FILM TV 10A Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Lew Wasserman, Dumont Laboratories, Shortwave Radio
Concepts/Terms
➔ Ancillary market- All of the non theatrical markets from which a film distributor derives
revenue
◆ Ex. -> Home video, cable television, and foreign markets
➔ Anti-communist blacklist
◆ The Red Scare: 1950-1956
● Period of political oppression and anti-communist paranoia
◆ The Hollywood Ten: Unfriendly Witnesses
● 10 were labeled “unfriendly witnesses” when they refused to answer the
question: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the
Communist Party?”’
● Formally accused of contempt of congress and sentenced to 1 year prison
terms
◆ Waldorf Statement and Blacklist
● Nov. 1947: 50 elite Hollywood execs issued Waldorf Statement: “We will
not knowingly employ a Communist..”
● This began the blacklist.
◆ Red Channels and Blacklisted Artists
● 1951 Anti-Communist report published at by right-wing journal
○ Named 151 actors, writers, etc
● All were blacklisted across film, radio, TV
● Some artists wrote under false names or “fronts”
● Some left the country
● Others never worked in radio, TV, or film again
◆ Blacklisted: Phillip Loeb (The Goldbergs)
● Dear George Cukor to Garson Kanin
● Phillip Loeb killed himself
◆ Edward R. Murrow
● See it Now (CBS, 1951-1958)
● 1940s: WWII CBS radio broadcasts from London
● 1950- Hear it Now, weekly radio news program
● 1951- See it Now: in-depth TV documentary coverage
◆ March 1954- Murrow Takes on McCarthy (See it Now, 1954)
◆ The End of the Blacklist
● Late 50s, some blacklisted artists hired in TV
● 1960, Otto Preminger publicly announced Dalton Trumbo wrote “Exodus”
● Universal gave Trumbo screen credit for Spartacus
➔ Broadcasting
◆ Early Broadcasting:
● Electromagnetic Spectrum (1873, James Clerk Maxwell)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Wireless Telegraphy
○ 1888 Radio Waves (Heinrich Herz, Ger.)
○ 1896 Wireless Telegraphy/Radio (Guglielmo Marconi, Italy)
● Wireless Telephony
○ 1906- Wireless Speech Transmission (Reginald Fessenden, Can)
● 1906- Audion Tube for amplification of signals (Lee De Forest, US)
◆ First true music
○ 1906- Alexanderson Alternator for long distances (Edward
Alexanderson)
◆ More consistent transmission over long distances
● 1912 Sinking of the Titanic -> government take more interest in radio
because of inattentive radio transmissions going on
● 1912 1st Radio Act: rules agreed on by US (& 29 other nations) that
mandate radio equipment and operating procedures for wide and
continuous mutual communication
◆ The distribution of audio and/or video content or other messages to a dispersed
audience via any electronic mass communications medium
◆ Began with AM radio (around 1920) with the spread of vacuum tube radio
transmitters and receivers.
◆ Before this, all forms of electronic communication (early radio, telephone, and
telegraph) were one-to-one, with the message intended for a single recipient. The
term means -"one-to-many", new communication; (a single radio station
transmitting to multiple listeners)
➔ Cathode ray tube
◆ Glass Vacuum tube in the TV, holds it all together
◆ Invented 1897, Karl Braun, TV display
➔ Circuits of communication:
◆ Encoding/decoding
● Circuit of communication
○ Messages are encoded and must be decoded
○ Texts are not closed (one fixed meaning)
◆ Happiness. Coca cola ad.
○ Social positioning leads to differing interpretations
● Decoding the Message
○ Recipient isn’t passive
◆ Interaction is code of system of signs (not not transparent)
○ Meaning for individual
○ Meaning within culture
○ Meaning in context of moment
◆ We like to bring subjectivity to what we watch
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
◆ Dominant/negotiated/oppositional readings
● Dominant reading: reader fully shares text’s code, accepts and reproduces
the preferred reading
● Negotiated reading: reader party shares text’s code, but sometimes resists
and modifies it re: their own position, experiences
○ Ex: Negotiated relationship with reality TV
● Oppositional Reading: the reader understands the preferred reading but
rejects it
○ Ex: Controversial american apparel ad
◆ Feedback loop
● Readers often send feedback, which can shift or reinforce sender position
○ Everyone making fun of Ben Affleck for his bad Batman film ->
meme, can affect TV
➔ Crystal set
◆ Silicone based crystals, everyone can use those signals, it’s open until war
➔ The Fairness Doctrine
◆ FCC mandate that broadcasters present important public issues, but in a fair,
balanced, equitable way
● Airtime for controversial subjects
● Contrasting viewpoints
◆ A doctrine enacted by the FCC from 1949 to 1987, who mandated that all
broadcasters present information and public issues in a fair and equal way.
Airtime on the radio had to include contrasting viewpoints and controversial
subjects discussed. The purpose of this doctrine was to ensure viewers were
exposed to a diversity of viewpoints.
● Ex: News segments could not be biased on certain radio shows; explains
why Joseph McCarthy was able to share his side of the argument against
Edward Murrow
➔ Federal Communications Commission
◆ Established by the Communications Act of 1934
◆ Function: grant/renew/suspend station licenses, levy fines
● Janet Jackson nip slip
➔ FCC Blue Book Standards
◆ 1946 FCC Blue Book Standards
● Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licenses” FCC (threatens) to
consider 4 areas when renewing licenses:
○ Balance of commercial v. sustaining programs
○ Provision for local/live programs
○ Presence of public affairs programs
○ Elimination of advertising excesses
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Ancillary market- all of the non theatrical markets from which a film distributor derives. > home video, cable television, and foreign markets. Period of political oppression and anti-communist paranoia. 10 were labeled unfriendly witnesses when they refused to answer the question: are you now or have you ever been a member of the. Formally accused of contempt of congress and sentenced to 1 year prison terms. Nov. 1947: 50 elite hollywood execs issued waldorf statement: we will not knowingly employ a communist . 1951 anti-communist report published at by right-wing journal. All were blacklisted across film, radio, tv. Some artists wrote under false names or fronts . Others never worked in radio, tv, or film again. 1940s: wwii cbs radio broadcasts from london. 1950- hear it now, weekly radio news program. 1951- see it now: in-depth tv documentary coverage. March 1954- murrow takes on mccarthy (see it now, 1954) Late 50s, some blacklisted artists hired in tv.
