Toward a new Century
By the later half of the 1990s the decade had already become a communications anomaly. It was a decade of cyberspace and censorship, indecency and irreverence, technology and testament, dogmatism and deregulation, polarization and politics, economic bust and boom, merger and monopoly. Early in the decade, the country’s voters appeared to support a proconsumer, liberal agenda, the public seemingly ready to relive the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many observers therefore anticipated strong reregulation of the broadcasting industry when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, countering the Reagan era deregulation, or “unregulation,” as a former Republican FCC chair once put it. But within a couple of years the reverse was true, as a Republican Congress included a strong marketplace philosophy in its “Contract with America.” Within another couple of years, public attitude began to change again as many people began to perceive the Republican actions as a “Contract on America.” Some accused both the Republican and Democratic parties of hypocrisy: The Republicans were calling for more freedoms for the industry while at the same time implementing greater censorship and control of media content; the Democrats claimed to represent the consumer but at the same time backed legislation that vitiated the role of the consumer in the regulatory process and strengthened the control of the industry.
By mid-decade the die was cast. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, endorsed by both political parties, reversed virtually all the remaining proconsumer legislation, rules, and regulations that had been accumulating for some 50 years and that had not already been eliminated in the 1980s, as described in the previous chapter.
In 1990 and 1991 the deficit-spending indulgences of the 1980s began to catch up with America. Banks failed, jobs were lost, and millions more Americans were thrust into poverty. There was less money for products and services and, therefore, less advertising money. Production costs, however, continued to increase, and broadcasters tightened their collective belts. The broadcast industry had one important ray of hope: Although almost every other industry suffered during the economic depression of the 1930s, radio grew because it was the principal source of free entertainment and information.
At the beginning of the 1990s the NAB published these facts about broadcasting.
In the 1990s, however, broadcasting no longer had the monopoly on electronic communication. By 1991 cable was in 60% of America’s television homes, and growing. Videocassette recorders (VCRs), compact discs (CDs), and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) were reducing even further the television broadcast networks’ domination of prime time, and broadcasting’s share of all TV viewers was dropping steadily. Also, something new had entered America’s homes, although in the early part of the decade not yet seriously competing for vast numbers of viewers’ and listeners’ time, but beginning to develop entertainment and information services that might someday become a major threat to previously existing video and audio distribution systems. That, of course, was the home personal computer and its CD-ROM and Internet potentials.
As the broadcast century came to a close, the computer—with its Internet potentials—became more and more of a threat to broadcasting and other electronic media as a source of entertainment, education, and information in the home.
1990
With the end of the Cold War—the fall of the Berlin Wall, the velvet revolutions in the countries of Eastern Europe, the transformation of the Soviet Union into a loose confederation of independent states—the world in general opened up for satellite communication. Reuters, BBC, Murdoch, ABC, CNN, and other groups raced to place their news and entertainment signals into as much of the world as possible. News, in particular, was given an international impetus. Eastern Europe, in particular, became an open market for United States video producers and distributors. Although the Cold War with the Soviet bloc was over, it continued with Cuba, and the United States launched Radio Marti, a shortwave propaganda station aimed at that nation.
The deregulatory actions of the 1980s remained in force, with the deregulation trend itself continuing. Some challenges to the 1980s actions were dismissed by the courts; some were upheld. For example, the Supreme Court affirmed the minority preference distress sale option for stations in danger of losing their licenses; and the court refused to consider a challenge to the 1987 elimination of the Fairness Doctrine.
Cable continued to expand in the 1990s.
Courtesy Storer Cable.
Growing concern about excessive cable rates and insufficient cable services, among other complaints, created rumbles in Congress for reregulation of cable, which had been almost completely deregulated in 1984, as noted in the previous chapter. It would be another 2 years before Congress took final action on the matter.
KENNETH BILBY
As far as the networks are concerned, I believe they’re continuing to provide a necessary service, and as long as they continue to do so they will continue to exist despite the steady erosion of their total audience. Even if this erosion continues, the viewer will not suffer because there will be ample cable services to pick up the slack.
In the broader perspective of the electronics industry, I fear lasting damage has been done through the merger and acquisition binge of the 1980s. The phasing out of famous companies, the piling up of huge junk bond debts, the lessening of emphasis on electronics research were among the results. Electronics leadership passed to foreign enterprises, primarily Japanese. I am particularly sensitive to this because of the fate of RCA, the company with which I spent more than 30 years. In my view, it’s a corporate tragedy.
Founded in 1919 as a wireless offshoot of the English-based Marconi Company, RCA was created at the government’s request so that America would never be dependent on other nations for wireless communications. From that small beginning, under the leadership of David Sarnoff, RCA exploited virtually every new development in the infant science of elec-tronics and became America’s premiere company in that field: creating a whole new range of products and services, always in the vanguard of technology, producing in American factories to make America a stronger nation.
Kenneth Bilby with a research assistant in the Harvard Library.
Courtesy Kenneth Bilby.
As RCA created new wealth in the Sarnoff era, that wealth was put back into the company in the pursuit of innovative new products and further scientific inventions. The laboratories at RCA were, as Sarnoff put it, “our life blood.”
Nothing took precedence over scientific invention and development while General Sarnoff was running RCA. I think the company got off the track when successor managements began plunging into diversification. The company became, in effect, a conglomerate, going into business as remote as frozen prepared foods, chicken plucking, carpeting, rental cars, financial services, and greeting cards—all unrelated to the electronic core.
After Thornton Bradshaw took over a reeling company at the start of the 1980s, he sought to return it to its heritage by selling off nonelectronic businesses and steering the same course that Sarnoff had originally chartered. The company resurged as an electronic leader.
But then, inexplicably, Bradshaw merged RCA with General Electric. The rationale was that RCA’s strength, coupled with GE’s, would prove that one plus one equals three. It would strengthen America’s waning capacity to compete against the Japanese, the Germans, the Dutch, and the French, in the electronics marts of the world.
Unfortunately, it proved to be a merger in name only. As events have shown, GE promptly embarked on a course of dismemberment. The core RCA Consumer Electronics Division was sold to the French, the historic RCA Records Division to the Germans. The scientific labs were disposed of and other operations phased out. The company that had given America world leadership in electronics was consigned to oblivion.
Another cable matter, however, was dealt with in 1990. Syndex—syndicated exclusivity, which required a cable system to black out any distant station or cable network program it carried that was already being aired by a local TV station—was reenacted. Local broadcasters were happy; cable operators were furious.
The economic recession that ended the 1980s and began the 1990s hit broadcasters hard. Barter boomed. Barter is the system whereby a local station, lacking the upfront cash to pay for syndicated programs, pays less cash in exchange for the syndicators using some of the avails—the available advertising time spots—to sell their own ads. What had been largely a cash transaction market turned to cash-plus-barter and, in some instances, all barter for programs. Although it began as a stop-gap measure in a recession, barter took hold and continues today.
The recession also affected affiliates as well as independent stations. With less advertising revenue, the networks cut back on their compensation to affiliates, thereby forcing the affiliates to either cut back on programming, find barter sources, or obtain more local advertising support. Further, in-house programming at the networks was decreased, and new production jobs at the networks virtually disappeared. One growing source of income was program-length commercials. The abolition during the Reagan deregulation era of all restrictions on the length of commercials gave way to the proliferation of entire programs devoted to commercials on broadcast television, competing with the already proliferating similar programs on cable, such as home shopping networks, which had not been under FCC jurisdiction.
Programming became more eclectic on both radio and television. Official antidrug campaigns resulted in more public service announcements (PSAs) on the subject and more antidrug content in entertainment programs. Spanish-language programming grew, especially on radio and cable. Radio syndicators and networks were shifting their demographic focus from the 12 to 34 target audience to the emerging dominant buying power of the baby boomers, 25 to 54. While sitcoms and drama, including evening soaps, still dominated the ratings, one special attracted a broad audience and gave PBS its best ratings to date—Ken Burns’s “Civil War.”
Congress enacted the Children’s Television Entertainment Act of 1990, a culmination of years of effort by Action for Children’s Television and other consumer groups. It reduced the amount of advertising time permitted per hour on children’s TV shows and required stations to air “educational and informational” programs, directing the FCC to take this into account at license renewal time.
Congress also passed the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990, which required all sets 13 inches or larger sold after July 1993 to be capable of decoding closed-captioned transmissions.
Having learned the power of the press and the public in a free democratic society during the Vietnam War, the Pentagon continued to receive criticism for its restrictions on freedom of the press and the public’s right to know in its invasion of Panama, and finally admitted, in 1990, that it had hampered media coverage in that conflict. The Department of Defense (DoD), it appeared, had been obsessed with secrecy and was guilty of poor planning. This problem would be further exacerbated by the DoD less than a year later with almost total restriction and censorship of the press covering the Gulf War.
As the last decade of the 20th century began, the life of one of the century’s giant figures in broadcasting ended. William S. Paley, head of CBS and creator of what many called the “Tiffany Network,” died.
