Annual revenues for broadcasting in the U.S. amounted to nearly $25 billion in the late 1980s. The industry directly employs more Лап 230.000 people; a comparable number are employed in such related services as advertising and independent program production.
LOCAL STATIONS. The core of the broadcasting industry is the local station. Apart from news, however, local stations produce little of their own programming. Radio stations broadcast prerecorded music; television stations serve primarily as a conduit for network programming or for reruns and old movies. Because they ultimately control and are responsible for programming, however, local stations are a necessary link with the mass audience.
Radio broadcasted operate by selling advertising to local businesses and, through a system of station representatives, gain some income from national advertisers. Network-affiliated television stations share profits from network advertising and have the right to intersperse their own commercials with those of the network. Contracts with the networks do not oblige local stations to carry network programming- but, given television's high production costs together with the audience-attracting power of network programs, affiliated local stations seldom interrupt the network schedule.
During the late 1980s in the U.S., more than 9000 radio stations were on the air; they were almost evenly divided between the AM (amplitude modulation) and the FM (frequency modulation) bands. About one-quarter of the FM stations (but none of the AM stations) were noncommercial and were supported by educational institutions, local governments, and nonprofit civic organizations and, in many cases, by listener contributions and federal funding under the auspices of National Public Radio. More than 1300 television stations were active in the U.S. in the late 1980s: over one-half of these were VHF stations.
Commercial television stations are still concentrated in the more easily received VHF bands, although the number of commercial UHF stations is increasing rapidly. Commercial stations, which represent 75 percent of the television stations on the air, attract about 98 percent of the audience, and almost all arc affiliated with one of the three large networks. The more populous the urban area in which a station is located, the more profitable the station is likely to be. The cost of personnel and equipment necessary for broadcasting to a given geographic area is a fixed investment; densely populated areas generate larger audiences, and the broadcasters, in turn, receive higher revenues for each commercial aired. Because audience size is so critical to the profit margin, stations compete intensely in all but very remote regions (where only a few stations provide service). Program ratings are watched, and stations tend to offer substantial salaries to the disk jockeys and television news announcers who attract the largest audiences.
NATIONAL NETWORKS. Competition for the audience is also Intense among me national networks, and to update the race, many newspapers publish the weekly Nielsen ratings (see below) for the top ten programs, in general, the networks do not actually produce the programs they air during prime time (7-11 PM). Instead, they purchase programs from independent production companies and then schedule them for maximum competitive advantage.
Each of the three major networks has Its corporate headquarters In New York City, and each gains additional revenue from owning stations in major cities (since 1985, 12 is the maximum number of VHF stations the FCC permits for a single owner). All three television networks emerged from existing radio networks.
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is part of RCA. In early 1986, RCA was acquired by the General Electric Company. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) was bought by the American executive William S. Paley in 1929, when it was a small, struggling radio network. Through
Paley's management the corporation grew and expanded into recorded music, musical instruments, and publishing. The youngest of the three networks came into existence when the U.S. Department of Justice forced NBC to sell one of its two radio networks in 1943. The network was bought by the candy manufacturer Edward J. Noble, who renamed it the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and oversaw its transition to producing television. For more than three decades ABC tended to have the lowest ratings and the fewest affiliate stations of the three major networks. Because of the economics of advertising, it had to straggle to stay in business. In tile late 1970s, however, ABC moved to first place in the ratings and remained there for several years. The company grew into a large corporate empire that includes motion picture theaters, a recording company, and publishing companies. In 1986 a merger took place between ABC and Capital Cities Communications, inc. A fourth U.S. commercial network, the Fox Broadcasting Company, owned by Australian-born publisher Rupert Murdoch, began to capture a significant share of young adult audiences in the late 1980s.
A fifth network also exists, which, because of its origins in educational broadcasting, is notably different from the other four. Seeking to provide an alternative to commercial broadcasting, educational stations banded together in 1967 to establish the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Through the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS began to produce its own national programming. What was once strictly educational programming typified by professors at blackboards became public broadcasting with a wide variety of offerings? These include serious drama, the performing arts, science, public affairs documentaries, and children's programs (perhaps tile most famous of which is «Sesame Street»). Since cutbacks in federal spending during the early 1980s, public broadcasting receives only about 18 percent of its income from the government; the remainder of its funding comes from private foundations and direct viewer contributions.
Television
Television, also called TV, is one of our most important means of communication. It brings moving pictures and sounds from around the world into millions of homes.
The name «Television» comes from Greek word meaning «far », and a Latin word meaning «to see », so the word «television» means «to see far».
About three-fourths of the 1 500 TV stations in the US are commercial stations. They sell advertising time to pay for their operating costs and to make profit. The rest are public stations, which are nonprofit organizations.
