The Appearance of Audiovisual Media: Radio, Television, and Cinema

History of Radio:

Radio began to take shape in the second half of the 19th century after a series of
contributions from various scientists. At first, the concept of 'radio' was different; it
it was about 'wireless telegraphy' (W.T.). Its predecessor was the optical telegraph (19th century),
only the authorities communicated through the optical network, it was not about a
verbal language, but Morse.

In 1988, Hertz succeeded in measuring electromagnetic waves and the concept is applied
wavelength.

Brandy, in 1981, uses the cohere, a device to capture different frequencies and receive
electromagnetic waves. It is the precursor to classic dials.

In 1894, Lodge improves reception with the Popoff device. In 1895, he develops the
antenna to receive Hertzian waves.

It was not yet known that information could be sent through waves, it was Marconi.
who collects all the previous elements, (just as Edison did in his field), and
he tried to give it a social use. He studies Hertz's writings, as he came from a family
accommodated and had enough time to do it. In Italy, there is no official support but it is
where it gets its first results.

In 1895, he achieved the return of electromagnetic waves. He leaves his country and in
England, the British Post Office, a state agency, helps you.

On June 2, 1896, he managed to transmit 6 kilometers away, and a year later he performs
a public demonstration 15 km away. The final patent is
delivered on July 2, 1897, after reaching places
inaccessible with threads.

Marconi Wireless and Telegraph Co is the company that Marconi establishes in

1897 to market his invention and has most of the company in his hands. He is the
technical director. To market his invention, he first extends the network of
wireless telegraphy to Europe. In the early 20th century, the transmission technology improved and
reception and connects via TSH (wireless telegraphy) the two shores of the Atlantic. The connection
prior to the TSH was the submarine cable, which connected Great Britain to Newfoundland and, therefore,
there was a single communication system that was difficult to access and expensive until it arrived
Marconi.
Civil society in its period of industrialization needed instant communication.
of the TSH. The uses of the TSH were focused on institutional communications and, above all,
in communications of a commercial and economic nature. A third use of TSH is its use
social that at first was not entertainment, but the press was its main
user. At the end of the 19th century, the New York Herald newspaper was the first to receive
information about the Copa América (sports event) by TSH.
In the marketing of TSH, another of the most important uses was that
they built the army and the ships for their security.

In the early years of the 20th century, there were two events that shocked public opinion:
the sinking of the Titanic (1912) and the Republic. Following the sinking of the Titanic, it was mandated to
the ships of these characteristics to include a TSH, which the Titanic had. It had a
huge repercussion and all of this contributed to a scenario in which TSH disappeared.
expanding. The first decade of the 20th century saw the commercialization of Marconi's invention and
they include new social uses of the invention.

Through the connections of the Marconi Company with the Postal Service
British, he manages to establish TSH transmitters and receivers throughout the empire.
British, which causes it to hold the monopoly of the system.

In France, inventors like Branly, Ferrié, and Ducretet had TSH companies.
above all Ducretet, the main competitor of Marconi due to its broad market in the
Mediterranean. The company Telefunken that was formed by Count Von Arco, and the company
AEG had its TSH market in Germany and the Baltic Sea.

Marconi granted freedom to use the patent he held for the TSH in Italy, that is,
Anyone from that country could trade the invention.

Marconi prohibits TSH stations both on land and at sea from communicating with
stations that were not of their company. This was a technique to obtain the monopoly.
Another technique to achieve the monopoly was the lawsuits he filed against other companies.
like 'Fesse den Wireless Co' or 'United Wireless Co' since the patent owner
the TSH in the U.S. and Great Britain was he. BPO (British Post Office) was a company
state that was also litigated by Marconi when trying to establish his TSH station.

By the end of the 1920s, the Marconi company is fully established with
monopolies in the U.S. and British Empire. However, from here on, the governments
they began to realize the need for regulation in the system. They start
to account for the importance of TSH for institutional communications, of
army, etc. starting from 1910. The states do not want to cease having power over this.
new medium. TSH knows no borders and, therefore, transcends the limits of any
country reaching any area, but it has the problem of interference. In this time
each station broadcasted at the frequency it wanted and that is why there were interferences. Another
The problem is that the states wanted to ensure control over the broadcasters. To
to solve these problems, radiotelegraphic conferences were created, which were meetings
among several countries to share the frequencies.

History of Television

Television began to develop during the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century, and it did not
You can attribute your invention to only one person. Until 1925, there was no proper television.
said; from 1925-1935 would be the stage of television experiences of researchers
isolated or large corporations. Starting from 1935, there is a series of services and
regular broadcasts (fixed schedule for the few people who had a receiver). After
World War II established the television model worldwide.

In the large European countries, it is from 1945 onwards that governments can become
new load of the television.

