TOPIC 68. MASS MEDIA COMMUNICATION (I): RADIO AND TELEVISION.

ADVERTISING. LINGUISTIC AND SEMIOTIC ASPECTS.

1.- INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC

2.- MASS MEDIA IN THE UK
3.- MASS MEDIA IN THE USA
4.- TYPES OF TV BROADCASTS
5.- ADVERTISING
6.- LINGUISTIC AND SEMIOTIC ASPECTS
7.- CONCLUSION
8.- BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.- INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC.

Radio and television constitute today the primary means by which information and
entertainment are delivered to the public in virtually every country around the world.
The term ‘broadcasting’ refers to the airborne transmission of electromagnetic audio
signals (radio) or audio-visual signals (television), which are readily accessible to a
wide population via standard receivers.
Broadcasting is a crucial instrument of modern social and political organisation. At
its peak of influence, in the mid 20 th century, national leaders often used radio and
television broadcasting to address entire countries. Because of its capacity to reach large
numbers of people, broadcasting has been regulated since it was recognised as a
significant means of communication.
This unit also deals with advertising. This term refers to the promotion of something
such as a product, service or even an event through public announcements in
newspapers, on the radio, television or the internet, in order to attract or increase interest
in it. Thus, advertising supplies most of the operating funds of the principal
communications media. That is to say, the radio and televison industry depends
decisively on advertising for all its revenue. In the same way, metropolitan newspapers
derive about 70% of their income from advertising, and national magazines, some 60%.
As a matter of fact, the importance of advertising in today’s world is such that it has
become and integral part of everyone’s life, for we are surrounded (even harassed) by
‘almighty’ influential advertisements.
 2.- MASS MEDIA IN THE UK.
The Radio.- The BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation, which was established in
the 1920’s, was the first national radio broadcasting service.
The British were quick to agree, when the spread of radio began, that it should not
be financed through commercial advertising, it should be free from state control, it
should have quality and it should be a public service with a duty to inform, educate and
entertain.
The BBC has 5 national stations:
Radio 1: it broadcasts mostly popular music.
Radio 2: it deals with light entertainment such as music, interviews, cookery
programmes, local news, etc...
Radio 3: it broadcasts mainly classical music, art programmes and open university
courses.
Radio 4: it transmits news and programmes of comment and discussion.
Radio 5: it is focused on sports and education.
Apart from these five national radio stations, the BBC also has some local radio
stations and a world wide service which broadcasts in about 40 vernacular languages.
This world service is funded with money from the foreign office. It used to be very
important when the communist countries were apart from the rest of the world. For
instance, in Eastern Europe, they could listen to BBC’s word service and know what
was going on in the rest of the world. Their own radio services were not very much
reliable due to censorship and this is why the BBC’s service was essential for them.
In the last years, there have been some attempts to get rid of this radio world service,
as it does not seem to be as necessary as it used to be, but, for the moment, it is still
going on. By the way, now it is possible to read, listen and watch the BBC via internet
on their homepage www.bbc.co.uk.
Finally, it must be aknowledged that in Great Britain there are also many
independent radio stations which don’t rely on the government at all.

Television.- British Television’s first channel was run by the BBC and financed by
an annual charge on viewers and without advertising. In 1963, a second channel, which
was commercial, was allowed to start up and, by 1982, there were two BBC channels
and two commercial channels, ITV and channel 4, which give some time to minority
interest.
 The Independent Broadcasting Authority was established by Act of Parliament in
1954. They were in charge of controlling programmes and advertising in the different
channels.
After several years, channel 5 was also introduced as a new commercial channel.
These channels are financed by spot advertising in ‘natural’ breaks between
programmes.
With the introduction of cable and satellite TV, British viewers can enjoy a wide
range of channels, both national and international. The most common network within
this category is Sky Television.
People with a television set have to buy an annual government licence, even if they
rent it. The BBC has to manage with the licence money plus profits obtained from the
sale of records, publications and programmes that are sold abroad.

