of programming, we know that 224 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: that's our most popular block, and therefore there's a premium 225 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: on running ads there. But on the flip side, your 226 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 1: ad will reach way more people than if you chose 227 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: to to advertise during one of these less popular blocks 228 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: of programming. You know, that's a basic idea, but first 229 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: you have to measure that. You have to get those metrics. 230 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: So that created a new industry. It allowed companies like 231 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: Nielsen to step in and measure radio consumption. The Nielsen 232 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: Company had been in the business of retail and consumer 233 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 1: studies for more than a decade when in nineteen thirty 234 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:09,959 Speaker 1: six it purchased the rights to a device called the autometer. 235 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: And an autometer would allow like if it's connected to 236 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: a radio, it would actually record when that radio was on, 237 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: so when it was powered on, and it would also 238 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,319 Speaker 1: register what station the radio had been tuned to. So 239 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: Nielsen would use that to establish a radio index, and 240 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: Nielsen could provide information to radio stations and let them 241 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: know about which programs were the most popular, usually extrapolating 242 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: the data from their their findings, so they would say 243 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 1: that one radio would represent a certain percentage of radios 244 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: for the entire region. They wouldn't have full granular detail 245 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: of every single radio within a given area, so they'd 246 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: have to kind of you know, there's some guestimation that 247 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: happens with this, but those in charge of radio programming 248 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: could then use that information and they could experiment. They 249 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: could move programs around and try to find out which 250 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 1: time slots worked best for different types of shows and 251 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,439 Speaker 1: thus maximize their effect You know, you might find out 252 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 1: that one program works pretty well in the morning, but 253 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: it tanks in the afternoon, so it tells you, well, 254 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: we want to shift that to the morning to maximize 255 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: its effectiveness. Then they could turn things over to the 256 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: sales side of the business, and the sales team could 257 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: determine what the best advertising rates they could use that 258 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: the market would support for those different programs. In addition 259 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: to running ads during or between programs, radio shows also 260 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: experimented with something that you'll hear in a lot of 261 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: podcasts and also online video series, and that's sponsored content. 262 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: In the early days of radio, station owners were trying 263 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: all sorts of different ways to incorporate ads without making 264 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: the audience so irritated that they stopped listening, something we 265 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: in the podcasting world still deal with today. So some 266 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: shows were sponsored by a company outright and at the 267 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: top of the show, and maybe during station identification breaks, 268 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: you would hear someone's saying the company's name, like this 269 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: brought to you by such and such, and sometimes it 270 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: would be associated with an entire block of programming, like 271 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: you might have the Texico Star Theater, and some radio 272 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 1: shows would actually work in references to sponsors within the 273 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: program itself, though it is far more common to hear 274 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: an ad before, after, or in the break of a program. 275 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: Turns out a lot of people get a little stevie 276 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: if you try to work and add into the content 277 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: of a program itself. The ads of radio would set 278 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: the ground for similar ads on television decades later, and 279 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: if you had a radio or later a television, you 280 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: could access all of the programming in the broadcast range 281 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 1: for free. In other words, if your antenna could pick 282 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: it up, you could watch it. There are no scrambled 283 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: channels or anything like that for as far as entertainment goes, 284 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: and all you had to do in return was watch 285 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 1: or listen to a few ads. Of course, this was 286 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: after you had already ponied up the cash of that 287 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: was required to actually buy the radio or television set 288 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: in the first place, which was quite a bit of money. 289 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: In the early days. We got a lot more to 290 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,479 Speaker 1: talk about as far as the business, tech and consumption 291 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: of media is concerned, but first, let's take a quick 292 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: break to think our sponsor. Okay, So now we've got 293 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: the business of film, radio, and TV in the early 294 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: days covered. As television emerged after World War Two, it 295 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: was forcing the film industry to change. The birth of 296 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: TV news would kill off news reels for the most part, 297 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,240 Speaker 1: but that was just one small way that DV was 298 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: causing waves, and television was helped by another trend, a 299 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: move to the suburbs. So there were a combination of 300 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: external forces that changed the economic status of lots of 301 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: Americans in the years following the First World War. So 302 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: let's walk through those because all of these are important 303 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: for us to understand why things happened the way they did, 304 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,359 Speaker 1: and in turn, the way the economic shift happened shape 305 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: the way media would change, and it shaped the way 306 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: we would consume media. So all of these fit together. 307 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: It's a real big picture kind of approach. So you 308 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: had the Great Depression, which was essentially twenty to thirty nine, 309 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,439 Speaker 1: and that had forced a lot of people around the world, 310 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: not just in the United States, to do the best 311 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,919 Speaker 1: they could to save every penny possible because it was 312 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: a very uncertain economic world out there and everyone was 313 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: terrified of being destitute, and lots of people were struggling 314 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: trying to make ends meet during that that decade. So 315 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: that had really instilled a sense of responsibility with money 316 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: to the point where people were, you know, sitting on 317 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: money that they wouldn't spend because they felt that they 318 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,200 Speaker 1: were going to need it later. Then you had World 319 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: War Two that happened that ended up making a big 320 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,679 Speaker 1: industrial boom because obviously the to support the war effort, 321 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: lots of factories would convert over to working on military 322 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: projects and ended up hiring a lot of people, many 323 