Until 1945, different television models coexist; there is no single one. After World War II.
A unique television model is established at G.M., similar to the radio model, a production is made.
similar communicative phenomenon.

During experimentation periods, several models coexist, for example, from the point
From a technological viewpoint, two major models coexist: mechanical television and television.
electronics. Regarding the social use of television, we encounter a type of
television in which collective reception predominates (German model) and a model of
individual reception. In turn, there were bidirectional television systems (fondovision,
video-phone...), a system that worked in the U.S. thanks to its implementation by the
ATT.

In this period from 1925 to 1939, we encounter a series of contributions.

that are applicable to television.

By the 19th century, there was a conception that the image could be transmitted. Paul
NIPKOV makes the first theoretical television system in 1883. He also invents the
famous 'Nipkow disk'.

It would be Von MIHALY who claims that starting from 1919 he conducts transmissions through
cable.

The great diffuser and promoter of television was the British BAIRD, who managed to achieve the
mechanical television device.
Electronic television follows a different path. The capture of the image and the broadcasting
This is done using a cathode ray tube invented by BRAIN in 1898.

ROSING in 1907 and ZWORYKIN in 1923 put the theory of BRAIN into practice.

The experimental and regular emissions.

1925-1935

During this period, there is a coexistence of the two television technologies. It is a phase where
Once the dissemination of images is achieved, a struggle begins to see who will transport it.
further and with more quality (technological fight). Mechanical television is advancing and in
1929 manages to take images with natural light.

In these years, BAIRD begins to work for the BBC and achieves an image in 1926.
30-line television definition.

In Great Britain, we encounter the experimental broadcasts of the BBC with Baird.
while Marconi starts working on researching electronic television.

In 1930, a definition of 405 lines is reached. There is a huge advancement in technology.

television during this period where there are no regular broadcasts, only experimental ones.

Television could only be seen in some organizations, wealthy families, etc.

The emissions of this period occur in 3 countries: Great Britain, Germany (where it
delayed until 1935 and where there is a telecine system from which it was broadcasted the
signal to the television rooms) and the USA, where large electronics companies and
broadcasting began to investigate both systems, but very soon abandoned the
mechanic (who had limitations on his commercial vision) and focus on the model
electronic. American television soon sought fiction.

Between 1935-1936, first the Germans advance on regular image broadcasts.

and sound; secondly, the BBC starts to broadcast television images regularly.

For a time, both Germans and British used the mechanical system,
later they used both at the same time. There is no universal receiver. The final development
through the Germans' cable completes the television system.

The following countries that joined television were France,...

In the U.S., the state did not authorize commercial broadcasts until 1941. At the same time, another
A characteristic of the period is that emissions will start to settle in the system.
electronic (Germany in 1937, Great Britain later). The mechanical system dies in
these years, establishing the electronic model as universal.

The war itself will cause emissions to be disrupted in Europe. The Germans
they lose the sending center. From the content perspective, they are produced
transformations in this period. Soon television was equipped with new content, to
Starting from 1936, information is released. 1936-1937 includes cultural programs and
dramatic (the theater will be adapted to television). This system will be repeated in all the
televisions.

In this period there was no video recorder, recording could only be done on photochemical media.

American television: information and entertainment.

Sport: the Berlin Olympics was the first major sporting event that occurred
broadcast on television in Germany.

Another event that marked the history of television was the wars: the attack
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the first event that forced a change in the
structure of television information: for the first time visual resources are included in
information (graphs, drawings, etc.), which represented a technological change to face the
new visual challenge.

Television will achieve immediacy over time (late '60s) and visual resources that the
radio could not offer.

The different countries are trying to implement the 'universal receiver' (that could be used)
in several countries) and in Germany there was an attempt to launch a 'popular receiver' at low
price, like the radio.

Features of Television After World War II

The television model that prevails worldwide is symmetrical to the radio model, it is
The radio companies themselves will be the ones to implement the model of
television. In Europe, the public BBC model also launches television.

2.- From a narrative point of view, it will be supported by cinema, theater, and radio. The
fiction was initially linked to theater. Radio shows will soon have their television version. The
who is a reference in terms of audiovisual narrative, is their reference in terms of
language, types of plans, etc.

There are theorists who argue that the specificity of television in the '50s was the live broadcast, that the
most of its programming was live.
The arrival of the VCR was necessary because television could not achieve the
immediacy by resorting to cinematic support.

In 1956, the video system using magnetic tape to record audio and video was achieved.
that allowed to transmit and store images quickly and efficiently. Huge tapes (2
inches) that were reusable.

3.- There is a technological advancement: higher definition, higher quality in reproduction,

arrival of the video tape recorder and color image (American NTSC color system)
It is from 1953; the Secam is the French system and the PAL is the German one.