“Soundprint” suggested the potential of a renaissance in radio programming in the 1990s—perhaps the medium’s second golden age. “Soundprint” was a weekly documentary series of compelling sound pictures that provoked thought, fired the imagination, and stirred the sense of possibility. Each week the series provided an intense, thorough exploration of a single issue or subject or place in meaningful contest. “Soundprint” exploited the intimate, personal qualities of radio to take the listeners into the lives and experiences of people, places, and cultures uncommon and common, unique and universal. The series combined journalistic excellence with state-of-the-art technology to create an engaging and compelling presentation of contemporary issues.
1991
By the time a shackled and angry press filed suit against the U.S. government for violating its First Amendment rights during the Gulf War, the war was over and the court case was declared moot. But the damage done to America’s traditional democratic freedoms of the press in that war were so deep that even 5 years afterwards, a New York Times feature article, entitled “The Gulf War Story Is Still Being Told,” included continued criticism by journalists of the Pentagon’s restrictions. They objected to the military’s decision to “conduct the war largely out of the camera’s view, restrict access to troops, and showcase the most favorable gun-camera film from Allied bombings.” The Vietnam War lesson was cited by both the military and the journalists. The former claimed, stated the Times, that “unchecked television exposure could jeopardize war plans and stoke opposition back home if casualties piled up.” The journalists said, “full and open disclosure would help prevent a senseless war.” Many journalists are concerned about future restrictions by the military, especially because advancing technology would make it possible to provide even fuller and more extensive coverage of a war than ever before (see Chapter 10 for further discussion on this).
During the patriotic fervor of the Persian Gulf War, most stations waved Old Glory, too.
Courtesy WMZQ, Washington, DC.
CNN continued direct reports from Baghdad on the United States’ destruction of civilian targets, angering the Pentagon and some others in the United States. CNN’s courage, however, resulted not only in dramatically increased ratings for its news, but spurred television news in general.
Some early press coverage of the war, especially that of CNN, was highly praised. For the first time, Americans saw on television and heard on radio a number of women reporting directly from the forward war zones. In the first few days, the war was broadcast to the United States on an intensive, minute-by-minute basis by most networks. But even as its efforts were being praised, the press’s independence was being questioned. It was not informing the American public of alternative policies, of behind-the-scenes activities, of world points of view that might differ from the official U.S. position, or of widespread protests by citizens in the United States and abroad. While reflecting public condemnation of the totalitarian regime in Iraq, the press did not report concerns that the United States was sacrificing soldiers to save a totalitarian government in Kuwait. The press seemed to be repeating its largely unquestioning and sometimes acquiescent role in previous recent conflicts. It agreed to let the U.S. military determine where and what it could cover and, on grounds of national security, permitted its reports to be censored. Protests from various sources, including Walter Cronkite, effected no change. A Time magazine correspondent, Stanley Cloud, summed up a growing feeling among journalists that “this is an intolerable effort by the government to manage and control the press. We have ourselves to blame as much as the Pentagon. We never should have agreed to this system in the first place.” Neither America nor the press was willing to take a stand on the distinction between censorship of sensitive information for military security purposes and censorship of information for political manipulation of the public.
Cable TV’s premiere news service is CNN, which enhanced its growing reputation with its coverage of the Persian Gulf War.
Courtesy CNN.
A number of consumer concerns were addressed by Congress, the FCC, and the courts, some pleasing consumer and First Amendment rights groups and some pleasing industry. The U.S. Court of Appeals threw out an FCC 24-hour ban on indecent or so-called “adult” programming on television and ordered the FCC to establish a “safe harbor” for such programming. The saga of the safe harbor would not be finally resolved for another 4 years. Shortly after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals released a decision he had delivered months earlier in which, ironically, he struck down the FCC’s affirmative action requirement in granting broadcast licenses to women.
The recession, which continued to reduce advertising income for both broadcasting and cable, promoted attempts by larger stations or group owners to take over small stations, and the FCC increased the granting of waivers of its one-to-a-market rule. The FCC also attempted to level the political playing field by requiring stations to sell political advertising time at the “lowest unit cost.” The FCC opened more spectrum space to MMDS (multichannel multipoint distribution systems, also called “wireless cable”) through a lottery.
The electronic press had one door opened for it when the federal courts approved television coverage of civil trials on an experimental basis, at the discretion of the individual case judge.
One of the newer technologies, DAB (digital audio broadcasting), emerged as a key concern and expectation of media executives and operators, and the FCC set aside spectrum space for DAB. The FCC expanded the AM band by 100 kHz, making it possible to accommodate about 250 additional stations nationally. In ferment were a number of issues that would become the keys to changes in the entire communication industry in subsequent years. Digital video compression was developing as a future system for both conventional and high-definition television (HDTV). An industry committee continued its work on developing a standard for digital satellite television. Perhaps most important, as it turned out 5 years down the road, were the court decisions and the increasing pressures on and discussions in Congress and at the FCC that were bringing TELCOs (telephone companies) closer to being authorized to operate cable systems.
Digital audio broadcasting was anticipated by the radio industry as the key to establishing a level playing field between AM and FM.
While multimedia video services grew, radio not only remained a basic entertainment and information service, but many observers agreed with this 1991 Boston Globe editorial, “The Power of Radio.”
Reprinted courtesy of the Boston Globe.
Radio fared somewhat better than television in coping with the difficult economy. Perhaps having learned how to do this when it survived the sudden dominance of TV decades before, radio had a resurgence by concentrating on an increase of news and talk shows, and on more precise targeting of audiences. Radio also experienced a growth with urban formats aimed at the 25- to 54-year-old age group. On both television and radio, talk shows proliferated in syndication. With the frightening spread of AIDS, the pubic and the industry were slowly being forced to acknowledge its existence, if not do something about it. Radio and TV stations, which generally had refused to carry condom ads, now began to consider doing so.
TONY VERNA
In my book, Globalcasting, I expanded on perhaps the newest development of the broadcast century. I detailed for future broadcasters the patterns developed as I executive-produced/directed international shows like “Live Aid,” “Sport Aid,” “Prayer for World Peace,” “Earth 90,” “The Goodwill Games,” etc. An executive director directs the work of other directors functioning separately around the world. The increased amount of preparation and communication required to unify a globalcast has to be organized on a scale to match the challenge. Understanding satellite coverage and how to order it is just one of the new technical challenges. The “what ifs” of any broadcast expand to match the increased size of globalcasting. Also, the complexity of languages and customs involved highlight the increasing role of globalcasting in unifying the world’s nations and peoples.
Tony Verna in a control room at the 1990 Goodwill Games.
Courtesy Turner Broadcasting and Tony Verna.
Whether it is news coverage of an event like the Persian Gulf conflict or a musical celebration like “Live Aid,” globalcasts—both radio and TV—cross national boundaries as few other methods of communication have been able to do. And they are changing the way the world works. Having worked in television since its first decade, I view this decade of the nineties as laying the groundwork for the next very exciting broadcast century.
Public broadcasting experienced another flap about censoring controversial material. Although in many cases PBS provided alternative and even controversial programming eschewed by commercial television, and was ostensibly immune to outside vested interest pressures, it did cancel a “P.O.V.” (point-of-view) documentary, “Stop the Church,” about a gay rights protest against the Catholic Church.
Exactly 30 years after his “vast wasteland” speech, former FCC chair Newton Minow, in another speech to the industry, gave television an “A-plus” for technological advances and a “C” for using that technology “to serve human and humane goals.” Lastly, perhaps a most significant sign that the Cold War was really over, was Russia’s becoming a member of INTELSAT.
1992
In the musical Fiorello, the song “Politics and Poker” satirized politicians and political campaigns. “Politics and Programming” might well have been an appropriate tune title for 1992 because broadcast programming played a significant role in this presidential election year. First, somewhat reminiscent of the first 1960 Kennedy–Nixon presidential debate in which personality played a key role in determining public reaction, a three-way debate among President George Bush, Democratic challenger Bill Clinton, and third-party candidate Ross Perot showed Clinton to much greater advantage than his rivals. Some critics credit that debate with swinging voters to Clinton, much as the 1960 debate swung the tide to Kennedy.
Political talk shows on both radio and television grew. By the end of 1992, 16 syndicated talk shows were being stripped—that is, appearing every day, 5 days a week, in the same time slots—and the number was growing. Prognosticating the subsequent conservative attitude in the country was the phenomenal success of right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh, who was being carried on 480 AM stations alone. Although the material he presented as fact was revealed frequently to be fiction, he was taken seriously by the public.
Conversely, “Murphy Brown,” a sitcom that was presented as fiction, was sometimes confused with fact. The principal character, Murphy Brown, decided to become a single, working mother and gave birth to child. She drew the ire of the vice president, Dan Quayle, who publicly objected to the character’s lifestyle as if she were a nonfictional person. While it is the sitcoms that are usually rather inane, in this case it was the vice president who came off as somewhat doltish. Was this a high-level example of the growing belief that more and more people are under the impression that television is the true reality and that if it isn’t on television it doesn’t really exist?
There was, of course, more than political programming in 1992. A most significant event was the Olympic games. Believing that there was gold in pay-per-view (PPV), television put some of the Olympic coverage on a paying basis. The results were dismal. On the other hand, there were large audiences for the free TV coverage.
Ultraconservatives ruled the radio airwaves in the last decade of the broadcast century, in stark contrast to programs such as Howard Stern’s.
Courtesy of Westwood One Entertainment.