Commercial TV stations broadcast mostly entertainment programs because they must attract larger numbers of viewers in order to sell advertising time at high prices. These programs include light dramas called situation comedies; action-packed dramas about life of detectives, police officers, lawyers and doctors; shows featuring comedians, dancers and singers; movies; quiz shows; soap operas; cartoons. Commercial TV broadcasts also documentaries and talk shows. Documentary is dramatic, but nonfictional presentation of information. It can be programs about people, animals in faraway places or programs on such issues as alcoholism, drug abuse, racial prejudice. On talk shows a host interviews politicians, TV and movie stars, athletes, authors. There are also sport programs and brief summaries of local, national and international news. Advertising is an important part of commercial TV. Commercials appear between and during most programs. They urge viewers to buy different kinds of products — from dog food to hair spray, and from cars to insurance policies.
Public television focuses mainly on education and culture. There are programs on wide range of subjects — from physics and literature to cooking and yoga. Public TV also broadcasts plays, ballets, symphonies as well as programs about art and history. Public TV attracts less viewer than commercial TV.
Vocabulary
important means of communication важные средства общения
pictures and sounds изображение и звуки
high price высокая цена
to come from происходить от
light drama легкая драма
commercial коммерческий
action-packed drama боевик
to sell продавать
lawyer адвокат
advertising time рекламное время
show шоу
to make profit делать выгоду
movie фильм
the rest остальной, оставшийся
to urge агитировать
presentation of information представление информации
nonprofit organizations некоммерческие организации
brief summary краткое сообщение
in order to чтобы
entertainment развлечение
to attract привлекать
Newspaper
Newspaper is a publication that presents and comments on the news. Newspapers play an important role in shaping public opinion and informing people of current events.
The first newspapers were probably handwritten news-sheets posted in public places. The earliest daily newssheet was «Acta Diurna» («Daily Events») which started in Rome in 59 B.C. The first printed newspaper was Chinese publication called «Dibao» («Ti — pao») started in A.D.700's. It was printed from carved wooden blocks. The first regularly published newspaper in Europe was “Avisa Relation” or “Zeitung”, started in Germany in 1609.
Newspapers have certain advantages over other mass media — magazines, TV and radio. Newspaper can cover more news and in much detail than TV or radio newscast can do. Magazines focus on major national and international events of the proceeding week. But newspaper focuses on local news as well and provides information and comments faster than magazine can do.
There are about 1 700 daily arid 7 500 weekly newspapers in the US. The circulation of some weeklies is no more than a few hundred of copies per issue and the circulation of some dailies is over a million of copies.
There are daily newspapers and weekly newspapers. Daily newspapers print world, national and local news. Many dailies are morning papers, others are afternoon papers. Sun day issues of the dailies are usually larger than the week day ones. They may include special sections on such topics as entertainment, finance and travel or Sunday magazine, a guide to TV programs, colored comics. The major dailies in the US are “Christian Science Monitor”, “New York Times”, “USA Today”, “Wall Street Journal”, “Washington Post”.
Weekly newspapers serve usually for smaller areas. They are printed in small communities where people know each other arid are interested in activities of their friends and neighbours. Weeklies report of weddings, births, deaths and news of local business and politics. Most weeklies do not print world or national news.
Vocabulary
publication издание
an advantage преимущество
in shaping public opinion в формировании общественного
мнения
regularly регулярно
detail подробность
to cover охватывать
weekly newspaper еженедельная газета
the proceeding week на предыдущей неделе
local-news местные новости
to serve обслуживать
circulation тираж
wedding свадьба
a guide to TV programs телепрограмма
death смерть
finance финансы
birth рождение
community общество
Radio
Radio is one of the most important means of communication. The most widespread and familiar use of radio is broadcasting. Radio broadcasts feature music, news, interviews, discussions, descriptions of sports events, advertising. People wake up to clock radios and listen to radio driving a car. They also spend much of their free time hearing their favourite programs on radio.
Radio broadcasting once had the same entertainment role as television has today. From the 1920's to the early 1950's, in the Golden Age of Broadcasting, people gathered around their radios every night. They listened to dramas, light comedies, music, and other programs. This period ended with the rise of television.
There are more than 25 000 radio stations and more than 1 750 millions of radios in the world. A major reason for the widespread use of radio is its portability. It means that a radio can be carried around easily. People like to listen to it in homes, at beaches and picnics, while walking down the street or driving a car.
About 90% of all radio programs in the US provide entertainment and only 10% provide some kind of information. Music is the chief kind of radio entertainment. Usually, stations specialize in one kind of music such as rock, classical, country, etc. Such stations have disc jockeys who introduce and comment on the music.
Programs that provide information include newscasts, talk shows, and descriptions of sport events. Newscasts may include weather forecasts, traffic reports, and stock market information. Talk shows present discussions on current political topics such as an election or government policy or on a social issue, such as crime, pollution, poverty, racism, or sexism. Each show has a host or hostess who leads the discussion. Listeners are invited to telephone the stations to ask question or give their opinion about the topic. Most of the games played by major league baseball, basketball and hockey teams in the US and Canada are broadcast on radio.
