Histoy of Radio (LPFM)

Crucial Technical Advances

FM- “frequency modulation”-a type of radio transmission, the frequency of the combined waves changed to reproduce the audio signal- http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/kidszone/faqs_radio.html

1. Transmission of radiation-electromagnetic waves 1877- Heinrich Hertz
1. Guglielmo Marconi- Morse Code through the air over short distances

1. Large Corporations Took Over Radio Industry- 
1. RCA- Radio Corporation of America- owned by GE
1. Expanded into “nearly every area of communications and electronics” and could do so because they had most patents and receive royalties
2. Radio spectrum was apart of public domain-
3. Radio Act 1927-gave right to deny registration to amateurs to stop chaos
4. 1921- 5 radios      1922-30 radios     1923- 556 radios
5. Problem of financing radio -those with preferred channels and sophisticated stations and, indeed in opposing any expansion of broadcast band”
6. Build stations that would blanket regions- intense pressure on smaller stations-sponsors preferred stations with wider coverage
7. Change - serving the public became concentrated on getting the most listeners for their advertisers

1-2- info taken from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3106503?seq=21

http://www.prometheusradio.org/inside_LPFM

1. At first no formal radio stations
1. NBC- started to take over industry- “network of stations” (http://www.prometheusradio.org/inside_LPFM)
2. FCC wanted professional stations- took away amateurs who were unprofessional
3. FRC- overlooks radio waves
4. Licenses started to become harder to get- eventually little stations that could not afford to grow would cease
5. “Micro-broadcaster”- rebel 
1. Mbanna Kantako- she used a 1 watt transmitter to still have a station- her station talked about neighborhood issues
2. Stephen Dunnnifer- Berkley- kicked off a legal case because he said he wouldn’t stop 
2. Solution- creation of the Low Power Radio Service in 2000
1. Was commercial free- radius of 3.5 miles of he antenna
2. Used to organize a group of people
3. Provide communication during disasters
4. Some still interfere with other larger frequencies and therefore have to move- sometimes so far away that they do not serve the community the station aimed to serve
3. Many say that LPFM is not a “dead” technology
1. Many have a web stream
4. Search Tool:

I used Google Scholar because I needed a broad basis of understanding a radio. I felt that Goggle Scholar provided a greater range of articles. 

Terms Searched:

Google Scholar

Words: movement against FCC regulation of radio 1920

Allocating the Spectrum: The Origins of Radio Regulation

Hugh G. J. Atken

Pg. 686-716

Published by: THe Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Society for the History of Technology

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3106503?seq=21

How is the site funded?

This is actually a book. This site was not provided by any organization

How current is this information?

The book was published in 1994. Although it is not the most current I believed that it would still be a credible site because we are analyzing past events that have already happened, so date of the article does not matter as much. 

Was there useful information about how your technology works on the site?

There was not a lot said about the actual workings of a radio. The book concentrated more on the history of the appartus. 

Missing or unreliable?

There might be missing information about how exactly the radio was created. There was a very vague history on the early radio. The info concentrated on the mid 1900’s more than the late 1880’s to early 1990’s. 

Evaluation of the site-

I liked the google search although it would have been more helpful to sort the articles by publishing date. The reading itself was short and to the point. It supplied useful information but could have expanded on where the although thought the technology of radio was going. I believe that not much was said about the corporations becoming involved and hindering other amateurs because it was written later. Otherwise the book was published by a known publisher and the author is credible. So I thought that the book provided accurate information. 

1. Search Tool: Google

Terms searched:

why the low power FM movement is a reaction against commercial network control of radio. 

Low Power Radio Broadcasting

URL:http://www.prometheusradio.org/inside_LPFM

Inside the Low Power FM Movement

How is the site funded?

From gifts and donations

How current is the information?

The information is very current. They have news articles from this year as well as social media usages such as Facebook and Twitter.

What useful information about how your technology works on their site?

They have different pages for different topics about LPFM. Most of it is broad but they do give a general overview of the technology. 

Evaluation-

I believe that this is a credible site and looks up to date, tthey even have a “latest headline section”. I liked that the site is very accessible and you can even contact them. The information is thorough. Morever, you could tell the site is updated frequently and put pictures of the staff. This makes it seem that the page is important to them. I also liked that the supplied a Library page. The library page references other readings that might be helpful. I did not feel that this site was a “fraud” or supplied inaccurate information.