There were also large audiences for programs cited by the FCC as being indecent, most particularly those of Infinity Broadcasting’s Howard Stern. Refusing to abide by the FCC’s indecency rules, Stern’s programs were fined, first a record $105,000, and when they continued to violate the FCC’s indecency standards, further fines totaling $600,000 were levied. Infinity challenged the constitutionality of the indecency standards. The fines mounted up. How did it end? Tune in next year (in the next chapter of this book)!
The FCC fined other stations, as well, for indecency violations. Its 24-hour ban on adult programming reached the Supreme Court, which struck it down, reiterating the lower court’s order for a safe harbor.
The FCC continued to levy fines, some quite large, against a number of TV stations that exceeded the advertising limits of the Children’s Television Act of 1990. In addition, in still another area of program content violation, where stations used hoaxes to promote their ratings, the FCC established a $250,000 fine for “knowingly broadcasting false information.” Less controversial was the continuing growth of programming for minority groups, especially Spanish-language programs.
The television studio of the 1990s employed highly advanced, cutting-edge equipment. The inset shows a stereo audio time compressor/expander.
Courtesy Lexicon.
PEGGY CHARREN
For a very long time, I believed there was a need for a child advocacy group dedicated to increasing choice, diversity, and delight in children’s television—a group whose goal was to stop the worst of commercial manipulation and exploitation. In 1968, this resulted in the creation of ACT. Since then the organization has been very active in lobbying for the upgrading and overall enhancement of existing children’s programs as well as campaigning for an increase in quality television for young people. In 1990 we successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress to pass the Children’s Television Act, which mandates that local television stations provide educational programs for children. Although ACT was dismantled in 1992, the work to make television a valuable and positive medium for children continues.
Two program-related milestones were reached in 1992. The sitcom “Cheers” went off the air after 11 seasons, and after 30 years Johnny Carson retired as host of “The Tonight Show.” It was an up and down year for broadcasting. The courts struck down the FCC’s new, more relaxed finsyn (financial syndication) rules, giving the networks greater participation, although not full control, in the production and syndication process of programs, but permitted a stay pending an appeal. Congress cut back another FCC action, one that increased the multiple ownership of radio stations from 12 AM and 12 FM stations nationwide to 30 and 30, and allowed ownership of 6 stations in a given market; Congress limited it to 18 and 18, and a duopoly of 2 plus 2 in large markets, and 2 of 1 and 1 of another in small markets. Radio mega-combos grew, with more and more duopolies. The FCC set forth a maximum of 5 years for TV station conversion to HDTV once a national system was approved; industry pressure forced the FCC to change it to 15 years. The most serious problem for broadcasting, however, was the continuing recession, with ad revenues continuing to fall.
For cable, it was a bad year. Most importantly, Congress finally acted on what seemed like an avalanche of constituent complaints and reregulated cable once again in the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Among the key provisions was a retransmission consent–must-carry requirement. This allowed TV stations to charge cable systems a fee for carrying their signals. However, if such a fee were demanded, cable systems could opt not to carry a station. Conversely, if a local station did not demand a fee, it could require the station to carry it. Before the provisions went into effect, the networks and most larger stations decided they would demand a carriage fee. But most cable systems stood firm, and when the deadline for decision arrived in May 1993, almost all stations opted for the no-fee, must-carry requirement, and few cable systems paid fees to stations. Other provisions of the act established a cap on rates charged to subscribers and in some instances mandated a rollback; required prompt and better service to customers; and regulated service and equipment costs. Before the new cable rates went into effect in 1994, many cable systems raised their rates, so even with cutbacks that were supposed to average about 15% nationwide, rates did not go down for many subscribers and actually went up for many others.
The FCC also let TV networks into ownership of cable systems and allowed cable systems into broadcast activities, with some restrictions.
Technical advances and anticipations continued, waiting for the political world to catch up with the technological. For example, fiber-optic video dial-tone systems were all ready to go and needed only FCC approval. Also, more and more satellite programmers were investing in digital compression equipment to multiply their video capacity.
JUDY WOODRUFF
Over the two decades of my experience as a television reporter, about the only phenomenon of broadcast journalism that has remained the same is that the picture still flashes off the surface of a glass screen in the home of the viewer. In 1970, there were a mere handful of women in front of the camera; in the 1990s women are a common sight.
Twenty years ago, it took hours, and even days, to transfer film from the camera to the processor, to the editing room, and, finally, to the projector to be broadcast out over the airwaves. Today, thanks to portable microwave units and low-cost satellite, people who live in Wichita, Kansas, can watch live pictures of missile attacks on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, shot by lightweight videotape cameras.
In the early days, TV reporting mimicked print: Visuals took a backseat to information and analysis. Today, pictures frequently drive the story; and too many news directors worry more about profits and ratings than they do [about] informing the public.
As we head into the 21st century, I would hope that the wizards who have produced all this marvelous technology and these mind-boggling returns on the dollar will turn their attention to the content of what is being broadcast. As the world shrinks, and as news and information hits us at a dizzying pace, we feel we should know as much about our neighbors in the Middle East as we do about our neighbors in the Midwest, not to mention down the street. It will be tempting to slip into a “gossipy” form of news coverage—focusing on personalities and their foibles. Unless we receive more thoughtful analysis, historical perspective, and context from our friends behind and in front of the broadcast news cameras, it’ll be very hard to keep up. Hard to keep up with issues from nuclear weapons treaties to preschool education—all of which affect the sort of lives our children and grandchildren will live. If we don’t stay informed about these issues, who will? Courtesy MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour.
1993
With a liberal Democratic president in office, many citizen groups believed that the deregulation tide that had eliminated many of the rules and regulations that had protected consumers for decades would be stopped. But it was not to be. The FCC, if anything, moved further toward allowing the wealthiest communication players to merge and monopolize at the expense of the smaller players and the public. In fact, Democrats fully cooperated with the Republicans in what became, 3 years later, a telecommunications policy that placed virtually no restrictions on big business and virtually eliminated cable rate caps, program diversity, and other consumer protections.
Minority-owned radio stations already were being squeezed by the growing number of duopoly giants authorized through waiver of the FCC’s rules. The future of TELCO growth was in the cards with the FCC’s authorization of a public test of video dial tone, which would enable TELCOs to provide video services. A Broadcasting magazine headline stated, “TELCOs Closing In On Video,” noting the plans of many key companies, including Bell Atlantic, GTE, NYNEX, Southwestern Bell, Pacific Telesis, and US West.
The FCC relaxed the rules on cable ownership. A federal court lifted all finsyn rules, authorizing broadcast networks to contract for domestic and foreign rights, including syndication, for all of its shows, whether in-house or out-of-house productions. This was appealed, however, and it was a while longer before total elimination of finsyn would occur.
Although the FCC expanded some of its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirements, the commission was strongly criticized by civil rights and minority groups because the new rules did not go far enough toward solving some of the key continuing problems. Once more the Fairness Doctrine was taken to the courts, and once more the FCC’s 1987 elimination of the doctrine was upheld. As the Republicans left and the Democrats arrived, at the beginning of 1993, Commissioner James Quello, a strongly conservative and pro-industry Democrat, was appointed interim chair of the FCC, pending nomination and confirmation of Clinton’s new choice for chair, Reed Hundt.
The most important indicator of continued deregulation under the new administration, however, was its announced plan to introduce into Congress a telecommunications bill that would codify and extend deregulation.
Program content was on the minds not only of program executives, who vied with each other to create the most successful clones of the most successful new shows, but on the minds of many citizens and members of Congress who expressed concern over what they felt was rampant indecency and violence on television. Howard Stern was the premiere bête noir, with personal attacks as well as his usual descriptions of sexual and excretory organs and activities. After his principal talk-show rival, Don Imus, was hospitalized with a collapsed lung, Stern said, on the air, “I hope he dies.” His indecent material resulted in further fines for Infinity of $500,000, bringing the total to more than $1 million.
In the continuing saga of a safe harbor, which was not finally resolved for another couple of years, the FCC established, again, the time of 12 midnight to 6 A.M. for adult programming. The federal courts struck down this safe harbor time. But the FCC, resolved to restrict adult programming, set a new time of 8 P.M. to 6 A.M. This was also changed not too long afterward.
One new network program was the focus of protests about its alleged sex and violence by a number of conservative citizen groups, especially those representing the religious right wing, even before they had seen the program. A number of ABC affiliates succumbed to the pressure and refused clearance to “N.Y.P.D. Blue.” Nevertheless, the program immediately shot up in the ratings, had heavy advertising demands, and received critical acclaim for its artistic and entertainment value. Reality TV was spreading rapidly, the four networks presenting 14 weekly reality programs. Action-adventure shows also grew, spurred by the success of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Infomercials continued to take advantage of the lack of advertising time restrictions, and shopping channels, already a fixture on cable, made the jump to broadcast TV as well.
Late night television saw its greatest competition ever. Unhappy that he didn’t get “The Tonight Show” host job, David Letterman crossed over to CBS to rival the new NBC host, Jay Leno. FOX got into the act, too, with a competing late-night show hosted by Chevy Chase. Chase’s show faded quickly. Letterman’s ratings immediately began to outpace Leno’s; it would be several years before Leno would catch up and pass Letterman.
