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Radio Broadcast Boom
Radio broadcast experienced its first boom in the 1920s - The first competition for the then-dominant outlet of print media. Broadcast media provided instant news with an immediacy that print media could not match - As evident by KDKA's broadcast of the Harding-Cox presidential elections of 1920 the night before newspaper stories were posted the next morning. -
First TV transmission
21-year-old Philo Farnsworth presented his version of the television. TV was slowly incorporated into the transmission of mass media and its audience, coupling with the boom of radio throughout the 1920s. Television was revolutionary in the way it displayed its contents visually, while the audience up until now had only been able to perceive the message through an auditory or written medium. -
Color TV Broadcasting is Invented
Color TV sets launched in the US, but were originally very expensive, and required a lot of adjustment and upkeep maintenance. However, as TV originated from an entirely black and white broadcast, implementing color was an entirely different experience. -
1960 Rise of FM Radio
FM radio becomes the fastest-growing segment of the US broadcast business. FM radio allowed more channels and more program variety as opposed to the then-popular AM radio. -
Introduction of Audio Cassettes
Phillips, a Dutch conglomerate corporation, was the first to invent the compact cassette tape for audio storage. The Phillips cassette quickly became the standard format due to licensing their technology to other companies at no charge. -
The First eBook is Created
Michael Hart established Project Gutenberg in 1971 with the goal of establishing an electronic public library of 10,000 books. Hart viewed e-publishing as a democratic tool for educating the public as easily as possible, which reflected the not-for-profit idealism that began with the spawn of the internet. This idea has now become commercialized by large vendors such as Amazon, who currently has over 3 million books on file for purchase. -
Ray Tomlinson develops Email
Email developed as a test to see if two personal home computers could send signals from one to the other. This launched an entirely new mode of networking and digital communication. Advertisers began using Email as a marketing platform, thus being able to reach a larger audience. -
First Handheld Mobile Phone
Martin Cooper, an engineer from Motorola, invented the first portable phone device in 1973. It was officially launched in the early 80s, weighed over a kilo, and was sold at an astonishing $10,000 (reflective of today's market value). The first mobile phone was reserved for mostly wealthy entrepreneurs and financiers. -
Cable Television
With Cable TV, the audience was then able to access far more channels than what was allotted before. This meant that more people were accessing a larger plethora of information that was available 24/7. The introduction of cable TV also laid the groundwork for broadband. -
Invention of the World Wide Web
Sir Timothy John-Berners Lee wanted to establish a "web" of information for the general public to access. This invention made cites obtainable, compared to invention of the Internet, which was solely for scientists to send data from one computer to another. -
Facebook and the Era of Social Media
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg popularized the invention of social media, which allowed Internet users to interact with one another instantly. Facebook was unique in that it didn't post any news itself, but rather exemplified the digital audience's participation and reactions to current events. -
Popularization of Podcasts
Podcasts are sometimes considered the natural evolution of radio, as the medium itself is far more accessible to reaching millions of people at once. There's no scheduled start or end date to podcast episodes, as they stay on the platform unless the user decides to delete it. Meaning: those who wish to tune in have an infinite amount of time to acquire information from the Podcast itself, allowing a freeform medium in an individualistic society. -
Popularization of Youtube
YouTube was invented in 2005 as a way to upload and display home videos on a public platform. However, YouTube has since evolved into a mass conglomerate of content productions, from tv shows, movies, shorts, and "influencer"-generated content. This allowed anyone the opportunity to broadcast any topic they wished to a wide-spread audience, and has become one of the biggest and most influential platforms of mass communication today. -
Streaming Services
Streaming services, such as Netflix, dominated the digital entertainment industry not long after its conception. Long gone were days of missing one's favorite TV show because they were not home at the scheduled time, which was a common occurrence for cable TV users. Streaming allowed for instant gratification and an endless supply of entertainment whenever and where ever they wanted, establishing a more convenient medium than its predecessor. -
The SmartPhone
The iPhone, invented and popularized by Apple in 2008, created an entirely new idea of content access for the general public. Information could now be obtained at your fingertips, essentially establishing itself as a miniature and portable personal computer that made mass communication far more convenient and, most notably, instant. -
Reference List
