![]() In the era of TV and radio dominance, “ mass media” was defined by shared experiences.īut now, new media technologies - cable TV, the web, and social media - are changing that definition, segmenting what was once a huge, undifferentiated mass audience. The broadcasting era is becoming eclipsed by new media technologies. Yet a media evolution is occurring, as paid subscription video streaming and audio services climb in popularity, and fewer Americans are consistently tuning in to broadcast media. At a time when most Americans get their news from local TV stations and broadcast television networks, and radio remains pervasive, it might seem frivolous to express concern about preserving technologies so deeply embedded in daily life. Whether it was the final episodes of radio serials like “Gangbusters”, or television’s “M*A*S*H” or “ Seinfeld,” Americans often marked the passage of time by shared broadcast experiences.Įven today, more Americans use standard AM/FM radio broadcasting than TikTok. Radio and television fostered an ephemeral and invisible public arena that expanded our understanding of the world - and ourselves. Everyone experienced broadcasting individually and collectively, both intimately and as members of dispersed crowds. ![]() The reception of those radio, then television, signals didn’t just inform us, they shaped us. For a century, they have been transporting us instantly to London, Cairo, or Tokyo, or back in time to the Old West or deep into the imagined future of interplanetary travel. Those invisible signals provided our kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms with access to jazz clubs, baseball stadiums, and symphony halls. Upon arrival, those signals were amplified and their messages were “aired” into our lives. Starting with radio in the 1920s, then television in the 1950s, Americans by the millions began purchasing boxes designed to receive electromagnetic signals transmitted from nearby towers. We’ve lived with broadcasting for more than a century.
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