Deck 6: Popular Radio and the Origins of Broadcasting

Question 1

Network radio helped give the United States "a national identity."

Answer 1

True

Question 2

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

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Alexander Popov was a Russian academic whose experiments in wireless communication occurred at roughly the same time as Marconi's.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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

Question 5

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

Question 6

Early radio inventors like Marconi focused on ship-to-shore communication.

Question 7

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

Question 8

The invention of the transistor in the late 1940s made radio more accessible and portable than ever.

Question 9

AM radio is superior to FM radio for broadcasting music.

Question 10

William Paley built the CBS network by charging large fees to its affiliates.

Question 11

The period of the 1920s through the 1940s was marked by a proliferation of informative and entertaining radio programs.

Question 12

Radio soap operas got their name because they were often sponsored by makers of soap products.

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

Group radio station owners prefer syndicated over locally produced programs.

Question 16

Radio evolved from technology developed in the 1840s.

Question 17

Guglielmo Marconi is initially credited with inventing the wireless telegraph.

Question 18

The Wireless Ship Act of 1910 resulted from the sinking of the Titanic.

Question 19

Congress created National Public Radio to help win the Cold War.

Question 20

Nikola Tesla was the founder of the first radio network.

Question 21

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

Question 22

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has resulted in more competition and less consolidation in U.S.radio.

Question 23

The term Top 40 is derived from the number of records stored in a jukebox, and Top 40 format refers to the forty most popular hits in a given week as measured by record sales.

Question 24

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

A)Federal Communications Act of 1934
B)Radio Act of 1912
C)Radio Act of 1927
D)1932 revocation of RCA's monopoly status
E)No option is correct

Question 25

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

A)CBS
B)Westinghouse
C)RCA
D)General Electric

Question 26

Most radio markets in the United States are dominated by a few owners.

Question 27

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

A)Charging affiliates less for its programs
B)Paying affiliates to broadcast its programs
C)Being the first network to broadcast in high fidelity
D)Advertising its programs on billboards

Question 28

In the 1940s, NBC sold its Blue network, which then became CBS.

Question 29

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

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

Question 30

What did the government do with radio when the United States entered World War I?

A)Created a private monopoly
B)Closed down all amateur radio operations
C)Sold patents to Great Britain
D)Created National Public Radio

Question 31

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

A)Military and commercial shipping
B)Gossip and shipping
C)Advertising and the military
D)Entertainment and ads

Question 32

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

A)Its signal was too weak to travel across bodies of water
B)The telegraph signal was distorted by the electromagnetic spectrum
C)Telegraph equipment was too cumbersome to be used aboard ship
D)The telegraph required a wired cable connecting the sending and receiving stations

Question 33

The person credited with making the first voice broadcast is

A)Heinrich Hertz
B)Guglielmo Marconi
C)Lee De Forest
D)Reginald Fessenden

Question 34

Jazz music formats in radio today reach more total listeners than any other format.

Question 35

Who set up a crude radio station above his Pittsburgh garage in 1919?

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

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

Question 38

The radio industry transformed its business model in the 1950s because of television.

Question 39

The practice of payola affected 1950s radio, but does not occur today.

Question 40

Most of the applicants for low-power FM radio licenses have been national retailers like Wal-Mart.

Question 41

Compared to AM radio, FM radio

A)Includes less static and has better sound
B)Is cheaper to operate
C)Is better for talk programs
D)No option is correct

Question 42

The Radio Corporation of America was formed when a group led by General Electric bought which of the following?

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

Question 43

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

A)1950s
B)Early 1900s
C)1920s through 1940s
D)1890s

Question 44

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

A)Cathode-ray tube
B)Hertz
C)Electromagnetic wave
D)Telephony
E)Audion

Question 45

The transistor made radio receivers

A)Portable
B)Expensive
C)Larger
D)Stereophonic

Question 46

Radio formats usually target special audiences according to

A)Age and income
B)Gender
C)Race or ethnicity
D)All options are correct

Question 47

The public found it easy to believe Orson Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds because

A)It sounded like an authentic news report
B)The broadcast was never identified as fiction or a dramatization
C)A sizable meteor really did hit New Jersey that day
D)All options are correct

Question 48

TV snatched radio's

A)Audiences
B)Celebrities
C)Program genres
D)Place in the living room
E)All options are correct Fill in the Blank