There has been little valid and reliable research of the motion picture audience. Specific reasons for the movie industry's own inattention to audience research include the early popularity of films and the fact that since the industry does not sell advertising it does not need to account for its audience size and preferences. Some researchers…

Of all the mass media, radio is the most abundant, both in terms of the number of radio stations in operation and the number of radio receivers in use. Unfortunately, given the dynamics of a competitive market and the Federal Communications Commission's reluctance to interfere with a licensee's discretion in the choice of format, format…

Defines the term "independent" and discusses factors affecting independent productions, such as finance, production, distribution, and audiences. (PD)

The emergence of frequency modulation or FM radio signals, which arose from the desire to free broadcasting of static noise common to amplitude modulation or AM, has produced the controversial development of stereo broadcasting. The resulting enhancement of sound quality helped FM pass AM in audience shares in less than two decades. The basic…

Historically, radio broadcasting has been affected by innovational, social, technological, and economic change. For instance, FM (frequency modulation) radio emerged out of a desire to free broadcasting of static noise common to AM (amplitude modulation) signals. The eventual response by AM was to improve the technology of the signal. The inquiry…

Discusses the issue of public accountability in broadcasting as shown in new legal strictures, in the creation of councils by the media themselves, and in such mechanisms as public inquiries, research and audience polling, and access experiments. Concludes that access and participation are means for demonstrating accountability. (JMF)

The basic arrangements and practices of American broadcast audience research and measurement were established during the first decade (1920-29) of the field's existence, and were motivated by commercial and competing institutional concerns within the broader context of evolving forms of imagination and expression. A review of the evidence found in…

This is one of several papers presented at a Federal Trade Commission Symposium on Media Concentration. It analyzes trends in the development of one-newspaper cities. Some of the trends noted are that face-to-face competition has declined considerably over the last five decades, going from 90% of the circulation in 1923 to 30% of the circulation…

An overview is presented in this paper of the types of qualitative radio and television evaluations currently being undertaken in six countries: Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Japan, and Canada. An introductory section notes the value of qualitative ratings to broadcast policy makers and to those seeking broadcasting changes, and…

The Dynasty Project conducted an empirical analysis of the cross-cultural reception of the program for which it was named. Data were collected via two series of videotaped interviews which were carried out following a viewing of Dynasty episode 105 by a group of subjects together with the researchers. The subjects were 25 American viewers in Los…

Reviews advances in production hardware and techniques, film, teletext and the distribution of television by cable, direct broadcast satellite, home video, and video disc. It is suggested that production broadcasters should come to terms with home video. (RAO)

This paper examines the unobtrusive ways in which broadcasting sustains the lives and routines, from one day to the next, year in and year out, of whole populations, and reflects on some of the implications of these processes by accounting for the ways in which the times of radio and television are organized in relation to the social spaces of…

Since television both reflects and affects society, how blacks are portrayed in television drama is significant for program producers, the audience, and for consideration in debates on multicultural content, minority access, and integrated casting. Previous work in the field of blacks and television has been based on observational sociology,…