Ratings of all kinds, however, were under fire. After 44 years Arbitron stopped its TV ratings, leaving the field entirely to Nielsen. Network and station complaints about the accuracy of Nielsen’s work continued to rise.
U.S. news and entertainment programming expanded to more corners of the world through satellite, such as FOX’s establishment of a Latin American channel. But domestic news was becoming more and more infotainment, to the chagrin of many critics. Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis described the sorry state of local news trends: “If it bleeds, it leads.”
In radio, country music expanded nationally, including urban markets. So did political content. President Clinton began a regular series of Saturday morning addresses to the nation via radio, reminiscent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats.” Clinton got his message out to the people over local radio stations, asking support for his political agendas such as a health care bill to cover all Americans. At the same time, however, conservative to far-right talk shows continued to grow, and both Clinton and the president’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, were attacked unmercifully. One critic described President Clinton in his first year in office as “the most bashed individual in talk show history.”
Technological advances continued. The so-called Grand Alliance of technology companies announced a tentative agreement on HDTV standards. It was estimated, however, that conversion of a television station to the HDTV digital standard could cost as much as $1.7 million. HDTV proponents continued to push for it, however, and rival HDTV companies agreed to work together to get HDTV into homes in time for the 1996 Olympic games. Do you remember seeing the 1996 Olympics in HDTV? That’s right, it didn’t happen!
There was much talk of 500-channel cable systems within a few years. How many cable channels do you get now, this many years later? There was also much talk of DBS providing multiple channels and replacing cable and terrestrial broadcasting in the near future. An increasing number of production companies, including Disney, Paramount, Time Warner, Viacom, and Turner, offered their programming to DBS distribution companies.
The AM stereo drama went on. The FCC finally designated the Motorola system as the standard. However, it also allowed the Kahn system to be sold, inasmuch as it appeared to be favored by most broadcasters.
1994
By 1994 almost all U.S. households had television; in fact, more had television than had telephones. More than four out of five households had VCRs, adding increasing competition to both broadcast and cable services. Nevertheless, cable also continued to grow, serving almost two-thirds of all U.S. homes. Home computers were in about one-third of American homes and that number was increasing rapidly. The age of multimedia communication was upon us. But even then, almost midway in the last decade of the 20th century, few people realized how much it would dominate us by the beginning of the 21st century.
The networks talked about recapturing their audiences through interactive multimedia systems. More and more program producers, including large companies such as Disney, were adding CD-ROM productions. Online computer services were growing, with companies such as Microsoft entering the field. The Home Shopping Network added an Internet service, and even TV Guide went online. In fact, there was such demand for new multimedia services that the FCC held it first-ever auction of frequency space, for narrowband personal communication services and for interactive video data services, with the expectation of more frequency space auctions to come. Of course, the wealthiest companies were able to obtain the most space. There was much concern about where the “Information Superhighway” was going. The larger companies, with their Cadillac bankrolls, were able to ride on it easily, while the smaller companies were obliged to hitchhike.
Critic Tom Shales took a look at the coming predominance of interactive multimedia and suggested—tongue in cheek, we presume—that we will no longer have real experiences, but “only virtual experiences.”
The newly elected Republican Congress pledged even greater deregulation of the communication industry and also promised to abolish funding for public broadcasting. The FCC cooperated. It gave Bell Atlantic the okay to build the first video dial-tone system. The FCC approved VDT networks for GTE in four states, and within a year, in 1995, some 100 operations were ready to go. Digital video took another step forward with the unveiling of a digital video storage system to take the place of tape. More TELCOs announced that they were ready to move into cable as the federal courts continued to relax anti-TELCO cable rules.
The FCC extended the multiple ownership limits to 20 AM and 20 FM stations. Since the duopoly rule changes in 1992, more than 2000 of the 10,057 commercial radio stations on the air had already entered into duopolies or local marketing agreements (LMAs).
In other significant actions, a federal appeals court stayed repeal of the domestic part of the finsyn rules. MMDS—wireless cable—continued to grow as another player on the multimedia board. DBS also moved ahead, with 27 domestic communication satellites in orbit. Further attempts to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine failed. And merger mania took a big step forward, with Viacom buying Paramount Communications.
To accommodate the rapidly changing communications landscape, both domestic and global, the FCC changed its own structure, adding a new International Bureau and renaming and giving new duties to others. In addition to the International Bureau, the major operating arms were the Mass Media, Common Carrier, Wireless Telecommunications, Cable Services, and Compliance and Information bureaus.
Programming, especially in television, was both controversial and eclectic. Censorship reared its ugly head. A survey of viewers showed general support for censorship of violence and sex on television, but there was little agreement on definitions of these areas. The U.S. attorney general threatened federal action. Although there was general objection and concern among media professionals, few were willing to risk harming their careers by speaking up on behalf of the First Amendment. Self-censorship of controversial content that might offend lawmakers, advertisers, and some of the viewing public—which had always been prevalent—became more noticeable as public attitudes began to change. ABC, for example, threatened to cancel an episode of “Roseanne” in which Roseanne kisses another woman. The episode was eventually aired, as gay–lesbian themes and characters continued to edge their way into program content, although networks and advertisers by and large continued to reflect the homophobia of much of the U.S. population. The saga of the safe harbor took another twist and turn when the FCC went back to a midnight–6 A.M. time. And PBS was once more under fire for allegedly suppressing programs that might alienate the country’s new conservative political attitudes and congressional funding.
Programming became concentrated on the O. J. Simpson case. “O. J. mania” began in June with live coverage of the white Bronco chase, and accelerated as time went on. Larry King continued to expand the reach of his talk show, which became a launching pad for a number of politicians and political endeavors. The FOX network continued to grow with its programming emphasis on youth demographics. Sports were popular on two fronts, with local baseball live coverage rights increasing to $375 million and Ken Burns’s PBS series, “Baseball,” receiving much acclaim. Native American radio joined African American and Latino radio programming as growing formats.
The economy had steadily improved since the election of Bill Clinton, and the three major television networks’ profits were up 6%, to more than $9 billion. Total TV advertising topped that of newspapers for the first time. And radio was doing something right, too, with its advertising income reaching a record $10 billion.
Aside from the dominance of the O. J. saga, the networks and stations catered to and promoted viewers’ tastes throughout the globe, as well as in the United States, with extensive continuing coverage of two other world-shaking events: the Nancy Kerrigan–Tonya Harding ice-skating clash and the Lorene Bobbitt penis-cutting caper.
1995
There was good news and bad news for broadcasters in 1995. Although prime-time TV network shares continued to decrease, down to 57%, ad revenue and profits for both TV and radio continued to go up. Television LMAs grew, making money for the more powerful companies despite complaints that such local conglomeration raised the price of advertising in given markets.
Mergers brought more money into the networks. Disney bought Cap Cities/ABC for the second highest price ever paid for any U.S. company—$18.5 billion. Westinghouse bought CBS, saving that network from potential bankruptcy. Time Warner bought Ted Turner’s TBS (Turner Broadcasting System). Group radio and TV station buying grew under relaxed FCC rules that would be even more vitiated in 1996. Some $8 billion was paid for individual radio and TV stations sold in 1995.
While posing potential competition for the four existing networks, but attesting to the belief that broadcasting was far from dead, two new television networks made their debut in 1995: WB (Warner Brothers) and UPN (United Paramount). Rupert Murdoch’s FOX empire was safe after an FCC investigation determined that the funding of FOX stations by Murdoch’s Australian company did not constitute foreign ownership. Congress ended the tax certificate program for selling stations to minority groups, while Murdoch, Viacom, and 17 others were in the process of such sales. Murdoch got a special waiver from Congress to complete his sale; Viacom and the 17 others did not. Some cynics suggested that Murdoch’s close friendship with House Speaker Newt Gingrich might have had something to do with that. Public broadcasting didn’t fare quite so well. Although the new Republican-controlled Congress tried but failed to eliminate all public broadcasting funding, it did decrease it.
The future of broadcasting includes Native American stations as well. Dozens of radio outlets have served the country’s Native American population for decades and plan to continue to do so. “Some radio stations that ‘ring’ the reservation offer 1–3 hours of Navajo programming daily,” notes Dale Felkner, the operation director at KNDN in Farmington, New Mexico. “Stations in Gallup, Flagstaff, Holbrook, and Cortez block out portions of certain dayparts for the Navajo listener, but KNDN does so around the clock. We serve approximately half of the total population of the Navajo Indian Reservation, the largest of all U.S. reservations with its total land mass of 25,000 square miles. Our station serves about one-half the land area and one-half the population. All program elements—news, commercials, features—are done in native tongue. The Indian format should remain viable for a long time. We’re a unique brand of radio.”
Courtesy KNDN-AM.
After 8 years of work, testing was completed on an HDTV standard, and a digital advanced TV system was recommended to the FCC. To permit a changeover without interrupting operations, stations were given a second channel free for 15 years. Networks were happy when the FCC voted (once again) to kill the finsyn rules and to abolish the PTAR (Prime Time Access Rule), while independent producers and syndicators had nightmares of Porsches being repossessed from their driveways. Radio got a technical boost when the FCC approved the building of a digital audio radio system, although the commission had not yet officially authorized the service.