3. MASS MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES

If mass media have been important for the development of any country, they have
been even more important in countries like the USA, where distances are enormous.
The extensive use of satellites has enabled many distant villages to receive updated
information covering the nation. It is not shocking, therefore, to find so many dishes in
American gardens.
Broadcasting in the USA is so great, with so many radio and TV stations, that the
task of summarising becomes incredibly huge. But we will try and mention the most
important aspects regarding radio and television.
The first radio programmes were made by the radio set’s manufacturers, so that
people found them more attractive to buy. Soon, firms began to use radio for advertising
goods they wanted to sell, sponsoring the programmes. This practice became well
established and used for television, when it was widely available. Now there are several
competing TV and radio networks, with advertisers sponsoring the programmes.
There are three great national networks:
ABC: American Broadcasting Company
CBS: Columbia Broadcasting System
NBC: National Broadcasting Company
As regards radio, the majority of radio stations are independent from both the large
networks and government. Normally, they specialise in a single type of output: popular
music, classical music, news, traffic information, education, etc... the national public
radio is mainly educational and is supported by donations and suscriptions of listeners.
North American TV networks have been much criticised for their excessive
triviality. The root of this problem comes from the fact that the media are financed by
advertising, and advertisers demand programmes which suit the largest audience
possible. However, criticism has also had some effect and some programmes have
turned into serious news and political discussions, press conferences, etc...
On the other hand, on public television, there are many educational programmes that
are considered to be among the best in the world. These TV programmes are watched in
schools and universities. It is believed that the images, together with the teacher’s
explanations and the notes students take, are three elements which help to retain the
message much better.
Finally, we should acknowledge that there are also many cable and satellite
channels, so that the choice of channels that Americans have is so wide that it explains
the great amount of time Americans spend watching TV.
Western Europe has regarded American experience with the media financed by
advertising as an example of something that should be avoided, although it is
paradoxically the opposite what is actually happening.

4.- TYPES OF TV BROADCASTS

We could classify TV broadcasts into three basic types of programmes. As a matter
of fact, this classification could apply to any country, not only the USA or the UK:
INFORMATIVE: within this category we include news bulletins or weather
forecasts.
DIDACTIC: especially documentaries of kinds, but also some educative and
entertaining children’s programmes (e.g. Sesame Street or Teletubbies).
ENTERTAINING: quiz programmes or shows ( who wants to be a millionaire or the
wheel of fortune); TV serials or soap operas ( Neighbours, Friends, Sex and The City);
talk shows ( the Oprah Winfrey Show or the Jay Leno Show); music programmes,
movies and cartoons ( The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, Family Man and so many
others).
As we can clearly deduce from this classification, it is precisely the group of
entertaining programmes the most diversified one, so as to satisfy the apparently
numerous entertaining needs of the audience. Thus, even if informative programmes are
extremely important and popular among spectators, television seems to be used as an
eminently entertaining means.