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: women for example, in order to come in and fulfill 324 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: those needs while a lot of men were off to 325 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 1: fight the war. The soldiers returning home from World War 326 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 1: Two did so to families that had a little bit 327 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: of a nest egg because the women had been working 328 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: while the men were gone. And people have been saving 329 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: since the Great Depression, So now you had some disposable 330 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: income going on. And one of the big purchases families 331 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: made in the following years, you know, after World War Two, 332 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: were homes out in the suburbs. The suburban population in 333 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: the United States grew by forty three percent between the 334 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: year's nineteen forty seven and nineteen fifty three, and it 335 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: was helped in large part by the Servicemen's Readjustment Act 336 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty four, better known as the g I Bill, 337 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,160 Speaker 1: and the g I Bill provided benefits to World War 338 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: Two veterans that those benefits included low cost mortgages and 339 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: one year of unemployment compensation, among many other benefits. At least, 340 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: if you happen to be white, you would get those benefits. 341 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: Black veterans found it much more difficult to get access 342 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: to the benefits their white counterparts parts were getting. They 343 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: were completely uh owed those benefits they were they were 344 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: you know, so they met all the requirements to get them. 345 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:33,640 Speaker 1: But the the distribution of benefits was largely a local concern, 346 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: not a federal concern, and a lot of local governments 347 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,879 Speaker 1: were not so concerned about granting those benefits out to 348 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: non white veterans. Now, there's a lot to unpack there, 349 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: and obviously the story goes much much more deeply than that, 350 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: but it does lead into some very important discussions about 351 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: social movements in general. And it's probably a topic for 352 00:19:57,680 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 1: stuff you missed in history class. But I want to 353 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 1: a knowledge that the social structure of the time didn't 354 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: account for or keyter to a sizeable part of the population. 355 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: We're talking ten or so of the population at the time. 356 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,680 Speaker 1: That's that's significant. Uh So when I start talking about 357 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: people having disposable income and everything, I'm really talking primarily 358 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,080 Speaker 1: about white families because they were the ones who were 359 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: able to take advantage of this government program more in 360 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: far greater numbers and percentages than non white uh families. 361 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: So the suburb suburbs were very different from cities. Right. 362 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: You were no longer living in a dense urban environment. 363 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,160 Speaker 1: You had uh this larger population living further out from 364 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: the infrastructure of urban areas. So suburbs rarely had access 365 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: to mass transportation. Theaters were almost exclusively in cities, so 366 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: getting to a theater was no longer as convenient for 367 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,239 Speaker 1: a lot of Americans. In fact, a lot of the 368 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,199 Speaker 1: big movie houses, the big classic movie houses that had 369 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: been built in the twenties, thirties and forties, started to 370 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: close around this time because there were fewer people to 371 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: fill them out. They people were out in the suburbs, 372 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: not in the cities. So television was really in a 373 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,640 Speaker 1: good place and was poised to help fill the gap. 374 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: People still wanted entertainment, but they didn't want to necessarily 375 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,120 Speaker 1: have to leave their home, travel for a significant amount 376 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 1: of time to get to a movie theater and then 377 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,120 Speaker 1: go see a film. Uh television mint you could get 378 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: that entertainment right in your own home, at least some entertainment, 379 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: not exactly the same stuff that was in the theaters. 380 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: Movie studios we're seeing profits drop as more people moved 381 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: away from urban centers. Meanwhile, starting in nine, you had 382 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: several major television networks that began to broadcast a full 383 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 1: schedule during prime time viewing hours, and the movie studios 384 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:53,959 Speaker 1: had really two choices. They could try to beat them, 385 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: or they could try to join them. So programs like 386 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,440 Speaker 1: I Love Lucy were gathering a pretty big audience. In fact, 387 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: I Love Lucy would be ranked the number one show 388 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: in popularity for four out of its first six seasons, 389 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: and color television was coming up pretty soon as well, 390 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: so the movie studios decided to join them, and soon 391 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: studios were buying up television production and broadcast studios, so 392 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: movie they were trying to do for the TV industry 393 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: what they had already done for the film industry. And 394 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: then the Supreme Court decision came in and broke up 395 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,919 Speaker 1: the movie studios, and essentially they also said, hey, you 396 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: can't do to TV what you did to film. In fact, 397 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,320 Speaker 1: we're gonna reverse some of what you've done to the 398 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:39,959 Speaker 1: film industry and we're gonna prevent you from doing that 399 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 1: with the television industry. The FCC could deny companies a 400 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: TV broadcast license if those companies have been found guilty 401 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: of engaging in monopolistic practices, which included all of the 402 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: movie studios. So they wouldn't be allowed to create broadcast 403 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: stations themselves. Though they could create television production studios. They 404 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: can make content end they just couldn't own again, they 405 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: couldn't own the content production, the processing, and the distribution 406 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,880 Speaker 1: and the exhibition of it. They could focus on one 407 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 1: of those, and they focused on the content part, and 408 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: so they could create content for other television stations to broadcast, 409 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: and that helped diversify movie studios. They were no longer 410 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: focusing just on films, and it also meant that they 411 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: were able to remain relevant longer because without that, there 412 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: was a real fear that TV was going to kill 413 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 1: the film industry, that no one would bother going to 414 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: the movie theater because they all would have television at home. 415 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,919 Speaker 1: That need was made more clear as the nineteen fifties 416 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,959 Speaker 1: went on because another big event in American politics was 417 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: unfolding that would have a huge impact on the film industry. 