The affiliate news services of NBC, ABC, and CBS all grew, for three major reasons. One was the increase in live coverage: In 1995 there were about twice as many live shots on news shows than in previous years. Another reason was an attempt to compete more strongly with the proliferating cable news networks, which at the end of 1995 had several new entrants with 24-hour cable news services. Perhaps the main reason news boomed was the O. J. trial. Coverage was both praised and condemned. The case dominated TV time throughout the year, not only in extended broadcast coverage, but programs devoted to the trial consistently finished at the top of the cable ratings—usually 8 or 9 of the top 10 rated cable shows each week. Some 150 million people were watching when the verdict was handed down.
There was, perhaps to the surprise of some, programming other than O. J. in 1995. Television prime-time fare continued to consist, in large part, of “Seinfeld” and “Home Improvement” clones. The three larger networks borrowed from FOX’s successful shows and maintained a spate of innocuous and sometimes silly sitcoms oriented to the 20-something audience. Many of them got consistently high ratings. The late-night Leno–Letterman competition heated up, and in 1995 Leno began to catch up with, and finally passed, Letterman. Spanish-language programming, on both television and radio, continued to expand. Not surprisingly, radio surveys confirmed that AM listeners tended to be older and FM listeners younger.
Indecency was still topic “A” in some circles. Both Congress and the White House backed the inclusion of a V-chip provision, allowing the screening and blanking out in the home of programs deemed by the household to be violent or indecent. Infinity and Howard Stern, who had protested the FCC fines to the federal courts, voluntarily dropped their lawsuit and paid $1.7 million to the FCC to end the proceedings.
Cable, like broadcasting, had both good news and bad news. More and more original programming appeared on cable networks and the networks themselves multiplied, attesting to the health of cable. Some of the new cable networks, their content and target audiences implied by their name, were the American Political Channel, America’s Health Network, Auto Channel, Black Shopping Network, Classic Arts Showcase, Conservative TV Network, Ecology Channel, Game Show Network, Golf Channel, Language Network, Military Channel, Premiere Horse Network, Women’s Sports Network, and World African Network. New music networks, clones of MTV, also came to the fore.
A popular show among television viewing youth in the 1990s.
Courtesy MTV.
A flashback. This newspaper column written by one of this book’s authors in 1953 suggests that the need for the V-chip existed even during television’s infancy.
Local cable systems were given greater jurisdiction over their public access and leased channels by the Supreme Court, which allowed them to ban what they considered indecent material on those channels.
Mergers and buyouts were also rampant in cable, as well as in broadcasting. Comcast, for example, bought the Scripps cable empire. The big got bigger.
Bad news for cable was the increasing encroachment by TELCOs on their de facto monopolies in municipalities. In early 1995 the FCC reached a tentative conclusion that TELCOs could offer video dial-tone systems. That tentative determination would be codified into law a year later.
The Learning Channel (TLC) was the nation’s third-fastest-growing basic cable network in the 1990s and is cable television’s premiere educational channel. The network delivers formal and informal educational programs; pertinent business and career information; stimulating hobby, how-to, self-improvement, and personal enrichment series; plus award-winning “Independents” series from independent film and video producers. TLC Excel and the Electronic Library offer programming designed for use in the classroom and geared to promote literacy in all areas of language, math, and science. TLC provides a lifelong learning experience for everyone as it delivers more educational programming nationwide than any other television network.
Courtesy TLC.
The map was changing, however, for all travelers in the communications world, including broadcasting and cable. Multimedia, computer-based communications were developing faster and faster. The global information society was virtually here. More companies were bringing shows to CD-ROM. Interactive television was becoming multimedia. Microsoft predicted that mini-digital broadcast receivers carrying broadcast and cable television soon would be built into personal computers. Broadcast and cable networks were creating websites on the Internet. With the increased sales of the dinner-plate–size satellite receiver dish, the digital satellite system was beginning what many believed to be a revolution in the way TV and other video programming would be delivered.
CATHARINE HEINZ
In the reporting of history, only broadcasting can depict sight and sound with the capability to instantly record it. Broadcasting in its documentation of world events should be responsible, just as print journalism media are, for preserving the heritage it creates. Frequently, however, that incredible product is being destroyed after having been seen or heard only once. Surely the technically perfection-oriented industry that has evolved can find a way to preserve its unbelievable product, if not for posterity—then selfishly for its own use. Most “bottom line” followers will say preservation is much too expensive, will take up too much room, and will not be used. Is that necessarily true in this age of sophisticated telecommunications technology? Consider now in this age of nostalgia how production companies and all manner of collectors search worldwide for past events such as a 1940 Winston Churchill speech at Dunkirk.
WCBS Phil Cook Book Drive, New York City, 1948. Left to right: Roy E. Larsen, president Time, Inc.; Catharine Heinz, then-director, hospital libraries, United Hospital Fund; G. Richard Swift, program manager, WCBS Radio; and Phil Cook.
Courtesy Catharine Heinz.
While all this was going on, Congress was working on an instant revolution, a new telecommunications act. Throughout the year there was expectation of sweeping deregulation. Most of the deregulatory proposals were supported by the FCC. House Speaker Gingrich pledged to “liberate” the telecommunications marketplace, including no cable rate regulation, open TELCO-cable competition, entry of power companies into the telecom business, and no antimonopoly rules for broadcasters.
1996
President Clinton, in his 1996 State of the Union address, talked about this “age of technology information and global competition.” Shortly afterward, a headline in the Boston Globe, commenting on the new Telecommunications Act of 1996, stated: “New telecommunications law puts billions of dollars up for grabs in new era of competition … firms rush to a revolution.”
In 1991 Black Entertainment Television’s (BET’s) subscriber base reached 30 million in 2400 markets. It is clear that African Americans and other people of color will play a major role in the next broadcast century.
Courtesy BET.
Both of these comments heralded the most important developments in telecommunications, not only in 1996, but for the past half century. And they were inescapably interrelated.
First, global information technology. Everyone who could was getting on the bandwagon. Increasing numbers of companies were building information websites on the Internet. Syndicators of video and audio programs established web pages on the worldwide Internet. Broadcasting & Cable magazine went on the web. AT&T entered the Internet–access business.
Internet usage rose 50% in the first 6 months of 1996, with about 36 million people in the United States online. More radio news producers were planning to put their materials on the Internet. An increasing number of television, cable, and radio networks and stations and even individual producers were putting their programs on websites. Musical artists looked toward the Internet as a means of marketing their music, an approach that some would rue several years later.
With cross-media ownership rules virtually eliminated in the new Telecommunications Act, AT&T and other companies were developing one-stop full-service offerings, to include cable, Internet, and telephone and other local and long–distance common carrier services. Continuing plans were made not only for international distribution of entertainment programs via satellite, but for 24-hour a day news services to as much of the world and from as much of the world as possible. Murdoch’s “birds” were fast approaching total global coverage, with BSkyB covering Europe and part of Africa, Star TV covering Asia, and a new satellite service expected to cover Latin America before the end of the year. Murdoch also achieved more effective coverage of North America, joining with MCI at an FCC DBS auction to get the last DBS slot to cover all of the United States. The auction, a new approach to fund-raising by the government, raised a total of $735 million. Auction of wireless telephone spectrum at the beginning of 1996 garnered $10 billion, and plans were under way to auction spectrum space for digital TV as well.
The key word was digital, as part of the advanced or HDTV system expected within the next few years. The White House, pushing for progress in the electronic media, called for the establishment of digital TV standards, and the FCC set a November deadline for its adoption of digital standards that were not yet agreed on by the marketplace. In the meantime, FOX’s new 24-hour news cable network adopted a digital videotape format, the first model station to try out a UHF HDTV transmitter began operation, and television station WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, began broadcasting some programs in HDTV under an experimental license from the FCC.
By mid-1996 the skies were getting crowded with satellite services. In the United States three companies were in operation, DirecTV, Primestar, and United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB), and two more were preparing to follow. About 5 million homes had satellite receiver dishes, with about half paying monthly fees for signal descrambling, most of the remainder content to pick up clear, unscrambled signals, and the rest pirating the DBS signals.
Cable companies were worried. DBS companies were adding subscribers who otherwise might have chosen cable. In part, this was cable’s own fault. First, the average monthly cable bill jumped 7.8% in 1996. Second, cable’s promise of 500 available channels by the end of 1996 didn’t happen. A survey showed that 30% of all cable subscribers were dissatisfied with their cable services and of those who knew of alternatives to cable, 53% were considering switching.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 legislated the most sweeping changes in telecommunications in the United States in more than 60 years, and reversed laws, rules, and regulations that had been built up over decades. The antimonopoly rules were virtually totally eliminated, specifying no caps on the number of radio stations owned by one entity, and expanded dual ownership in individual markets, depending on the market size. The 12-station limit on one entity’s TV ownership was also eliminated, with the FCC charged with developing new, broader standards. Reversing the 1941 network duopoly rule, the act permitted ownership of two networks, provided one was not purchased by another. Broadcasting & Cable headlined a story on the lifting of ownership limits for radio thus: “Radio supergroups: They’re off.”
And indeed they were! In just one week in March, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation bought 12 stations for $410 million, giving it a nationwide total of 46, and Clear Channel Communications, Inc., bought 13 stations for $130 million, giving it a total of 52. A Sinclair–River City merger resulted in a holding of 29 television and 34 radio stations.