History of cinema.

The history of cinema begins on December 28, 1895, the date when the
Lumière brothers publicly projected the exit of workers from a French factory
In Lyon, the demolition of a wall, the arrival of a train, and a boat leaving the port.
the success of this invention was immediate, not only in France, but also throughout Europe and
North America. In a year, the Lumière brothers created more than 500 films.
marked by the absence of actors and natural scenery, the brevity, the absence of
the editing and the fixed position of the camera. But the viewers ended up getting bored because of
the monotony of the shots. And it was George Méliès who first delved into the
the act of telling fictional stories and who began to develop new techniques
cinematic, especially in 1902 with A Trip to the Moon and in 1904 with A Trip Through the
impossible, applying the theatrical technique before the camera and creating the first effects
special effects and filmed science fiction. From then on, cinematography did no more
what to improve and great directors such as Ernst Lubitsch, Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz emerged
Lang and Charles Chaplin continuously evolved the technique until
In 1927, the first sound film, The Jazz Singer, premiered, from which the
cinema as it was known ceased to exist and more complex scripts were imposed that
they moved away from the stereotypical characters that the silent era had created. It was in that
same year 1927 when Paramount Pictures creates the cinematic technique known
as dubbing. Over the years, the technique allowed for the incorporation of color, reaching
in 1935 with "The Vanity Fair" by Rouben Mamoulian, although artistically
reached its peak in 1939 with Gone with the Wind. Color took longer to
to be adopted by cinema. The audience was relatively indifferent to color photography
opposite to black and white. But by improving color registration processes and
decrease costs compared to black and white, more films were shot in color.
Securing its place in succession to classic cinema as well as its proximity to
Postmodernism In the United States, cinema had overwhelming success, due to a peculiar
social circumstance: being a country of immigrants, many of whom did not speak the
English, both theater and the press or books were forbidden to them by the barrier.
idiomatic, and thus silent cinema transformed into a very important source of
recreation for them.

Seeing the prospects of this business, and based on your patent on the
kinetoscope, Thomas Alva Edison tried to take control of the rights over the
exploitation of the cinematograph. The matter not only went to trial, from Edison against the
called independent producers, but it was even fought openly.
consequently, independent producers emigrated from New York and the East Coast,
where Edison was strong, to the west, recently pacified. In a small village
called Hollywood, they found ideal conditions for filming: sunny days almost all the
year, a multitude of landscapes that could serve as locations, and the proximity to the
border of Mexico, in case they needed to escape justice. This is how the so-called was born.
Hollywood became the most important film center.
from the world. Most of the studies went to Hollywood (Fox, Universal, Paramount)
controlled by (Darryl F. Zanuck, Samuel Bronston, Samuel Goldwyn, etc.), and they looked
the cinematographer more as a business than as an art. They fought each other with determination, and to
Sometimes, to compete better, they merged: this is how 20th Century Fox was born (from the old
Fox) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (union of the studios of Samuel Goldwyn with Louis B.
These studies aimed to fully control film production. Thus, not only
they financed the films, but they controlled the distribution media, through
chains of theaters intended to showcase nothing but their own films. Also
They hired directors and actors as if they were mere salaried employees, under
leonine contracts; it was even common practice for directors and actors to lend themselves to each other,
in a passing and passing, without either side having anything to say about it,
tied as they were by their contracts. This marked the emergence of the star system, the
star system, in which movie stars were promoted in series, just like
any other commercial product. Only Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary
Pickfords rebelled against this, being able to do so because of their great commercial success, and the exit
What they found was just to create a new studio for themselves: United Artists. It is said
thus, from Hollywood production between the 1910s and 1950s, as well as from film of
producer, where the weight of the producer who secured the financing mattered more than
the director in charge of capturing an artistic vision. For a time, cinema was
considered a minor attraction, even a sideshow, but when George Méliès
used all his resources to simulate magical experiences, creating rudimentary-but
effective - special effects, the novice filmmakers captured the great possibilities that
the invention offered. In this way, in the first decade of the 20th century, multiple emerged
small film studies, both in the United States and in Europe. At the time, the
films were of few minutes and footage, they dealt with more or less simple themes, and both by
decorated like costumes, were of relatively cheap production. Furthermore, the
the technique had not solved the sound problem, so the functions were accompanied
with a piano and a narrator (see silent film). But during this time, almost the entirety emerged.
of cinematic genres (science fiction, historical or period); the absent genre
It was, of course, a musical comedy, which had to wait until the emergence of cinema.
sonorous. Also at that time, the first trials regarding rights were produced.
author of adaptations of novels and theatrical works to film, which would lead over time
to the creation of film franchises based on characters or sagas.

Maurice Michel Labrín C.