418 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: And that's what we would now call McCarthy is um So. 419 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: Joe McCarthy, a U S. Senator, led the charge in Washington, 420 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: d C. In the nineteen fifties against perceived threats to 421 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: the American way. And so this was during the Cold 422 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,360 Speaker 1: War when the United States and then USSR we're racing 423 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: to establish themselves as the dominant world power. And McCarthy 424 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: shook up the United States by leading an investigation that 425 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,359 Speaker 1: stemmed from a list of alleged members of the Communist 426 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: Party in the United States, and he framed it as 427 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: a national security threat, essentially saying, these people are spying 428 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,680 Speaker 1: on behalf of the U. S. SR. The government established 429 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,159 Speaker 1: the House on American Activities Community Committee or h u 430 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: a C. That committee conducted investigations and held interrogations of 431 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: lots of accused communists, including many prominent individuals in the 432 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:40,159 Speaker 1: media industry, actors, writers, directors, lots of people in that 433 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: industry began to find themselves blacklisted, and which meant that 434 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: they could no longer work in that industry at all. 435 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: No studio would touch them. Others would leave the movie 436 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: industry to go seek work and television. And by others 437 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: I mean people who had not been accused of being 438 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: a communist. They kind of proactively got out of film 439 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: because they saw as an industry that was in danger 440 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: and television was the new star on the rise, so 441 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,440 Speaker 1: they wanted to hitch their wagons to this this this horse. 442 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:10,679 Speaker 1: I'm mixing metaphors left and right. I apologize for that, 443 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: but like I said, that seemed to be on the 444 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: up and up. It seemed to be getting ready to 445 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: really emerge and become dominant, where whereas the film industry 446 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: was starting to decline. Now, while movie studios diversified in 447 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: an effort to remain relevant, they also sought out ways 448 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:32,919 Speaker 1: to differentiate film content from television content. Television had to 449 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: follow in the US a new way had to adhere 450 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: to specific regulations f c C regulations, and those grew 451 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: out of a pretty puritanical morality code. It meant that 452 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,439 Speaker 1: the content on television had to largely be sanitized and 453 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: family friendly. Uh. You could not go beyond that, or 454 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: else you were risking getting fined by the FCC. So 455 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,719 Speaker 1: that meant that the broadcast stations had to keep everything 456 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: pretty squeaky clean. For the most part. Movies had a 457 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: similar set of standards that they were supposed to follow 458 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: or else face the possibility of censorship. The original code 459 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: for films was called the Haze Code or production code 460 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:17,120 Speaker 1: that was established uh early in movie history, around nineteen 461 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,719 Speaker 1: twenty two. And the reason why it came into being 462 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: in the first place is because right around nineteen two, 463 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: a whole mess of scandals were breaking out around Hollywood 464 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: and it was raising a lot of concerns that the 465 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: movie industry was inherently immoral and it was corrupting people, 466 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: and not just the people in the industry, but possibly 467 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: people watching the films, that the vile behaviors of some 468 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: of the Hollywood elite would seep through the cinema and 469 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: infect the minds of good, decent Americans who were just 470 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,719 Speaker 1: sitting there trying to watch a movie. Uh. And there 471 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,679 Speaker 1: were a lot of very serious scandals. I'm not just 472 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 1: talking about lighthearted stuff. I mean there were, you know, 473 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: murders and sue asides and drug use and lots of dark, 474 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 1: dark stuff in those early Hollywood days. So the code 475 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: was kind of meant to counteract that, and it was 476 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: a list of suggestions, essentially guidelines of stuff you should 477 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,120 Speaker 1: and should not do. But the code wasn't really enforced 478 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,880 Speaker 1: either when it first was was enacted, and movie studios 479 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: rarely paid more than lip service to it. But then 480 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: Will Hayes, the guy that the act is is, or 481 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: the code is often referred to, you know Hayes Code. 482 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: He was the Postmaster General back at this time. He 483 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: had proposed the guidelines. He began to threaten studios with 484 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: official government censorship, and that changed everything. If studios were told, hey, 485 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: if you don't if you don't obey by these guidelines, 486 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: we're not going to let your movies go into theaters, 487 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: then the movie studios would be out all the money 488 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: at costs to produce those films. They'd never be able 489 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 1: to recapture those costs, so they felt forced to follow 490 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: the Production Code. Now, that code, like the FCC regulations 491 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: for television, was really puritanical at first. So for example, 492 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: one of the rules was quote the sympathy of the 493 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 1: audience shall never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, 494 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: evil or sin end quote. So following such a rule 495 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: means that you wouldn't be able to make a film 496 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 1: with a sympathetic villain, at least not without running in 497 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: danger of violating this code. The villain had to clearly 498 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 1: be in the wrong. The audience was supposed to want 499 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,359 Speaker 1: to see the villain get taken down and not feel 500 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: anything other than joy when it happened. Films weren't supposed 501 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: to have nudity or any suggestive content. There weren't supposed 502 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: to be any depictions of illicit drug use. And also, uh, 503 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: there were some things that went beyond puritanical to just 504 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: playing you know, racists, like there were supposed to be 505 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: no depictions of interracial romance in film under the Hayes Code. Now, 506 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: the Hayes Code was tweaked several times as social morays changed. 507 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: Film studios wanted to cater to audiences, and the audience 508 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 1: tastes had changed over time, and yet this code still existed, 509 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: so they did their best to kind of change things 510 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: around a little bit. Uh. Studios were also struggling to 511 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: attract audiences, so there was a greater need to cater 512 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,719 Speaker 1: to their wants, and some filmmakers went so far as 513 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: to completely ignore the code since it was technically a 514 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: voluntary code, so they were running the risk of having 515 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: their films denied the chance to be screened in theaters, 516 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: but they were making what they wanted to make. Now, 517 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: in some cases, theaters would refuse to show the films 518 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 1: and they just wouldn't get screened. But in other cases, 519 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: the demand for the film was so high because people 520 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: had heard about it and they really wanted to see it. 521 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: And it wasn't that the film was like salacious or lascivious. 