During the 2000s, the broadcasting landscape saw significant advancements with the introduction of digital radio and direct broadcasting by satellite (DBS). Digital radios started selling in the UK by 1998 and new frequency bands were allocated globally for digital services, except in the US where a different band was used due to national defense concerns.
The 2000s saw the introduction of digital radio and direct broadcasting by satellite (DBS). Digital radios began to be sold in the United Kingdom in 1998.
Digital radio services, except in the United States, were allocated a new frequency band in the range of 1,400 MHz. In the United States, this band was deemed to be vital to national defense, so an alternate band in the range of 2,300 MHz was introduced for satellite broadcasting. American companies introduced DBS systems, which are funded by direct subscription, like cable television. European and Australian stations also began digital broadcasting (Digital Audio Broadcast).
The 1970s, 1980s and 1990s
The growth of FM (frequency modulated) radio in the 1970s changed the habits of younger listeners. Many stations such as WNEW-FM in New York City began to play whole sides of record albums, as opposed to the "Top 40" model of two decades earlier.
AM (amplitude modulated) radio declined throughout the 1970s and 1980s, due to various reasons including the lower cost of FM receivers, narrow AM audio bandwidth, poor sound in the AM section of automobile receivers, and increased radio noise in homes caused by fluorescent lighting and the introduction of electronic devices. AM radio's decline flattened out in the mid-1990s due to the introduction of niche formats and over-commercialization of many FM stations
The 1950's and 1960s
In the 1950s, television began to replace radio as the chief source of revenue for broadcasting networks. Although many radio programs continued through this decade, including Gunsmoke and The Guiding Light, by 1960, radio networks had ceased producing entertainment programs.
As radio stopped producing formal 15-minute to hourly programs, a new format developed—Top 40. "Top 40" was based on a continuous rotation of short pop songs presented by a "disc jockey." Top 40 playlists were theoretically based on record sales; however, record companies began to bribe disc jockeys to play selected artists.
Shortwave broadcasting played an important part in fighting the Cold War with Voice of America and the BBC World Service, augmented with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty transmitting through the "Iron Curtain." Radio Moscow and others broadcasted back, jamming (transmitting to cause intentional interference) the voices of the West.
In the 1950s, American television networks introduced broadcasts in color. The Federal Communications Commission approved the world's first monochrome-compatible color television standard in December 1953. The first network colorcast followed on January 1, 1954, with NBC transmitting the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, to over 20 stations across the country.
In 1952, an educational television network, National Educational Television (NET), predecessor to PBS, was founded.
Broadcasting around the world
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has the oldest radio station in Asia. The station, originally known as Radio Ceylon, developed into one of the finest broadcasting institutions in the world. It is now known as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Sri Lanka created broadcasting history in Asia in 1923, when broadcasting was started in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department on an experimental footing, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe. Edward Harper, dubbed "the father of broadcasting in Ceylon," launched the first experimental broadcast as well as founding the Ceylon Wireless Club together with British and Ceylonese radio enthusiasts. This broadcasting experiment was a huge success and barely three years later, on December 16, 1925, a regular broadcasting service was instituted.
Germany
German radio broadcasting was supervised by the Post Office. A listening fee for each receiver paid most subsidies. Joseph Goebbels became head of the Ministry for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment. Non-Nazis were removed from broadcasting and editorial positions. Jews were fired from all positions. German broadcasting began to decline in popularity as the theme of Kampfzeit was continually played. It became illegal for Germans, with the exception of foreign correspondents and key officials, to listen to foreign broadcasts. During the war, German stations broadcast not only war propaganda and entertainment for German forces dispersed throughout Europe and the Atlantic, but also provided air raid alerts.
Britain
The first experimental broadcasts, from Marconi's factory in Chelmsford, England, began in 1920. Two years later, a consortium of radio manufacturers formed the British Broadcasting Company, later becoming the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a non-commercial organization. Lord John Reith, working as BBC's first general manager, promoted the philosophy of "public service broadcasting" firmly ground in the mutual benefit of education and uplifting entertainment. BBC television broadcasts in Britain began on November 2, 1936, and have continued with the exception of wartime conditions from 1939 to 1945.
UNITED STATES
One of the first signals of significant power that carried voice and music was accomplished, in 1906, by Reginald Fessenden when he made a Christmas Eve broadcast to ships at sea from Massachusetts. Charles Herrold of California sent out broadcasts as early as April 1909 from his Herrold School electronics institute in downtown San Jose, using the identification San Jose Calling, and then a variety of different "call signs" as the Department of Commerce first began to regulate radio. The son of a farmer who patented a seed spreader, Herrold coined the terms "broadcasting" and "narrowcasting," based on the ideas of spreading crop seed far and wide, rather than only in rows. 1912, the United States government began requiring radio operators to obtain licenses to send out signals. Herrold received licenses for 6XF and 6XE (a mobile transmitter) and had been on the air daily for nearly a decade when World War I interrupted operations. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) began regular broadcasting in 1926, with telephone links between New York City and other eastern cities. NBC became the dominant radio network, splitting into Red and Blue networks. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) began in 1927, under the guidance of William S. Paley. Several independent stations formed the Mutual Broadcasting System to exchange syndicated programming.
Broadcasting began in the early twentieth century. Counties in which notable advances were made in the early decades of the twentieth century are:
