Blog Prompt #3

If the radio industry in the 1920s had not tuned into Audience Demand, the success that the radio had would not have been as ground-breaking and explosive as it was. 

Audience Demand successfully influenced the formation of the radio industry in the early 1920s. When the radio industry took to the 'common people' and figured out what they wanted to hear, and starting using that information to their benefit, is when the radio industry really took off. Because of Audience Demand, among other influential forces, the radio industry was really able to hook in the common person and make them want to go out and buy radios and listen to their radio programs. The radio industry was smart in thinking about what people wanted to hear, and to an extent, exploiting that. Once they knew which shows had the ratings they aimed for, they would advertise that one more often and even have companies pay to advertise their products on air, which in turn would have the listeners running to the stores to buy those products because they heard about it on their favorite radio program.

In the evolution of radio in the 1920s, Audience Demand was in the middle. After the beginning of radio, they sought after the opinions of the 'common people' and began to use those opinions to supply the audience with their 'demand' of a certain kind of show. They knew the audiences wanted to hear action-filled stories that would take them away from their own troubles for a while, so they would play shows like The Masked Avenger, as we saw in Woody Allen's Radio Days. I asked my grandfather recently what he remembered most about the radio when he was a boy, and he said it was listening to a show called The Lone Ranger. The radio used this knowledge (audience demand) to their advantage and used it to make shows that would get the ratings and get the money. The text mentions, “Radio offered advertisers direct access to the home. To increase the size of the audience for their ads, advertisers steered stations toward entertainment programs, which were more lucrative than news or education." (p. 162)

I asked my grandfather recently what he remembered most about the radio when he was a boy, and he said it was listening to a show called The Lone Ranger.

Blog Prompt #2

The concept of the Cultivation Theory helps me begin to comprehend the impacts of the extreme images of violence, sex, and other disturbing, or not 'every-day' acts performed on television, internet, radio, and other media sources everyday and the effect it has on the mass-media viewer.


Ultimately, the Cultivation Theory says that the form of media a viewer is receiving is blending in with actual reality of the viewer, so in a sense, real life is mixing in with what the viewer is retaining from the form of media, whether it be radio, television, or the internet, that they're using. Also, it is made apparent that the 'occasional' media viewer is not as likely as a heavy media viewer to lose sense of the distinct line between reality and the fiction of television shows or fictitious writing meant to entertain and not inform a reader/viewer. The influence of media can reach to the audience in many ways, which is how people today spend hours upon hours with the media rather than in their own lives, which then leads to the melding of real life and fiction for those mass media viewers. 


An example of this phenomenon would be the missing children ads seen in newspapers and stores, the abductions that are seen on television shows, and the ads that run on the internet and radio about missing children. When heavy mass-media viewers, especially children in this case, see these abductions and see these missing ads, the effect is intensified and their reality begins to distort into that land of fiction where they believe that at any moment, they are likely to be kidnapped themselves. To further prove my example, it becomes all too real for these viewers when there is an actual kidnapping in their own neighborhood. It hits too close to home and begins that transition of fiction to reality. In addition to children, I personally have many friends that watch the prime-time crime television series and still get scared that they're the next target for a local serial killer or abductor and they're in their twenties! In a way, the cultivation of all their time spent watching television, listening to the radio, surfing the internet, and reading the news has lead to an intense fear of the media they love to watch, hear or read mixing into their own reality. That is what the cultivation theory is; when the viewers' perception of reality becomes too much like what they see in the media.

Adds like this can be the beginning of the blending of reality and fiction for those heavy media viewers.

Shows like these can seem all too real for any age.

Blog Prompt #1

 A modern day example of framing would be how the editors of Jersey Shore are seemingly portraying not only the people of New Jersey, but the Italian race in a negative light.


Framing is when something is portrayed in a certain and specific way so as to avoid any possible consequence or reaction other than the one they are trying to attain. For example, Baskin Robbins will only tell you how delicious their ice cream is, and not how fattening it is, or how fresh their ingredients are. With Jersey Shore, many viewers are upset that the cast are shown just drinking, fighting, and having sex rather than showcasing their intelligence and ability to work together cohesively. I believe that because this is a reality show, the editors only choose to air the moments when the cast are doing these terrible things because despite some viewers being offended, it will bring in more viewers to see their 'drama' on television.


I related framing with Jersey Shore because it is a modern example, and most people have either seen and episode of Jersey Shore or at least heard about the show. Since, to me, framing is portraying something in a certain way so as to attain a specific reaction, the editors are framing Jersey Shore in a way to get good ratings any way possible, even if that means that in their attempt to gain ratings they put down the Italian race. The idea of framing has helped me learn that many things in this world are 'framed' and portrayed to us viewers in only one way.




In this picture, you can see that they're all drinking together...

Which ends up with them partying...

And then the show always manages to show them at their worst after their nights of partying. All in all, framing is what creates Jersey Shore in such a negative light that turns many viewers off, yet attracts others.