522 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:52,000 Speaker 1: It was that the movie was gritty but really good. 523 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: Theaters would get enough demand where they would show it 524 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: even without the official seal of approval that indicated the 525 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: movie adhered to the Haze code. And there were some 526 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,520 Speaker 1: movies that even got nominated for Oscars that fell into 527 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: this category. And again that showed that if the movie 528 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: was considered good enough to be a a paragon of 529 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: the art form, then the code needed to be changed. 530 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: So it stayed in place. Uh you know, it was 531 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,360 Speaker 1: tweeked several times, but stayed in place still. Nineteen sixty eight, 532 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,200 Speaker 1: that's when the motion picture Association of America came up 533 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 1: with a an alternative system, a system of voluntary film ratings, 534 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: and that's the system we're familiar with today. So in 535 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: that case, movie studios could push the limits of what 536 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: could be shown on a movie screen, and then they 537 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 1: would get rated by a committee, and the rating would 538 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:49,720 Speaker 1: tell audiences what they could expect in such a film, 539 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: but it wouldn't restrict the filmmakers over what they could 540 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: include in their movies. The filmmakers could put whatever they 541 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:58,720 Speaker 1: wanted in the film. It's just that that would you know, 542 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: if it was super dark or super sexual in nature, 543 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: then they would get a rating that would buy its 544 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: very nature limit the number of people who would see 545 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 1: the movie. So the that would help regulate the industry 546 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: in a different way. Studios would make calculated risks about 547 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: what kind of films they wanted to produce, and if 548 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 1: they thought, well, this is a really gritty film, but 549 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: it's going to attract a big adult audience, that's fine, 550 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: they would go forward with it. So movies became more violent, 551 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 1: they began to include sexual situations, and they were typically 552 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 1: able to include material that television could not include. So 553 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: that was one way that again media changed because of technology. 554 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: The television industry was taking was, at least in theory, 555 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: taking ticket sales away from the movies. But then the 556 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: movies were able to offer something that television couldn't. Now 557 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: by that point, more than half the homes in America 558 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: had televisions in them, and so the film industry's migration 559 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 1: to more gritty content was a necessary move to survive 560 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: in that era of television. Movie studios were producing some 561 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 1: of the TV shows that we're making it to broadcast, 562 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: and we're becoming media conglomerates in the process. This would 563 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: continue on over the following years, and it also would 564 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,480 Speaker 1: include stuff not just movie and television, but also obviously 565 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: music label record recording studios, that kind of thing. So 566 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: you would end up having these conglomerates that would cover 567 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 1: all forms of entertainment. Um, we'll talk more about that 568 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,479 Speaker 1: in future episode. Movie studios also brought in revenue by 569 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: licensing their respective back catalogs of films for television syndication. 570 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: So back to television for a bit. Like radio, television 571 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: studios depended upon advertising dollars for revenue. The first TV 572 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: ad to ever air did so way back in when 573 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: only a few thousand television sets were in the United 574 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: States and it was for Boulova watches. And this ad 575 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: only aired in New York and it lasted a whopping 576 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: ten whole seconds. It costs less than ten dollars to make. 577 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: No telling how effective that ad was, but it was 578 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: a a not really an indicator for what was going 579 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: to come next. So by the nineteen fifties, lots of 580 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: brands were sponsoring blocks of programming very similar to what 581 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,960 Speaker 1: was happening in radio. So you might hear about I 582 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: Love Lucy sponsored by Philip Morris, for example. In two 583 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: the first commercial for a toy ever aired. That toy 584 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 1: would be Mr Potato Head, which in those days consisted 585 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: of just a collection of pieces. You wouldn't get a 586 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: big plastic potato. Instead, you would use those pieces and 587 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: attach those to a real potato. Potato was not included. 588 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: The commercial helped push the toy to great success, and 589 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: it really showed that advertising was a very effective way 590 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: for manufacturers to boost sales of their products. And there 591 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,040 Speaker 1: were two ways you could get a television broadcast in 592 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:54,280 Speaker 1: the early days of television. Really around again night that 593 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: was a really important year in media in general. That's 594 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,600 Speaker 1: when you're looking at you know, the records UH changing formats, 595 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: you're looking at the studio system getting broken up. But 596 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,320 Speaker 1: it was also the way that you started to see 597 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: differentiation of getting television. One way to get TV was 598 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: to use an antenna for over the air broadcasts, so 599 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,799 Speaker 1: you're picking up the television signals over the air. So 600 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 1: I can remember adjusting the bunny ear antenna on our 601 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,280 Speaker 1: television lots of times as a kid in an effort 602 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,439 Speaker 1: to improve incoming signal. But the other way you could 603 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,239 Speaker 1: get television signals, which dates all the way back to 604 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: nineteen gate, is cable television. Now, it's different from what 605 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 1: we think of as cable TV today. Cable TV did 606 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 1: not debut as a competitor with broadcast television right away. 607 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: You know, you didn't have UH content specifically made for 608 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: cable TV for decades. Instead, it was created to address 609 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: a particular technological challenge. People who lived in remote areas 610 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,399 Speaker 1: far from broadcast stations would frequently have trouble picking up 611 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: over the air signals. They would buy a television that 612 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 1: they weren't getting a strong and the signal to be 613 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: able to watch anything. One way to fix that problem 614 