A Westinghouse/Infinity/CBS merger resulted in a super-giant radio ownership company. Television super-giants were formed by Time/Warner acquiring Turner Broadcasting and a Westinghouse/CBS merger. But there were still some limits on TV ownership. With virtually none on radio, by the end of the year some $25 billion had been spent on radio acquisitions.
The act allowed common ownership of broadcast networks and cable systems. It allowed cable–MMDS cross-ownership under certain conditions. Broadcast license terms, for both TV and radio, were extended to 8 years. VDT rules were repealed and TELCOs were permitted to deliver video signals. Conversely, cable systems were permitted to enter the area of telephone service. Atlantic Bell and NYNEX merged, providing a huge conglomerate offering cable as well as local and long-distance telephone service.
Between the Congress and the courts, censorship was imposed on several fronts. The safe harbor issue finally reached the Supreme Court. Despite objections from civil liberties groups and ACT—which argued that First Amendment freedoms of speech and press were the best protections for children—the court ruled that the FCC has the right to establish a safe harbor for adult programming, ostensibly to protect child viewers. The hours of 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. were designated, based on the presumption that children are not watching television during that period. Conversely, programming that is deemed “adult” may not be broadcast between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M.
The new act required cable systems to scramble any programs the subscriber deemed unsuitable for children. All new sets sold were required to have a V-chip and the industry was required to develop a ratings system within a year as a guide for parental use of the V-chip, or the FCC would itself set up a rating system. Congress seemed to be obsessed with indecency. Fines for broadcast or cable obscene programs were raised from $10,000 to $100,000. Congress also managed to pass a Communications Decency Act, in which anyone using the Internet for alleged indecent material could be fined up to $25,000 and jailed for 2 years, although it was not clear what exactly would be considered indecent. Anyone even under suspicion of sending or receiving indecent material on the Internet could have their phone lines tapped by the FCC. The moment the bill was signed by the president, a number of citizen organizations, such as the ACLU, filed suit, and the federal courts stayed implementation of the cyberspace indecency provisions pending First Amendment review by the Supreme Court.
Renewal of licenses was made virtually automatic, and competitive applications would not be allowed. Cable rates were deregulated, beginning in 1999. The act also limited advanced TV licenses to incumbent broadcasters. Murdoch was one of the first on the bandwagon, stating he would convert the FOX-owned stations immediately, although there was still a need for integrated production and operations components linked to high-speed computer networks.
And these were only some of the key changes in the telecommunications landscape. Consumer groups were outraged by both the bill and by the media’s—presumably acting in their own vested self-interests—refusal to report to the people the potential negative impact of the new telecommunications law on the public. An article by Justin Twergo in Censored by Carl Jensen and Project Censored stated that “America’s marketplace of ideas, upon which our democracy rests, began shutting its doors in the summer of 1995. The harbinger of the bad news for the public was aptly titled the Telecommunications Regulation Bill … under the guise of encouraging competition [the bill will create] huge new concentrations of media power.” Consumer advocate Ralph Nader stated that the new law would provide “fewer choices for consumers.”
A somewhat different view was expressed by Annenberg Washington Program Fellow Anton Lensen in “Concentration in the Media Industry: The European Community and Mass Media Regulation.” Lensen wrote, “The trend toward concentration leads to concerns that the free flow of information will be reduced or that interlocking media ownerships will jeopardize news operations’ independence. However, media concentration can also help provide less expensive, high-quality information in greater quantities and improve the effectiveness of media enterprises.”
Cable, now facing serious competition, attempted to strengthen individual network images, and more targeted cable networks, such as History, Home and Garden, The Learning Channel, and Cartoon Network, made their appearance. With PTAR gone, syndicated shows were fearful of their future, but “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” continued to dominate syndication ratings, with talk shows, such as “Oprah,” and sitcoms, such as “Seinfeld” and “Home Improvement,” right behind.
Talk shows, which had exploded in 1994 and 1995, began to fade in 1996, principally because the “sleaze” factor that dominated so many of them finally began to turn audiences away. An exception was the “Rosie O’Donnell Show,” which had the highest rating for a talk-show debut since Oprah Winfrey went on the air 10 years earlier. Magazine formats grew on TV. Gradually, nonstereotyped gay and lesbian roles were added to dramas and sitcoms, in great part spurred by the revelation of actress Ellen DeGeneres’s sympathetic character on the sitcom “Ellen” as a lesbian.
Meaningful programming for children got a boost from the FCC, which ruled that beginning in the fall of 1997, commercial TV stations would be required to provide a minimum of 3 hours a week of “educational” children’s programming as a condition of license renewal. Minority programs also got a boost—from the marketplace. Univision and Telemundo strengthened their programming as they vied for the largest share of the Spanish-language television market.
Despite objections from many broadcasters, Seagram’s distillery ended a 40-year-old voluntary ban on advertising hard liquor. As subsequent years proved, the expected windfall of ad dollars and sales profits did not materialize. Through all this, network prime-time shares of the audience continued to fall. One response, to some observers justifiable, of the big four television networks was to call for changes in the Nielsen rating system.
Some long-time shows ended their run in 1996: “Murder, She Wrote” after 12 years, and the father of talk shows, Phil Donohue, retired after 30 years as a host. The networks made a move considered highly positive by most observers: They provided, for the first time, some free time for presidential candidates in that 1996 election year to present their views to the public, unhampered by limited commercial time or distorted by sound bites. A few years earlier, in a speech at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Walter Cronkite said, “In emphasizing political manipulation, rather than issues, we of the press have probably contributed to public cynicism about the political process,” referring specifically to the use of “photo ops” and “sound bites” in place of substance. The TV networks also agreed under pressure from the public, the White House, and Congress, to provide a minimum of 3 hours per week of children’s educational programming.
This program was one of a few hit dramas on network television as the end of the century neared.
Courtesy Warner Brothers.
Following the media circus of the O. J. Simpson trial, many judges became leery of cameras in the courtroom; they believed it encouraged grandstanding by attorneys and other participants and weakened the Sixth Amendment’s fair trial provisions. The Judicial Conference of the United States, which establishes procedures for the federal courts, had banned cameras in the courtroom, although several years of experiments had resulted in positive recommendations for continuation. In early 1996 it reversed itself and allowed individual federal district court systems to decide; electronic media journalists hoped this would level the playing field with newspapers in federal trial coverage.
In 1996 there were more than 4900 commercial AM, 5290 commercial FM, and 1810 noncommercial (or educational/public) radio stations on the air. There were more than 560 commercial TV VHF and 623 UHF stations in operation, and 123 noncommercial TV (educational/public) VHF and 240 UHF stations. Low-power TV (LPTV) had more than 565 VHF and 1215 UHF stations. Cable systems throughout the country totaled more than 11,660, with total subscribers over 62.5 million; cable passed almost 92 million homes, with a penetration of more than 65%.
The cultural and historical importance of broadcasting was further acknowledged with the opening of still another Museum of Television & Radio, this one in Los Angeles.
In recent years, radio’s greats have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Courtesy Museum of Broadcast Communications.
1997
Programming changes, innovations, and challenges marked much of the year in all of the electronic media. News and special event coverage played significant roles. The year barely started when the network news divisions faced a dilemma: During President Clinton’s State of the Union address, the O. J. Simpson civil trial verdict came in. Most news teams stayed with the president; others opted to interrupt with the verdict.
Just weeks later the media covered Clinton again, this time with almost all broadcast and cable networks carrying his inauguration live. The biggest news story, milked for all it was worth by news media worldwide, was Princess Diana’s death. Ironically, most of the news divisions that criticized the role of the “paparazzi” in connection with Diana’s death shamelessly exploited her personal life and speculated about the circumstances surrounding her death, seeking as much sensationalism as did the paparazzi.
The public itself laid the groundwork for the growth and, in subsequent years, proliferation of news and public affairs programming—albeit many of these programs were personality and human interest oriented, some even frivolous, rather than serious news shows. A survey showed that 62% of the public believed that it was very important for television to provide news and information, whereas only 42% believed that it was very important for television to provide entertainment.
Serious television documentaries saw a resurgence, principally on PBS and on cable, with networks such as A&E, and the History, Discovery, and Learning cable channels among the leaders. In an effort to stem the decrease in numbers of prime-time viewers, the television broadcast networks promoted new drama venues, including “cop” and “sci-fi” shows, and a heavy schedule of sitcoms, with concentration on “20-somethings” to draw the coveted young adult demographics, and on new comedies with an emphasis on kids and families.
Television programmers capitalized on whatever appeared to attract more viewers. Courtroom reality shows became favorites. A new talk show, the “Jerry Springer Show,” moved steadily up in the ratings, proving once again that sensationalism sells. Even syndicated video games such as “Mortal Combat” found distribution on television and cable channels.
Shock radio and trash-TV continued to enjoy huge audiences throughout the decade.
But all of this didn’t help much. Prime-time TV network viewing dropped 6% to 62% from a 65.2% share the previous year. Both cable and the incipient mega-giant Internet proved to be effective competition for viewers’ time. Cable’s prime-time share increased from 29.5% to 32.4% for the year—a gain of 10%—despite its rates going up another 10%. Cable nets were doing more original programming to attract viewers.
