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.
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.
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 |
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