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: was to have a group get together or maybe a 615 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: company form to erect a large antenna, typically on an 616 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,000 Speaker 1: elevated region that would be able to pick up broadcast 617 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: signals from far away, and then run physical cables from 618 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: this antenna or the station connected to the antenna down 619 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 1: to televisions that belonged to customers who would subscribe to 620 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,879 Speaker 1: this convenient service, and boom cable television. So let's say 621 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,680 Speaker 1: you live out in the sticks and you pay a 622 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: small fee to someone who owns a really big antenna, 623 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 1: and they run a cable out to your house, and 624 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:42,799 Speaker 1: so you can watch the same stuff that you would 625 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:44,399 Speaker 1: be able to watch if your antenna could just pick 626 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: up those those broadcast signals. Cable actually debuted in three 627 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:51,840 Speaker 1: separate areas of the United States right around the same time. 628 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 1: Those three areas where Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Oregon. Then it 629 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: moved into major metropolitan areas over the following decade. Many 630 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,319 Speaker 1: cities had similar problems to remote areas. If you happen 631 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: to live in the shadow of a really big building 632 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: that stands stands between you and a broadcast signals origin, 633 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: you might have trouble getting that broadcast signal. So cable 634 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:14,400 Speaker 1: companies began to rise up, giving concern to broadcast stations. 635 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: The concern deepened when as cable companies erected better antenna's, 636 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: they discovered they could pick up broadcasts from different regional 637 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 1: markets and deliver all of those to the cable company's customers. 638 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,200 Speaker 1: And now it actually was an advantage to have cable 639 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: over just broadcast antenna. And there were TV companies that 640 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:38,800 Speaker 1: protested the rise of pay TV or subscription based cable. Meanwhile, 641 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: consumers were getting access to more programming from different regions. So, 642 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,640 Speaker 1: in other words, to explain this, because these antenna were 643 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:49,399 Speaker 1: so big and capable of picking up UH signals much 644 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 1: better than your your television's little antenna, you could sometimes 645 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: pick up programming meant for a totally different market. So 646 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: here in Atlanta, we might pick up stuff that was 647 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: being broadcast in Chattanooga, for example, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and that 648 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 1: would mean that we could watch channels that were regional 649 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:10,960 Speaker 1: to Atlanta as well as those for for Chattanooga. Some 650 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: stuff would probably be duplicated, you know, you'd watch a 651 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: program that is is shown on both affiliates of the 652 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: same network, and some stuff would be local, so you'd 653 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: be able to watch the local programming for both Atlanta 654 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 1: and Chattanooga. This was actually a problem, but we'll get 655 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: into more about that in just a second. The first 656 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: color television program to be broadcast was a CBS program 657 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,719 Speaker 1: and actually aired on June ninety one. It was not 658 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,960 Speaker 1: exactly a global or even a nationwide event because the 659 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: broadcast was only compatible with CBS designed color TVs, which 660 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: used an electro mechanical design, and I talked about this 661 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 1: not too long ago in the r c A episodes. 662 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:55,080 Speaker 1: In fact, only twelve televisions in all of America were 663 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:57,680 Speaker 1: able to pick up and display this program, so it 664 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,480 Speaker 1: would be a while before color television would become a standard, 665 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:03,480 Speaker 1: and it wouldn't be CBSS model that would do it. Instead, 666 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:06,800 Speaker 1: we're talking about our CIA's electronic approach to color television, 667 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,040 Speaker 1: which would win out over cbs is design due to 668 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: lots of different reasons. Again I had covered this in 669 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,480 Speaker 1: the r c A episodes. One of those reasons was 670 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:19,200 Speaker 1: another war, this time the Korean War, which impacted CBS 671 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:23,680 Speaker 1: ability to manufacture their color television sets and gave our 672 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,840 Speaker 1: c A enough time to perfect the electronic approach, or 673 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: at least perfected enough to make it a practical alternative 674 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: to CBS is design, and again there was a need 675 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,320 Speaker 1: to create content in a color format to drive demand 676 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,240 Speaker 1: for color television sets. Adoption of color television was pretty slow, 677 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 1: largely because of two problems. Color TVs were more expensive 678 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 1: than black and white sets, and there just wasn't much 679 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: color television programming to watch, so that would be the 680 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,160 Speaker 1: next problem that the industry would have to solve. I'll 681 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: explain more in just a second, but let's take another 682 00:38:55,080 --> 00:39:05,799 Speaker 1: quick break. NBC became the first television network to offer 683 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:10,040 Speaker 1: live broadcasts in color, starting in nineteen fifty four. NBC's 684 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 1: parent company r C, a Radio Corporation of America, had 685 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:17,239 Speaker 1: a vested interest, seeing as how it had essentially established 686 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 1: the color television standard and was in the business of 687 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: manufacturing color television sets. But color broadcasts were special events 688 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,719 Speaker 1: for nearly a decade. It wasn't until the nineteen sixties 689 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: that a million color television sets had been purchased by 690 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: American consumers and created enough of a demand to justify 691 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:40,160 Speaker 1: color television production on a grand scale. One company to 692 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: jump to the challenge was Walt Disney Productions. The Disney 693 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 1: studio was navigating the same choppy waters as other film studios, 694 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,720 Speaker 1: with added challenges that come along with building a business 695 00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:54,840 Speaker 1: on the relatively expensive art form of animation. Walt Disney 696 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 1: Productions produced a television anthology series. It originally aired on ABC, 697 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: but in nineteen sixty one they would jump on over 698 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,959 Speaker 1: to NBC to produce The Wonderful World of Color because 699 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,800 Speaker 1: NBC was capable of broadcasting and color to a large market. 700 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:15,160 Speaker 1: That series helped convince more Americans to invest in purchasing 701 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,000 Speaker 1: color televisions, and that created more pressure on the other 702 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,439 Speaker 1: networks and production studios to upgrade and start producing more 703 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 1: content and color. The NBC by the mid sixties said 704 00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:29,040 Speaker 1: it was the all color network and like almost a 705 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: hundred percent of its programming was in color at that point, 706 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,320 Speaker 1: but the process to go to full color took a really, 707 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:39,400 Speaker 1: really long time, with some regional broadcasts remaining in black 708 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,920 Speaker 1: and white until the late nineteen seventies. So this wasn't 709 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:45,680 Speaker 1: like a flip a switch and everything changes kind of moment. 