Anomale Used Blog: Transitioning from Newspapers to Radio

Transitioning from Newspapers to Radio

Style

A newspapers is written so that it may be edited from the bottom up. As old editors liked to say, a page form is not made of rubber. It won’t stretch. What doesn’t fit is thrown away. Historians trace the inverted pyramid, which is not the traditional style of British or other foreign newspapers, to the American Civil War, when correspondents, fearing that the telegraph would break down before they could finish transmitting their dispatches, put the most important information into the first paragraph and continued the story with facts in descending order of news value.

The radio must be consumed sequentially, that is, the listener does not hear the second song without hearing the first. The eighth song waits on the first seven, which means in practice that all seven are chosen to be interesting to a significant number of listeners and are presented at a length, which maintains that interest. In addition to the inevitable centrality of thinking which affects broadcasts, unlike the newspaper reader, the listener is unable to stop to review and reconsider the song. The eye can go back, the ear can go only forward with the voice of the newscaster.

Image by Ananya Mittal

Evolution

In the 1830s, the major daily newspapers faced a new threat from the rise of penny papers, which were low priced broadsheets that served as a cheaper, more sensational daily source. They favored news of murder and adventure over the dry political news of the day. While newspapers catered to a wealthier, more educated audience, the penny press attempted to reach a wide swath of readers through cheap prices and entertaining, often scandalous, stories. The penny press can be seen as the forerunner to today’s gossip hungry tabloids.

Broadcast technology, including radio and television, had such a hold on the American imagination that newspapers and other print media found themselves having to adapt to the new media landscape. Print media was more durable and easily archived, and it allowed users more flexibility in terms of time, once a person had purchased a magazine, he or she could read it whenever and wherever. Broadcast media, in contrast, usually aired programs on a fixed schedule, which allowed it to both provide a sense of immediacy and fleetingness. Until the advent of digital video recorders in the late 1990s, it was impossible to pause and rewind a live television broadcast.

In Music

The emergence of rock journalism coincided with an attempt to position rock music, particularly the Beatles' work, in the American cultural landscape. The critical discourse was further heightened by the respectful coverage afforded the genre in mainstream publications such as Newsweek, Time and Life.

Image by Anthony Rosset

Coverage

News items, stories in which a topical event is signaled and described, were the commonest form of popular music coverage in the US, France, and the Netherlands in 1955. In Germany, announcements, short information pieces of ten to thirty lines, publicizing the availability of a new product, were the commonest form of popular music article at the time. However, a substantial number of popular music reviews were published in 1955, albeit to a lesser extent in Germany, these include reports on products, typically albums or live performances, that contain evaluative elements, in addition to descriptive ones.

Due to the limited amount of space given to popular music in 1955, the actual number of reviews are small. In the US, reviews focus almost exclusively on reviews of jazz albums. The popular music reviews published in France and Dutch in 1955 concentrated primarily on live performances and to a lesser extent, jazz.

Years	Companies	Station Owned	Newspapers Daily	Newspapers Weekly
1999			1483	7471
1998			1489	7267
1997			1509	7191
1996			1520	7655
1995			1543	9011
1994			1548	9067
1993			1556	9177
1992	8679		1570	8293
1991			1586	8546
1990			1611	8420
1989			1626	7622
1988		652	1642	7438
1987	8970	643	1645	6750
1986		729	1657	6857
1985		772	1676	6811
1984		779	1688	6798
1983		793	1701	6855
1982	8846	814	1711	6806
1981		834	1730	7238
1980		809	1745	7159
1979		801	1763	7357
1978		792	1756	7980
1977	8867	763	1766	8506
1976		769	1762	8735
1975		755	1756	8824
1974		750	1768	8711
1973		694	1774	8804
1972	8116	674	1751
1971		703	1749	8888
1970		841	1748	8903
1969		828	1758	8855
1968		755	1752	8858
1967	8094	742	1749	8915
1966		736	1754	9785
1965		735	1751	8989
1964		723	1763	9761
1963	8331	702	1754	9739
1962			1760	9774
1961		720	1761	9783
1960			1763	8979
1959			1755	9812
1958	7900		1761	9768
1957			1755	9854
1956			1761	9813
1955			1760	9126
1954			1765	9960
1953			1785	10173
1952			1786	10381
1951			1773	10514
1950			1772	9794
1949			1781	10386
1948			1780	10511
1947	8100		1769	10523
1946			1763	10424
1945			1749	10430
1944			1744	10504
1943			1754	10967
1942			1787	11474
1941			1857	11617
1940			1878	10860
1939			1888	11516
1938			1936	11421
1937			1983	11592
1936			1989	11288
1935			1950	11438
1934			1929
1933			1911	4218
1932			1913
1931			1943	6313
1930			1942
1929			1944	7075
1928			1939
1927			1949	6661
1926			2001
1925			2008	6435
1924			2014
1923			2036	5903
1922			2033
1921			2028	6059
1920			2042