While the picture quality of entertainment on the Internet was still quite inadequate, the future was clearly in view as an increasing number of entertainment programs, including game shows, comedies, dramas, and music programs were being streamed into cyberspace. NBC, for example, was putting more prime-time dramas on the Internet, and it established a new cyberspace network, linking affiliates in 40 communities into what it named an “Interactive Neighborhood.”
Radio remained solid. Its revenues continued to increase. Country music continued as the top radio format, with adult contemporary next, followed by news/talk stations.
The Supreme Court played a significant role in establishing freedoms for Internet programming. It reaffirmed a lower court’s 1996 ruling and found the Cyberspace Decency Act unconstitutional. Conversely, however, it affirmed another lower court ruling concerning television: “Adult” video programming must be scrambled between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. In another decision, it upheld the must-carry rules that required cable systems to carry local broadcast stations.
One aspect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 still plagued broadcasters. Arguments continued as to whether the V-chip designations and onscreen warnings should be solely age based, similar to the film rating system, or whether content information should be included with “SLV” (sex, language, violence) specifications. All but one of the networks went along with providing viewers with the additional information; NBC held out.
The merger mania fallout from the Telecommunication Act of 1996’s elimination of most, and the relaxing of other, antimonopoly regulations continued apace. Broadcast networks were increasingly becoming big cable system owners. The acquisition of stations made it possible for Bud Paxson to form a seventh television network, PAX, with a “family values” orientation, even though the two existing smallest networks, UPN and WB, were experiencing tough going. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp expanded with the acquisition of the Family cable channel. The FCC granted waivers for local TV-radio cross-ownerships pending a possible rule change permitting this practice. LMAs (local marketing agreements), which had marked radio’s approach to getting around the local multiple ownership restrictions, were increasing for television, with more than 70 TV markets with LMAs. Mergers and monopolies spread rapidly in the international arena, as well, with the big players becoming even bigger, and the small players being forced out of the global game. As a Broadcasting & Cable magazine headline stated, global “satellite operators see untapped overseas markets.”
Preparation for digital HDTV continued, although the promise was still well ahead of the pace. The FCC assigned digital TV channels in preparation for broadcast station transitions. NBC produced the first live network HDTV program on experimental station WHD-TV in Washington, DC; it was, appropriately, the venerable “Meet the Press.” The MTV and Lifetime cable channels introduced new digital networks. And the industry as a whole increased its use of disc-based video storage and playback equipment, digital acquisition formats, and editing equipment.
National talk radio personalities became superstars invited to host presidential roasts, sometimes with scandalous results.
Deregulation continued to affect employment as well as other areas of broadcasting, with minorities and women having more and more difficulty not only in breaking through the artificially imposed ceilings, but in even getting their feet through the office, control room, and studio doors. A study found that women cable executives were paid an average of 15% less than males doing the same jobs. There was one bright spot for women: For the first time women were general managers of stations in the top three markets—all of them FOX stations.
1998
Mega-deals! Mega-mergers! Mega-profits! The Telecommunications Act of 1996’s elimination of most restrictions on media monopolies continued to result in the big and wealthy getting bigger and wealthier and the smaller being gobbled up or forced out of business. The number of combined TV-radio deals in 1998 increased 254% from 1997. The monetary amount reached $6.54 billion. TV-alone deals accounted for $7.12 billion. Radio AM deals went up 65% from the year before. Altogether, total deals in 1998 reached $22.8 billion. One of the largest deals in broadcasting history was Clear Channel Communication’s acquisition of Jacor Communications for $6.35 billion. Despite decreasing numbers of prime-time viewers, the four major television networks’ combined revenues rose by 14% from the previous year, to $24.7 billion. Combined profits were up only 3%, but that was due in part to FOX’s huge losses in covering the 1998 Olympic games; CBS profits, for example, were up 41%.
Cable monopolies increased, too. In 1994, the 10 largest cable multiple system operators (MSOs) controlled 45% of the country’s total cable subscriptions; in 1998, the 10 largest controlled 74%. AT&T, flush with the 1996 act’s removal of restrictions on TELCOS owning and operating cable systems, took over TCI, one of the largest cable MSOs, pending FCC approval, which would come the following year. One part of America, however, was still in the back of the media bus: Station ownership by racial minorities and women had increased only 1.5% in the 20 years since 1978.
The year 1998 might also be called the “Year of Digital.” After so many years of preparation for the still-to-come high-definition television age, digital HDTV finally got off the starting line. The FCC authorized more power and additional channels for UHF in order to provide matching digital channels to stations for the HDTV transition. More cable networks went digital. CBS broadcast National Football League (NFL) games in digital. And for one of the big human interest news stories of the year, television initiated broad HDTV coverage, with 24 stations showing John Glenn’s October space launch using high-definition technology. In November, 41 stations began initial, although limited, broadcasting in digital high-definition. Broadcasting & Cable magazine made the digital age official for the telecommunications industry with a 60-page supplement on digital in its November 18, 1998, edition, stating, “The race to digital has begun.”
Competition for all media increased. DBS continued to grow, with two out of every three new video subscribers choosing DBS over cable. DBS’s Echo Star experimented with beaming local broadcast signals into local markets, a process that was expected to remove one of the major hurdles for DBS to compete much more strongly with cable. It would be another year, however, before DBS would receive the congressional approval needed for regular local-signal distribution. RCN (Residential Communications Network) increased its overbuild (more than one cable system in a community) in cities from Washington, DC, to Boston, creating serious competition for existing cable operators, especially where the subscriber base in a given community was too small to provide a profit margin for more than one company. As cable systems increased, so did cable networks, with 109 new companies offering a broad variety of programming. Cable continued to do well with the same high-income, high-rating type of programming that worked for broadcast television, sports, but combined it with a prepared entertainment factor: The highest rated programs on cable were professional wrestling shows. Meanwhile, Congress continued to express concern over cable’s ever-rising rates—but declined to do anything about it.
Through all the changes that were occurring, radio not only survived, but was on very solid financial ground. A panel of Wall Street analysts described radio as being in “the best of all worlds today.” The top format for radio was a combination of adult contemporary (AC) formats, which selectively incorporated in their lists some country music performers whose styles were compatible with AC preferences; country had previously been the most popular format.
Television broadcast networks continued to seek ways to stem the tide of increasing competition from other distribution systems, of higher costs, and of decreasing audiences. In January the networks paid a record sum of $18 billion for the rights to carry NFL games. They revived game shows, some of them reincarnations of quiz shows that had disappeared in the wake of the scandals of almost 40 years before. Adult (but not pornographic) cartoons were expanded, with the success of FOX’s “The Simpsons” generating the usual clones. “King of the Hill” and “South Park” because almost instant successes and, in turn, generated more clones over the next few years.
Interest in the good ’ol rock-n-roll days of radio was high in the last decade of the century.
Courtesy KISS-FM.
NBC took a big hit in its dominating Thursday night schedule and in its ratings when “Seinfeld” ended its remarkable run. However, syndication sales for “Seinfeld” broke all previous records for cost in a single market.
The FCC tried to encourage an additional aspect of news and public affairs programming for broadcast stations: free air time to bona fide political candidates. But Congress—why would an incumbent who already was getting coverage want any rivals to obtain time, too?—pressured the FCC to back off its efforts under threat of not funding the commission. The FCC backed off.
The year’s biggest news story, however, dealt with politics. For much of the year the media exploited the Clinton–Lewinsky affair and the president’s impeachment trial to its zenith, to daily baited-breath audiences. While most foreign countries and media didn’t understand why Americans made such a fuss over a politician’s personal life, the media reports drew huge audiences and concomitantly increased revenues. Even after the president’s impeachment acquittal by the Senate early the following year, the stories continued.
Despite the increasing number of TV homes nationwide and, concomitantly, more viewers, TV networks’ prime-time TV audiences continued to decline in the 1990s. In fact, only 5 of the 25 most watched broadcasts since 1960 occurred in the 1990s—and three of those were football Super Bowls. None of the top nonsports shows of the late 1980s and 1990s made the list, including the number-one series between 1985 and 1989, “The Cosby Show,” which twice got an annual rating above 30, or “ER,” the leader in the 1995, 1996, and 1998 seasons, with a 22 as its highest annual rating, and only a 17.6 for the 1998–1999 year. The following chart indicates that the heyday of network TV individual shows was in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Media entrepreneurs continued to move toward the new millennium as the old one was running out. The future was, of course, the Internet. It seemed clear that it wouldn’t be too many years before the programming on now-traditional distribution systems would be going through cyberspace. More and more programs from networks, stations, cable, and other media sources were put on the Internet. CBS went online with material from 154 affiliates. NBC expanded its Internet programming. Individual popular programs went on the Internet; “Saturday Night Live,” for example, presented sketches from its past 23 years.
Music programs became a staple of the Internet, but the radio and music industries were increasingly concerned about “pirates” stealing their copyrighted material and presenting it for downloading without their permission, presaging lawsuits that were to be filed within the next couple of years as pirating increased. Although a Digital Millennium Copyright Act was enacted in 1998, lack of immediate implementation of its provisions encouraged easy larceny.