710 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,319 Speaker 1: It wasn't Wizard of Oz where it goes from black 711 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,840 Speaker 1: and white to color in an instant. Back to cable 712 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,880 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty four, the Federal Communications Commission stepped in 713 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:58,280 Speaker 1: to regulate cable television. So the FCC forces cable operators 714 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,360 Speaker 1: to blackout programming that was picked up from distant markets 715 00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:05,000 Speaker 1: if it duplicated the programming from a local station within 716 00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:07,560 Speaker 1: the cable company service area, and that was only if 717 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,600 Speaker 1: the local station requested it. So, in other words, if 718 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:14,719 Speaker 1: I'm running an Atlanta ABC affiliate and I happen to 719 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,480 Speaker 1: know there's a cable company that is picking up my 720 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,120 Speaker 1: signal and giving it to people who are in my 721 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 1: service area, but they just can't pick up my broadcast signal, 722 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:27,080 Speaker 1: that's fine. But then if I find out they're also 723 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,560 Speaker 1: serving up Chattanooga's signal and Chattanooga has some of the 724 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:34,279 Speaker 1: duplicate programming as Atlanta, you know, the Chattanooga ABC is 725 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:37,359 Speaker 1: showing some of the same shows that I'm showing, I 726 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: could demand that those programs get blacked out of the 727 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,759 Speaker 1: offering from that cable company. And the reason for that 728 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: is again advertising, right, Like I, I depend on ads 729 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:54,640 Speaker 1: to generate revenue for my business. If it turns out 730 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,600 Speaker 1: that people in my service area are able to watch 731 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:02,080 Speaker 1: the same programming but on another provider, then they're not 732 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,520 Speaker 1: watching my channel. I can't use their demographic to help 733 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:10,719 Speaker 1: set a sales price for my advertising fees, and so 734 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to sell advertising for lower than I 735 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,440 Speaker 1: would otherwise. So that was considered an unfair practice. It 736 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:21,360 Speaker 1: was it was harming the businesses efforts to do business. 737 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,360 Speaker 1: So the FCC said, all right, well, if you complain, 738 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,439 Speaker 1: if you if you file a complaint about this, then 739 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 1: we will certainly step in and tell the station cut 740 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 1: it out, you know, block out the Chattanooga ABC affiliate 741 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:40,440 Speaker 1: for the duplicate programming and just allow the local programming 742 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: and that's it. In nine seventy, the first cable television 743 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,239 Speaker 1: network's debut, and that was another huge game changer. So 744 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:49,960 Speaker 1: up until this point, cable had been all about distributing 745 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:52,280 Speaker 1: over the air signals to people who otherwise had trouble 746 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: picking up those signals. But now production companies were looking 747 00:42:56,080 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: into creating studios specifically to produce content for cable. So 748 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:06,480 Speaker 1: this wasn't capturing over the air broadcast and then uh 749 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:08,960 Speaker 1: sending it to people who otherwise couldn't get it. This 750 00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:12,920 Speaker 1: was creating content specifically for those people who were using cable. 751 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:16,080 Speaker 1: Cable would allow for a new type of television pay 752 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:20,160 Speaker 1: TV networks, so unlike a broadcast network, which was free 753 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 1: to access and supported by ads um, you could access 754 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:26,240 Speaker 1: those over the year if you had the right antenna 755 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: and you were within range. The cable approach would allow 756 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,879 Speaker 1: producers to encode a signal so that only people who 757 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,359 Speaker 1: had subscribed to the service could decode it on their end, 758 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:38,759 Speaker 1: typically with a specific cable box, So you would pay 759 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:42,279 Speaker 1: a subscription fee to get access to that service, and 760 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,520 Speaker 1: then you would be able to watch that network. The 761 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:48,000 Speaker 1: first such pay TV network ever was HBO or Home 762 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:52,000 Speaker 1: Box Office, which launched in nineteen seventy two. HBO also 763 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:55,920 Speaker 1: ushered in the era of domestic satellite transmission, allowing a 764 00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,200 Speaker 1: network to beam programming up to a satellite, which in 765 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:02,680 Speaker 1: turn could distribue that signal across a broad region and 766 00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,839 Speaker 1: beam to other satellites if necessary for greater coverage, and 767 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:11,400 Speaker 1: you weren't beaming it straight to customers. So HBO studios 768 00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:14,960 Speaker 1: has the signal for a film that they are going 769 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,319 Speaker 1: to show on the network, they beam that signal up 770 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:20,840 Speaker 1: to a satellite. The satellite then beams it down to 771 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:26,160 Speaker 1: regional stations around the United States, and those regional stations 772 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:29,719 Speaker 1: can then serve that signal up to the customers. So 773 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,759 Speaker 1: you at home wouldn't have access to this unless you 774 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,919 Speaker 1: went out and purchased an enormous satellite dish, in which case, yeah, 775 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,759 Speaker 1: then you can get access. The second service to use 776 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:44,320 Speaker 1: the domestic satellites was Atlanta's own television station w TBS 777 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,040 Speaker 1: TED Turner station, the first super station. Now, unlike HBO, 778 00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:52,719 Speaker 1: you didn't have to pay to access this station. Specifically, 779 00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:55,960 Speaker 1: the emergence of cable networks fueled interest in the technology, 780 00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 1: and millions of people began to subscribe to cable and 781 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:04,520 Speaker 1: that gave a lot of anxiety to the broadcast networks. 782 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:07,560 Speaker 1: So you started to see a lot of struggles in 783 00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:12,480 Speaker 1: the government uh circles regarding this. Around that same time, 784 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:14,759 Speaker 1: we saw the birth of another new type of media 785 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:18,160 Speaker 1: over in the film world, the blockbuster. Now, these are 786 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,479 Speaker 1: movies then not only attract a large audience, they also 787 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,439 Speaker 1: tap into something special that convinces that audience to see 788 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:28,440 Speaker 1: the film more than one time. Most historians. Film historians 789 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:31,799 Speaker 1: tagged Jaws as the first film to be a summer blockbuster. 