Vocabulary
widespread-распространенный
familiar use- известное использование
description –описание
favourite programs-любимые программы
the same entertainment role -ту же развлекательную роль
weather forecast - прогноз погоды
traffic report - дорожные происшествия
the current political topics -злободневные политические события
the rise of - восход a reason -причина
beach- пляж picnic- пикник
chief- главный to comment on -комментировать
crime- преступление racism- расизм
poverty- бедность league-лига
hostess - гостья team- команда
Magazine
Magazine is one of the major mass media. Magazine is a collection of articles and stories. Usually magazines also contain illustrations.
The earliest magazines developed from newspapers and booksellers catalogs. Such catalogs first appeared during the 1600's in France. In the 1700's pamphlets published at regular intervals appeared in England and America. They were literary publications. One of the first British magazines «The Gentleman's Magazine» was published from 1731 to 1914. The first American magazine was called the «American Magazine», or «A Monthly View ».
Magazines provide information on a wide range of topics such as business, culture, hobbies, medicine, religion, science, and sports. Some magazines entertain their readers with fiction, poetry, photography or articles about TV, or movie stars.
Magazines are designed to be kept for a longer time in comparison to newspapers and that is why they are printed on a better paper and have covers and binding. Magazines, unlike newspapers, do not focus on daily, rapidly changing events.
There are specialized magazines intended for special business, industrial and professional groups, and consumer magazines intended for general public. There are several kinds of consumer magazines.
Children's magazines contain stories, jokes, articles on subjects especially interesting for children and instructions for making games or useful items.
Hobby magazines are intended for collectors of coins, stamps, and other items; people interested in certain sports or games; photography enthusiasts.
Intellectual magazines provide analysis of current cultural and political events. Many of them publish fiction and poetry as well.
Men's magazines focus on such topics as adventure, entertainment, men's fashion and sports.
Women's magazines deal with child-raising, fashion trends, romance. They offer ideas on cooking and home decorating. Many of the monthlies with big circulations are women's magazines.
Vocabulary
magazine- журнал mass media-средства массовой информации
a collection- коллекция to contain- содержать
illustration -иллюстрация to develop- развивать
catalog- каталог to appear- появляться
pamphlet- памфлет to provide -обеспечивать
information -информация business- дело
a wide range of topics- широкий выбор тем culture- культура
hobby- хобби medicine -медицина
religion- религия science- наука
sport- спорт to entertain- развлекать
fiction- фантастика poetry -поэзия
photography -фотография movie stars -звезды кино
in comparison- в сравнение to focus- специализироваться
event- событие to be specialized - быть специализированным
coin- монета stamp- марка
enthusiast -энтузиаст adventure- приключение
current cultural and political events - текущие новости культуры и политики
entertainment -развлечения fashion- мода
child-raising- воспитание детей romance- романтика
circulation- тираж
TV IN BRITAIN
The first television in Britain appeared more than 50 years ago and nowadays is very popular. Every family has at least one TV set, the number of colour sets in use is very large, though they are not cheap.
The BBC was the first to provide a public television service in 1936. During the Second World War the transmissions were stopped, but were resumed in 1946. In 1952, the ceremony of Elizabeth's II coronation was transmitted all over the country.
The BBC provides two channels. Besides BBC-I and BBC-II there are two Independent Channels. The viewers now have four channels at their disposal, and are able to watch television for many hours a day. They can watch plays, live transmissions of important events, sports games and competitions, interviews with prominent people, musical performances and many other items. News is broadcast regularly by all the channels and watched by most people. Films are often televised, and many of them are made specially for television.
A lot of people prefer staying home and watching TV rather than going out to cinemas, and many cinemas have closed. Most of the programmes present serious and instructive matters, such as family and children problems, problems of social work and employment as well as religious programmes.
Part of the time on Independent television is devoted to advertising, but its amount is small and strictly limited by the special Act that allowed commercial television. One of the features of TV programmes is that they often show violence, murder, crimes and gunplay, which is frequently criticized by the viewers. On the whole television plays as important role in the life of the British people as newspapers.
THE BRITISH PRESS
The British are great newspaper readers. They look through newspapers at breakfast, read papers on their way to work, on the bus, on the train and when they come home in the evening.
The British press consists of several kinds of newspapers. There are national and local, morning and evening newspapers; there are daily, weekly and special Sunday papers. There are national papers that are sold all over the country with a large circulation. They give general news and are published in London. There are two main types of national papers — the "popular" papers and the "quality" papers. The popular papers are smaller in size with lots of pictures and big headlines which are designed to catch the eye of the reader. They offer their readers different short stories, crime reports, cartoons and advertisements. They are easy to read and often contain little real information. Examples of this type of papers are "The Daily Mail," "The Sun" and "The Daily Mirror."
"Quality" papers appeal to the more serious reader, who wants to read about politics and foreign affairs. These papers, such as "The Daily Telegraph," "The Times" and "The Guardian" are bigger in size with longer articles and wider coverage of events. They have different pages for home news, foreign affairs, feature articles, fashion, business, sport and so on.
Средства массовой информации
The Sunday papers have a higher circulation than the dailies, they are larger than the daily papers and usually contain more articles dealing with general information.
Regional or local papers are published in towns and areas outside London, and mostly cover the local news.
There is no censorship of the press in Britain, though all papers are responsible for what they publish.