The FCC pushed for greater diversity in broadcasting as more women and minorities lost their positions to the continuing resurgence of white male control following the vitiation, which had begun during the Reagan administrations, of equal employment requirements and affirmative action rules. Women on the 10 most popular nightly news programs dropped in 4 years from three to zero. Women in cable earned 20% less than their male counterparts. During 1998 a number of top women television executives lost their jobs, prompting Broadcasting & Cable magazine to headline a story, “Men Are Still Running the Show in TV.” The FCC’s efforts were in vain. The U.S. Court of Appeals decided that the FCC’s equal employment opportunity rule that required stations to recruit minorities and women was unconstitutional.
Even with all the new media developments, television, in one form or another, continued to dominate and strongly affect people’s lives. As Bart Simpson said to his elders in one of the episodes of the video cartoon, “It’s just hard not to listen to TV. It’s spent so much more time raising us than you have.”
1999
Mega-deals continued to dominate the business of broadcasting and all the other electronic media. The top 25 television group owners controlled 471 of the 1200 commercial TV stations on the air—almost 40%. FOX’s 23 stations alone reached more than 40% of the U.S. population. (The FCC’s formula of counting UHF signals at 505 of their population reach put FOX within the FCC 35% nationwide reach limit—at 34.5%.) The FCC opened up even larger monopoly possibilities with its authorization of ownership of two television stations and cross-ownership of up to six radio stations in the largest markets. One giant grew even more, as AT&T added to its empire by acquiring Media One, giving it not only the largest telephone but also the largest cable conglomerate in the country. The largest media merger in history up to that time took place in 1999 as Viacom announced it would buy CBS for $34.9 billion, putting it in second place as the world’s largest media conglomerate, behind Time Warner, but ostensibly as the world’s leading company in producing, promoting, and distributing entertainment, news, sports, and music. Media critic Robert W. McChesney wrote that “the new Viacom would be one of only nine massive conglomerates … that dominate the U.S. media landscape.”
Radio was not left behind, with increasing consolidation of that medium’s stations. Early in the year the top 25 radio station owners in the United States controlled 19% of all stations in the country. Clear Channel Communications owned 484; AMFM 480, Cumulus Media 248, and Infinity 163. But that wasn’t enough. Later in the year the largest company, Clear Channel, bought the second largest company (which had the largest revenues), AMFM. Even though the FCC required divestiture of some stations, Clear Channel retained a total of 830.
There were plenty of audiences for radio. Joel Brinkley wrote in the New York Times that “Americans bought more than 58 million radios for the home last year … most homes have at least eight of them. If car radios are included, that number rises to 9 or 10 per home, making radios easily the most ubiquitous consumer electronics device in the nation.”
The FCC strengthened monopolies by holding a broadcast license auction. No longer basing license approvals on how the programming and technical facilities of the applicant would serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity, as mandated in the amended Communications Act of 1934, the FCC now awarded licenses on the basis of wealth—to those who were richest and could outbid other applicants at an auction.
The FCC did seek more diversity in one area: employment in administration, production, and casting. The commission was supported by a number of public interest groups, including those seeking equal opportunities for racial minorities and women.
However, the Republican-controlled Congress pushed the Democratic majority on the FCC to more deregulation and less policy-making, to act principally on technical matters rather than on broader matters that might affect the public interest. The broadcast industry agreed with Congress. At one national public interest meeting on the need for more diversity in television, all the networks—except CBS—stayed away. Perhaps in reaction to its frustrations, perhaps as a means of presenting a different face but maintaining the same policies, the FCC began a 5-year plan of internal restructuring.
Spanish Radio led the ratings in many U.S. cities as the millennium approached.
Courtesy Radiolandia.
The media romance with the Internet continued to grow. More and more video services and music were on the Internet. More and more cable companies and broadcast stations were streaming programs, especially news, onto the Internet. Plans were moving ahead for interactive television, which would include the Internet on TV sets and video-on-demand. Broadcast companies employed techniques to build Internet audiences. CBS, for example, attracted audiences to its website with sweepstakes prizes of up to $10 million. The Washington Post and Newsweek decided to set up a joint website for news. Disney enterprises offered news and entertainment on the Internet. CBS put prime-time shows on the Internet. Cablevision used its system to begin linking schools to the Internet. Arbitron began its initial dissemination of Internet ratings.
Radio and the Internet moved in together and found domestic and global bliss. About half of the country’s 12,000 radio stations were on the web, as sound quality in cyberspace rapidly improved. In addition, another 5000 or so radio stations internationally were also on the Internet, giving small stations worldwide access and people worldwide access to stations they would never be able to hear otherwise. Billboard Online introduced the first cyberspace program where audiences can choose on demand from the 100 most popular song hits of the week.
Perhaps a key indication of the growing importance of the Internet was Arbitron’s initial dissemination of Internet ratings and the entry of Nielsen into the Internet ratings field, to compete with the company already doing cyberspace research, Media Metrix.
Technical advances also continued in the digital-HDTV field, including automated software for HDTV, datacasting, and multichannel broadcasting. However, the cost of HDTV sets remained prohibitively high—between $5000 and $10,000—and few homes were ready to invest in them. Although some stations were already providing programs in high-definition—66 stations were broadcasting digital signals to more than 50% of the U.S. population—and many others were about ready to do so, it would likely be some years before the price of the receivers went down far enough, as happened with VCRs when they first came in the early 1970s, for a substantial HDTV audience to develop. Other technical developments included video servers and automated software for cable systems.
Radio, too, advanced technically. Digital radio tests began in five markets, an important step toward leveling the radio playing field for both AM and FM. One sad nostalgic note for radio in 1999: The Mutual Broadcasting System—which interestingly never had any owned-and-operated sta-tions, but solely provided programs to affiliates—closed down after 64 years on the air.
Broadcast network shrinking audiences continued to create problems for both the networks and their affiliates. Each network was sharing approximately $200 million among its affiliates to carry the network’s programs. The networks wanted a pullback on the payments. The affiliates agreed, but only on condition that they get exclusive rights to the network programs. However, the networks sales to cable systems provide them with necessary revenue that they don’t want to lose. The problem continued.
While revenues for the TV broadcast networks fluctuated, with the smaller ones losing money, some cable networks were reaping large profits. ABC, NBC, and CBS led in total media revenues, but two cable channels, QVC, a shopping network, and ESPN, a sports network, were in fourth and fifth places, followed by FOX and then by other cable nets, led by HBO, HSN, TNT, and Nickelodeon.
Cable reached virtually the saturation point with subscribers. There were 66 million cable homes out of the nationwide total of 99.6 million television homes. Cable concentrated on increasing its share of audiences with more original programming. Some original shows, such as “The Sopranos,” were not only attracting substantial audiences, but were winning Emmy Awards. Eighty-four new cable networks offered programming to what was still an insufficient number of channels for the available products. Among new cable networks was one devoted to women’s needs and issues, “Oxygen.” The highest rated format on cable continued to be wrestling.
Cable was significantly affected by two legal rulings. Congress authorized DBS systems to retransmit local station signals back into local station markets under “The Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999,” thus ending one of cable’s key advantages. But the must-carry rules were interpreted to permit cable to exclude fringe stations, thus freeing up some channel space for more lucrative program sources.
Broadcasting fought back with an increase in three types of popular programming. Reality programs found large audiences. Court shows, essentially promoted as reality programs, were very strong in syndication. Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Wapner, and others were attracting loyal audiences. Quiz shows were back with a vengeance. The phenomenal ratings success of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” led to multiple presentations each week and a number of clones. Given the low level of information required to answer the show’s questions, its success validated the premise that reaching the lowest common denominator is indeed the way to the highest ratings.
Ordinarily, the Academy Awards tended to draw the biggest audiences each year behind the Super Bowl. But not in 1999. Which show finished second? You guessed it: Barbara Walters’s exclusive interview with Monica Lewinsky.
Despite sweeping deregulation following the Telecom Act, the FCC was still very active in levying fines.
News and public affairs investigative reporting received an assist when the $5.5 million verdict a jury awarded Food Lion against ABC’s gathering of materials for its documentary expose on the grocery chain was reduced to $2 by the U.S. Court of Appeals, thus reinforcing the First Amendment’s press freedoms. The California Supreme Court upheld the state’s “shield law” for journalists, thus strengthening their rights not to reveal confidential sources. Reality programs with a news base had one important legal setback. The courts ruled that journalists accompanying police on raids and other police business violated people’s right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment.
One extremely significant development in media, most importantly on the Internet but also to a great extent on radio and cable, was brought to the fore by the publication of a new book in 1999 entitled Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right, which revealed for the first time how more than 300 radio stations and as many as 2000 websites were being used by extremist groups to foment hate and violence against people whose religion, skin color, ethnic background, lifestyle, or politics they did not like. This use of the media was linked to bombings and murders throughout the country, in 1999 and in the past, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the Columbine High School rampage. The importance of these revelations was emphasized by President Clinton by his choice of this book for inclusion on his annual reading list.
As the broadcast century came to an end (although technically the new century wouldn’t begin until 2001), an NBC News poll asked what people thought were the most important inventions of the 20th century. Broadcasting—radio and television—was first. Aviation, the automobile, nuclear power, and computers followed, in that order.