790 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:37,120 Speaker 1: Jaws came out in nineteen In fact, fun trivia, it 791 00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:39,399 Speaker 1: was the number one film at the box office when 792 00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:41,760 Speaker 1: I was born, and it remains one of my favorite 793 00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:45,680 Speaker 1: films of all time. Universal had spent nearly two million 794 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:50,480 Speaker 1: dollars advertising Jaws, which was a considerable marketing budget for 795 00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:54,000 Speaker 1: the time, and the marketing was incredibly effective. Jaws open 796 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:57,360 Speaker 1: to a seven million dollar opening weekend, which is paltry 797 00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:02,319 Speaker 1: by today's standards, but back then that was enormous, and 798 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:04,839 Speaker 1: it was called a blockbuster because people would line up 799 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:08,640 Speaker 1: around the block to get movie theater tickets to go 800 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 1: see this film more than once. Universal also chose to 801 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:17,040 Speaker 1: put Jaws into wide release right away. Earlier studios would 802 00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:20,719 Speaker 1: typically release a film in small markets or maybe just 803 00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:23,200 Speaker 1: a few large markets at the same time see how 804 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,640 Speaker 1: well it does before deciding whether or not to move 805 00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,680 Speaker 1: into other markets. So there were chances that you would 806 00:46:28,719 --> 00:46:30,239 Speaker 1: never get a chance to see a film at all, 807 00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 1: just because it never came to your area. But Universal 808 00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 1: in this case said no, we're gonna go big. Then 809 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:39,120 Speaker 1: we're gonna go nationwide. We're gonna capitalize on this marketing 810 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:43,000 Speaker 1: and it worked. Hollywood immediately investigated ways to capture that 811 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: same lightning in a bottle. Marketing efforts changed and more 812 00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,320 Speaker 1: unusual projects would get pushed forward. When Star Wars debuted 813 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy seven, it was to a similar reception 814 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:57,600 Speaker 1: and the blockbuster was well cemented in film logic and 815 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:00,560 Speaker 1: is that way to this day. That's why we have 816 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:03,240 Speaker 1: so many of these big tent pole type films, especially 817 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,360 Speaker 1: the ones that open up in May and throughout the summer. 818 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 1: Film found another way to differentiate itself from television through 819 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:14,319 Speaker 1: spectacle and a communal experience. Now we're gonna close out 820 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: this episode by touching on an industry I haven't really 821 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,239 Speaker 1: talked very much about in this episode, which is the 822 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:23,400 Speaker 1: recording industry. The introduction of micro grooves for LPs really 823 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:27,440 Speaker 1: transformed the recording industry early. Didn't hurt that those changes 824 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:30,000 Speaker 1: happened right around the same time that middle class Americans 825 00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:32,720 Speaker 1: found themselves with more disposable income for the same reasons 826 00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:36,880 Speaker 1: I talked about earlier, and around that same time, Less Paul, 827 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:40,520 Speaker 1: the guy who became famous for building the first solid 828 00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:45,400 Speaker 1: body electric guitar, pioneered what we call sound on sound recording, 829 00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:49,000 Speaker 1: also known as overdubbing or double tracking and then later 830 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:52,920 Speaker 1: on multi tracking. Up until Less Paul introduced that technique, 831 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:55,920 Speaker 1: recording music meant that you had to gather all the 832 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,560 Speaker 1: musicians together at the same time, and you would use 833 00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:02,560 Speaker 1: one or more microphones, but you would record everyone playing simultaneously, 834 00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:04,399 Speaker 1: and that also meant that you might have to move 835 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:07,200 Speaker 1: some musicians further away or closer to the microphones in 836 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:11,000 Speaker 1: order to be heard along with everybody else. So it 837 00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:15,160 Speaker 1: was different from the old acoustic horn days, but still 838 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:20,240 Speaker 1: in that same general realm. Less Paul pioneered multi track recording, 839 00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:22,920 Speaker 1: in which multiple signals could be recorded on two different 840 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:26,919 Speaker 1: tracks of the same length of magnetic tape. This would 841 00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:30,319 Speaker 1: allow musicians to record sessions separately if they wanted to. 842 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,440 Speaker 1: Um they could each record their own particular part to 843 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:37,919 Speaker 1: a specific track, and collectively those tracks would represent a song. 844 00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:42,080 Speaker 1: But you could also record each part on its own 845 00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:45,600 Speaker 1: if you wanted to, and you could have the drummer 846 00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:48,280 Speaker 1: record the drum track first, and then have the bass 847 00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:52,120 Speaker 1: player record the bass track, and then etcetera, etcetera. There 848 00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:53,880 Speaker 1: had been some experiments with that sort of thing in 849 00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:56,360 Speaker 1: the past, but less Paul's approach was the most practical 850 00:48:56,719 --> 00:48:59,480 Speaker 1: and it transformed the recording industry. He worked with the 851 00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:02,760 Speaker 1: engineers at the company Ampex to develop a three track 852 00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,040 Speaker 1: recorder which would later turn into a four track recorder, 853 00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:08,480 Speaker 1: and then on and on and on. Each track could 854 00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:12,720 Speaker 1: be recorded and even erased independently, which was incredibly helpful. 855 00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:15,280 Speaker 1: So if you laid down the perfect rhythm guitar track 856 00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:18,600 Speaker 1: and then you whiffed it while playing lead guitar, you 857 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:20,720 Speaker 1: can actually go back and re record the lead guitar 858 00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:24,800 Speaker 1: part without erasing the rhythm track. It was incredibly useful. 859 00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,359 Speaker 1: It meant that you didn't have to sit there and 860 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:30,560 Speaker 1: try and record the same song eight and seventy three 861 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:33,239 Speaker 1: times in a row. It also opened up new opportunities 862 00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:36,560 Speaker 1: for musicians to experiment with their art. They could incorporate 863 00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:40,040 Speaker 1: all sorts of different instruments and effects, and the experimental 864 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,759 Speaker 1: gradually evolved into the main stream, but that always takes time. 865 00:49:44,120 --> 00:49:47,000 Speaker 1: Bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys were pioneers 866 00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:50,600 Speaker 1: with multi track recordings. The Beatles song Strawberry Fields Forever 867 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:53,319 Speaker 1: was actually made up of two different versions of the 868 00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:57,680 Speaker 1: same songs spliced together that George Martin, the producer, was 869 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:02,200 Speaker 1: in charge of cutting those tracks apart and then piecing 870 00:50:02,239 --> 00:50:04,680 Speaker 1: them back together to make one song out of two 871 00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:10,000 Speaker 1: different takes. As the technology evolved, engineers produced recording devices 872 00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:12,960 Speaker 1: capable of supporting more tracks. The next big jump was 873 00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:15,439 Speaker 1: up to eight tracks. Eventually we got twenty four track 874 00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:18,920 Speaker 1: recorders and those are stackable, so you could have multiples 875 00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:21,359 Speaker 1: of twenty four. You have seventy two tracks if you wanted. 