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Arts and Culture

TV and Radio

The beginning of commercial radio broadcasts in 1920 brought a new source of information and entertainment directly into American homes.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood the usefulness of radio as a medium of communication. His "fireside chats" kept the nation abreast of economic developments during the depression and of military maneuvers during WWII.

Since the widespread availability of television in the 1950s, the standard radio program format is a mixture of recorded music, news and call-in talk shows.

The reach of radio is still broad. In 1994, 99% of American households had at least one radio, with an average of five per household.

Besides the 10,000 commercial radio stations, the United States has more than 1,400 public radio stations. Most of these are run by universities and other public institutions for educational purposes and are financed by public funds and private donations.

Since World War II, television has developed into the most popular medium in the United States, with enormous influence on the country's elections and way of life.

Three privately owned networks that offered free programming financed by commercials - NBC, CBS, and ABC - controlled 90 percent of the TV market from the 1950s to the 1970s.

By 1994, however, almost 60 percent of American households had subscribed to cable TV, and non-network programming drew more than 30% of the viewers. Among the new cable channels were several that show movies 24 hours a day; CNN which broadcasts news around the clock; and MTV, which shows music videos.

There are 335 public television stations across the United States, each of which is independent and serves its community's interests; but the stations are united by such national entities as PBS, which supplies programming.

Many Americans are disturbed by the amount of violence their children see on television. In 1993, the major TV networks agreed to inform viewers of violent content at the beginning of programs. In 1996, the commercial and cable networks went a step further and established a rating system, based on content. New television sets in the United States are now equipped with a "V-chip," a device that enables viewers to block undesired programs.

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