Exam 2 Rise of Electronic Media

The Television Freeze was a freeze on

New station licenses due to technical format disputes

What was the significance of must carry rules?

These rules were meant to protect broadcasters from cable by requiring cable systems to carry local broadcast channels.

From the perspective of the television industry, what was the most significant outcome of the much publicized quiz show scandals?

They allowed the networks to finally gain control of television programming from sponsors and more fully implement the magazine format of advertising

What is a superstation?

A local, independent television channel that is beamed up to a satellite for distribution to local cable providers across the country

In terms of the television industry in the 1950s, what was an intermixed market?

A market that had both VHF and UHF television stations

What was "insulated funding," as suggested by the Carnegie Commission for Public TV?

A plan to collect taxes on TV sets in order to remove funding from political debates

What change occurred in the relationship between advertisers and the broadcast networks by the mid 1980s?

Advertisers grew increasingly disenchanted with television and invented the internet to more directly reach consumers

How did the radio industry respond to the rise of television in the 1950s?

African Americans found a foothold in the medium as DJs and rock n' roll music became popular forms of programming to replace network programs

What is the historical significance of citizen activists in making changes to television station WLBT in Jackson, Mississippi?

After station owners continually refused to air Civil Rights related programming, African American activists successfully petitioned the FCC to revoke the owners' station license

What was the Fairness Doctrine?

An FCC rule mandating that local stations cover controversial issues with programming that addressed more than one side of the issue

Why were television networks able to get away with their philosophy of least objectionable programming in the 1960s?

Because there were only 2 to 4 TV channels in any market, there was not a lot of competition for viewers

How did the TV industry attempt to reach the new "working women" audience in the 1970s and 80s?

By adding serialized elements that had been traditionally associated with daytime programming to nighttime programming through shows such as Dallas and Hill Street Blues.

How did educational stations, suffering from lack of funding and their assignment to the UHF band, finely find some success by the early 1960s?

By importing programming by Great Britain

How did educational stations, suffering from lack of funding and their assignment to the UHF band, finely find some success by the early 1960s?

By importing programming from Great Britain

How did the Financial Interest and Syndication (Fin/Syn) and Prime Time Access Rules (PTAR)challenge the Classic Network System?

By weakening network domination of programming by allowing independent producers access to the television market

Why did independent stations begin to gain a foothold in the TV industry by the 1970s?

Cable television, which was bound by must carry rules to carry all broadcast stations, made both the reception and quality of UHF stations on par with VHF stations

Blacklisting developed in the film and TV industries in order to root out people accused of being

Communist

What was program nichification in cable television?

Concentrating a form of content, such as ESPN providing all sports programming.

What was the key weakness in the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act and the formation of PBS?

Congress failed to provide insulated funding, leaving its funding in continual jeopardy and the victim of political whims.

What was the magazine format of advertising?

Following the model of magazines, the networks would sell ad times to many sponsors rather than relying on single sponsorship as it had in radio.

What innovation in television programming was Fred Silverman responsible for?

He used his experience in daytime programming to make prime time shows, like Charlies Angels, that would appeal to male and female audiences

Why was Mark Fowler unable to end the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules during his tenure as Chairman of the FCC?

Hollywood resisted changes the rules because they were profiting from the rights they owned and appealed to President Reagan

Why did interest in cable television grow during the 1970s?

Interest was fueled in part by the activities of policy reformers and progressive groups searching for more community-oriented locally produced television programming

What is the significance of the FCC's Blue Book?

It called into question the commercial radio industry's commitment to serving the public interest

Why was Public Television criticized by the Right and the Left throughout 70s and 80s?

Public Television was criticized by Right for being too liberal, and from the Left for being too middle of the road.

What was the most significant result of the Payola scandals?

Rhe rise of centrally controlled format radio in order to curb DJ freedom and African American artists on the airwaves

I Led Three Lives was an example of syndication, which refers to

Selling pre-recorded or filmed television and radio shows to local channels directly without going through a network

Deregulation as a regulatory principle in terms of media refers to:

Shifting regulation to give corporations more power and lessening corporate responsibility to serve the pubic interest, convenience, and necessity

What was the social democratic vision for media that informed the creation of Public Television in the US?

The belief that media should serve as a public service rather than as a commodity led the idea that audiences should be free to discover a robust public media

What role did corporate liberalism have on the development of television?

The belief that the government and big business could cooperate together to lead society meant that the FCC largely supported the interests of corporate giant RCA in making critical decisions about the development of television?

What new approach to programming did the networks develop in the late 1960s and early 1970s in shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and All in the Family?

The development of socially relevant programming, including veiled humorous references to drugs and confrontational social topics, in order to attract the youth audience

What technology helped spur the growth of cable during the 1970s and 80s?

The geostationary satellite

Why was most of early television programming live rather than filmed despite the technical difficulty of producing live television?

The networks , following the model of radio, believed that live programming would secure their relationship with their affiliates

Lucille Ball's Desilu production company was responsible for which innovation in television:

The use the three camera technique for filming the program

What did cable channels BET (Black Entertainment Television), Lifetime (Television for Women), and SIN (Spanish International Network) have in common?

They are all channels that worked to reach a niche audience of African Americans, women, and the US Latinx communities.

Why did the networks increase their produce of documentaries during the early 1960s?

They helped deal with criticism of over commercialism that was coming from the public after the quiz show scandals and from within the news divisions of the networks themselves

According to Mary Beth Haralovich, what role did single camera filmed sitcoms play in the changing social conditions of the 1950s?

They presented and ideal view of a leisure filled, consumer based lifestyle in order to encourage white women to leave the work force after WWII

What is a spinoff?

When a character of group of characters from an existing show are given a new show as the same characters, but with new stories.

How did the relationship between hollywood and the television networks change during the 1950s?

While Hollywood studios were priginally prevented from owning TV stations and networks by the FCC, they became the primary providers of programming to the networks