876 00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:23,799 Speaker 1: So how does that work. Well, let's say you've got 877 00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:26,040 Speaker 1: a string quartet in the studio. You want to record 878 00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:28,120 Speaker 1: them all to one track that's going to be part 879 00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:30,600 Speaker 1: of a rock song. You don't want to record them 880 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:32,400 Speaker 1: along with the rest of the band because you'd never 881 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:34,160 Speaker 1: be able to pick up the strings and the recording 882 00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,320 Speaker 1: you wouldn't even hear them. So you mike their instruments 883 00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:40,319 Speaker 1: and those mics feed into a mixing console, which the 884 00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:42,880 Speaker 1: engineer tunes to get the right amount of recorded volume 885 00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:46,120 Speaker 1: for the track. They balance it properly, and the mixing 886 00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:49,400 Speaker 1: console connects to the multi track recorder, which will send 887 00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:53,040 Speaker 1: the signal to a specific track on the magnetic tape 888 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:56,520 Speaker 1: and in separate recording session, you can record the band 889 00:50:56,719 --> 00:50:59,600 Speaker 1: with each of their microphone instruments leading to the mixing 890 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:02,880 Speaker 1: console and recorded onto separate tracks. And so you might 891 00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:05,560 Speaker 1: have one track that's the stringed group, and then you 892 00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:07,560 Speaker 1: have one track that might be the drummer and one 893 00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:10,239 Speaker 1: track that might be a guitarist, etcetera, etcetera, and all 894 00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:13,200 Speaker 1: without having to erase the string section that you already have. 895 00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,319 Speaker 1: And obviously you don't necessarily have to go in that order. 896 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:19,120 Speaker 1: I was just doing that as a hypothetical example. Now, 897 00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:21,600 Speaker 1: one other thing that happened in the mid nineteen fifties 898 00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:24,280 Speaker 1: was that recording studios began to purchase and install equipment 899 00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:27,520 Speaker 1: that allowed for stereo recording. That gave studios the chance 900 00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:30,000 Speaker 1: to record separate signals for the right and left hand 901 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:33,920 Speaker 1: speakers on separate tracks on quarter inch magnetic tape. Moreover, 902 00:51:34,239 --> 00:51:37,040 Speaker 1: it was possible to record those separate signals into a 903 00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:40,600 Speaker 1: single groove on a record, and so by nineteen fifty six, 904 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:44,080 Speaker 1: record companies began to release albums both in mono or 905 00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,480 Speaker 1: in single channel sound that's what mono is, or in 906 00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,600 Speaker 1: stereo sounds. So you could often buy the exact same 907 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:55,040 Speaker 1: album in both mono and stereo, one of each. So 908 00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:58,840 Speaker 1: now the nature of recorded sound changes. The introduction of 909 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:02,520 Speaker 1: multitrack recording and stereo sound opened up a lot of 910 00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:05,800 Speaker 1: possibilities for musicians and engineers to play with and it 911 00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:08,440 Speaker 1: would also open up a new market, that of the 912 00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:11,839 Speaker 1: audio file. These are fans of recorded works who want 913 00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:15,040 Speaker 1: a system that will best reproduce the sound the artist 914 00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:18,600 Speaker 1: intended when making the recording, whether that means a perfect 915 00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:21,520 Speaker 1: reproduction of what was recorded in the studio or a 916 00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:25,239 Speaker 1: faithful reproduction of whatever the artist's original vision happened to be. 917 00:52:25,680 --> 00:52:29,040 Speaker 1: Audio files tend to be really passionate people. They have 918 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:32,880 Speaker 1: very strong opinions about which formats, which pieces of equipment, 919 00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:35,480 Speaker 1: and even which cables you should use to create the 920 00:52:35,520 --> 00:52:39,760 Speaker 1: perfect home stereo sound system. Devoted audio files might spend 921 00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:42,920 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars building out their systems, and so this 922 00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,960 Speaker 1: desire for high fidelity sound would fuel a very healthy 923 00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:51,319 Speaker 1: electronics industry which continues to this day. Um the this 924 00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:54,120 Speaker 1: sets the stage for the next evolution in the recording 925 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:56,360 Speaker 1: industry that would have a really big impact on the 926 00:52:56,360 --> 00:52:58,920 Speaker 1: business and consumer sides, and that would be the emergence 927 00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:02,920 Speaker 1: of consumer at tapes. Magnetic tape was being used on 928 00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:05,880 Speaker 1: the industry side, on the recording side of the business 929 00:53:06,080 --> 00:53:09,799 Speaker 1: to lay down tracks in recording studios that would later 930 00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:13,680 Speaker 1: be transferred onto master recordings and used to produce vinyl 931 00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:18,320 Speaker 1: LPs and forty singles. But in the nineties sixties, magnetic 932 00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:22,239 Speaker 1: tape would find its way into consumer cassettes, and that 933 00:53:22,239 --> 00:53:24,160 Speaker 1: would change things in a really big way. It would 934 00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:28,080 Speaker 1: opened up new opportunities for ways to consume music. It 935 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:31,680 Speaker 1: made music more portable than ever before. It would also 936 00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:34,839 Speaker 1: impact the quality of the recorded audio, and it would 937 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:38,320 Speaker 1: drive audio files nuts, not to mention set the stage 938 00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:41,239 Speaker 1: for our modern era of music, and it would open 939 00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:44,080 Speaker 1: up the possibility for something that had so far been 940 00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:48,400 Speaker 1: pretty difficult to do. Piracy. So that sets the stage 941 00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:52,640 Speaker 1: for our next episode, where we'll talk more about home theater, 942 00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:55,680 Speaker 1: the emergence of the home theater, and how that changed 943 00:53:56,360 --> 00:54:00,440 Speaker 1: lots of things, the business side, the content creation side, 944 00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,680 Speaker 1: and the consumption side, and we'll start getting closer to 945 00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:07,359 Speaker 1: modern day. I don't think we'll quite make it up 946 00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:10,719 Speaker 1: to the digital realm, or at least not into the 947 00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:14,439 Speaker 1: most recent digital realm, until the episode after that one. 948 00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:16,640 Speaker 1: So I know this is an epic series, but I 949 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:20,880 Speaker 1: also find it absolutely fascinating to see how these changes 950 00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:23,759 Speaker 1: have happened over the years, and it also informs us 951 00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:27,720 Speaker 1: a lot about other things, Like I haven't even really 952 00:54:27,719 --> 00:54:30,279 Speaker 1: touched on it, but this also had a huge role 953 00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:33,160 Speaker 1: that you know, the way that the technology evolved had 954 00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:36,600 Speaker 1: a huge role in shaping things like copyright law as well. 955 00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:39,040 Speaker 1: So maybe I'll touch on that in a future episode. 956 00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:42,880 Speaker 1: Is in addition to the ones I already have planned. Um, 957 00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:45,000 Speaker 1: but like I said, it gets really big and really 958 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:47,400 Speaker 1: complicated and really messy, and I love it. If you 959 00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:50,360 Speaker 1: guys have any suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 960 00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:53,040 Speaker 1: let me know. Send me an email. The address is 961 00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:56,440 Speaker 1: tech stuff at how stuff works dot com. Make sure 962 00:54:56,480 --> 00:54:59,839 Speaker 1: you dropped by our website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. 963 00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:02,440 Speaker 1: Will find the archive for all of our old episodes 964 00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:06,239 Speaker 1: on their plus links to our social media presence, so 965 00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:08,920 Speaker 1: go check that out and a link to our store. 966 00:55:09,239 --> 00:55:11,600 Speaker 1: Remember everything you purchased there goes to help the show. 967 00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:14,440 Speaker 1: We greatly appreciate it, and I'll talk to you again 968 00:55:15,200 --> 00:55:21,399 Speaker 1: really soon. Tech Stuff is a production of I Heart 969 00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:24,880 Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 970 00:55:25,239 --> 00:55:28,400 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 971 00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:30,000 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.