5.- ADVERTISING
Advertising is a form of mass communication intended, in its visual meaning, to
promote the sale of a product.
The term is also used for mass communication intended to influence people’s
opinion, to gain political support, to advance a particular cause or to elicit desires of the
advertiser in general, although these practices may involve different techniques,
measures and legal requirements.
The 19th century was a period of expansion in advertising, as well as in business.
The Industrial Revolution expanded the output of factories, and advertising helped this
development.
The growth of the ‘penny press’ and of magazines, combined with the improved
educational level among the Western nations, brought an increment in audience.
Improvements in transport made possible an increase in circulation and reduction in
price.
Another new medium, television, was added to the advertising scene immediately
after WWII. It had a spectacular growth in the US and became the second largest
advertising medium, after newspapers.
Basically, advertising media can be found in newspapers, magazines, television,
radio, direct mail, outdoor media or transit media such as signs or station posters.
Newspapers are the most widely used advertising medium. Ads appear in all kind of
newspapers, no matter if they are national, local or free-sheet publications.
Television advertisers buy units of time. The cost of a unit varies depending on the
size of the audience.
In order to measure television audiences, an audimeter is used, it is an electronic
device that is connected to all television receiving sets in a representative sample of
households. Another method, the coincidental telephone, is also used, it consists on
telephoning a certain number of households and asking if a television is turned on and,
if so, to what station or programme. The roster-recall method involves interviews in
which a roster of all station and programmes readily available in the area is presented to
a sample of people.
 Then, those audiences are classified by means of programme rating, share of
audience, projected audience or audience composition.
Many governments have considered radio an important medium for education and
public information and severely restricted its use for commercial advertising. However,
some governments, as the British, have permitted the establishment of commercial
stations in recent years. Radio advertisement time is sold and measured in the same way
as television ones.
Advertising is often characterised as a means of selling to the masses. That is why
the most efficient strategy is to unify segments of population and address advertising to
them. The basic variables of media strategy are reach, how many people are exposed to
the message, and frequency, how many times are they exposed.
Advertising requires that ideas should be given a visual form by artistic and graphic
design. It must communicate quickly and clearly and it should attract attention, lodge
the advertising message in the conscious or unconscious mind, induce an active,
positive attitude towards the message, instead of a passive one, and impress a
favourable memory of the message of the mind.
The success of advertising design depends on the topicality, on the quality of the
design and on psychological factors. These largely determine the reactions of the person
to whom the advertisement is addressed.

6.- LINGUISTIC AND SEMIOTIC ASPECTS

The process of public communication (through radio or TV) is much like the
process of everyday oral communication, where similar linguistic and semiotic aspects
occur:
THE ADDRESSER: (also called encoder or issuer), the participant who addresses a
message to another one. (e.g. a radio presenter)
THE ADDRESSEE: (also known as receiver or decoder), the participant who gets
the message. It can be, or not, the one selected by the issuer (e.g. a broad audience of a
radio broadcast)
THE MESSAGE: the information the addresser wants to transmit (e.g. an update on
a recent terrorist attack)
THE CHANNEL: the physical medium used to transmit the message (e.g. radio)
 THE CODE: the group of symbols and usage rules in which the message is
expressed. It can be linguistic or semiotic, but it has to be known by both the issuer and
the receiver, the issuer has to encode the message, the receiver will decode it.
CONTEXT: the overall situation surrounding the communication process (e.g. the
durable and current climate of insecurity around the world as a result of the numerous
terrorist attacks).
FEEDBACK: an immediate, and normally continuous, response or reaction
expected from the addressee and produced by the addresser. It is curious to notice that in
the process of public communication, feedback seems to be a less important element,
since it si frequently totally non-existent, unless there is an on-air addresser-addressee
discussion on TV or on the radio. However, in ordinary conversation, feedback is a key
aspect of communication.

7.- CONCLUSION
It is pretty obvious that nowadays radio, television and advertising are enormously
present in everybody’s lives, not only in English-speaking countries, but virtually
around the globe. That is why many people believe radio and television have had as
much impact on modern society as printing, that is, they have completely affected our
lives.
It is definitely important for teachers of English to have a wide knowledge about the
consequences of the mass media and advertising on the English-speaking societies; but
one should not forget that in turn it is also important to develop some notions on this
matter in students, for this can also be part of the socio-cultural competence that they
are expected to reach.
We can provide our students with texts from the English-speaking mass media
( newspaper articles, radio extracts...) in order to initiate and encourage them to work
with English texts of this type.
Finally, we should not neglect one particularly important point related to the so-
called transversal or cross-curricular topics. Consumers’ education, e.g., is a subject
which should be aroused in class in order to make students think about the dangers of
our own consumer society, in particular of advertising.

8.- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Bromhead. Life in Modern Britain and America. Longman, London, 1985
- Golding, P.The Mass Media. 1974
- Well. Mass Communication: A World View. 1974