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63-646: The Kaiser Broadcasting Corp. was an American broadcast media company that owned and operated television and radio stations in the United States from 1957 to 1977. Kaiser's involvement in broadcasting began in 1957 when the Henry J. Kaiser Company Ltd. , a multi-industrial conglomerate led by the eponymous industrialist, signed on KHVH and independent KHVH-TV (channel 13) in Honolulu, Hawaii , within two months of each other. Both stations were located in

126-424: A cable converter box with decoding equipment in homes , the latter also enables subscription -based channels, pay-tv and pay-per-view services. In his essay, John Durham Peters wrote that communication is a tool used for dissemination. Peters stated, " Dissemination is a lens—sometimes a usefully distorting one—that helps us tackle basic issues such as interaction, presence, and space and time ... on

189-482: A dish antenna . The term broadcast television can refer to the television programs of such networks. The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule . As with all technological endeavors, a number of technical terms and slang have developed. A list of these terms can be found at List of broadcasting terms . Television and radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable , often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having

252-517: A 36 percent equity stake in WUAB, which it held until United Artists sold off that station in 1977. WKBF-TV management and Kaiser executives conceded that, due to WUAB signing on within months of WKBF-TV, the station never turned a profit and could not find consistent viewership or advertiser support in the Cleveland market. In January 1977, Kaiser sold its stake in the station group to Field for

315-546: A 50–50 joint venture that took advantage of a loophole in a proposed FCC rule limiting one ownership group to no more than three television stations in the top 50 markets. The television station was reactivated as WKBG-TV on December 21, 1966. Kaiser started up two more stations, KBHK-TV in San Francisco and WKBF-TV in Cleveland , at the start of 1968. The company had intended to have both stations sign on at

378-450: A combined $ 42.625 million (equivalent to $ 214 million in 2023). This sale was part of a larger disposition of Kaiser Industries in which 90 percent of the conglomerate's assets were divested in 1977 alone. From 1965 onward, Kaiser Broadcasting consisted of stations of independent outlets that broadcast on the UHF band. In Detroit, Boston and Cleveland, Kaiser-owned stations were

441-411: A daily basis. Gordon was once asked by an interviewer if he were the last angry man. He responded that many citizens were angry with irresponsible government and corruption but that citizens didn't have a voice to speak-up. He said that "fate and circumstance have cast me in the role of the peoples advocate and the voice of dissent, and I like the role... I love it." According to author Tim Kiska, "He

504-598: A prior attempt to spin off KBSC-TV to a prospective subscription television operator failed, Kaiser sold off the station to a joint venture between Oak Industries and Jerry Perenchio in December 1975, becoming the genesis of the ON TV pay television service. Faced with mounting financial losses in Cleveland, Kaiser ceased all operations at WKBF-TV on April 25, 1975, selling off the majority of assets to United Artists Broadcasting , owner of WUAB . In turn, Kaiser purchased

567-442: A signal that will reach the target audience . Broadcasters typically arrange audiences into entire assemblies. In terms of media broadcasting, a radio show can gather a large number of followers who tune in every day to specifically listen to that specific disc jockey . The disc jockey follows the script for their radio show and just talks into the microphone . They do not expect immediate feedback from any listeners. The message

630-659: A significant emphasis on local programming, with some of the more popular programs syndicated to other Kaiser stations. These included shows hosted by Joe Dolan in San Francisco, Alan Douglas in Cleveland, Hy Lit in Philadelphia and Lou Gordon in Detroit. Gordon's WKBD-TV show proved to be the most successful, with all the Kaiser stations eventually carrying the program. This internal networking practice continued into

693-722: A single station or television station , it is sent through the studio/transmitter link to the transmitter and hence from the television antenna located on the radio masts and towers out to the world. Programming may also come through a communications satellite , played either live or recorded for later transmission. Networks of stations may simulcast the same programming at the same time, originally via microwave link, now usually by satellite. Distribution to stations or networks may also be through physical media, such as magnetic tape , compact disc (CD), DVD , and sometimes other formats. Usually these are included in another broadcast, such as when electronic news gathering (ENG) returns

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756-476: A story to the station for inclusion on a news programme . The final leg of broadcast distribution is how the signal gets to the listener or viewer. It may come over the air as with a radio station or television station to an antenna and radio receiver , or may come through cable television or cable radio (or wireless cable ) via the station or directly from a network. The Internet may also bring either internet radio or streaming media television to

819-517: A suburb of Philadelphia . WKBD-TV's debut was auspicious as the station's schedule consisted entirely of live sports play-by-play , a first in American broadcasting. KMTW-TV took to the air in the Los Angeles market on June 29, 1966. Later renamed KBSC-TV, this station proved to a weak point in the chain after failing to attain a local Phonevision franchise and became uncompetitive against

882-494: A valve replacement in the mid-1970s due to rheumatic fever . On June 26, 1977, WKBD aired The Lou Gordon Tribute: Man of Conscience, Man of Truth , a clip show of the best moments of the program, hosted by NBC 's Tom Snyder . The 90 minute program featured many good wishes and interviews from people like Senator Carl Levin to the preternatural "Joey the Hitman". According to Snyder, Gordon devoted his life to "standing up for

945-581: A wireless communication using the then-newly discovered phenomenon of radio waves , showing by 1901 that they could be transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean. This was the start of wireless telegraphy by radio. Audio radio broadcasting began experimentally in the first decade of the 20th century. On 17 December 1902, a transmission from the Marconi station in Glace Bay , Nova Scotia, Canada, became

1008-518: Is a loving God." Gordon expressed his strong opinions while exposing elements of phoniness. His show featured controversial "gotcha" moments (uncommon at the time) which exposed guests when they gave statements that Gordon knew, through research, were not true. In addition to the research from his staff, Gordon read seven newspapers per day and two books per week. Several of the papers were unavailable locally, so were flown into Detroit via commercial airliner and delivered to Gordon's office via taxi cab on

1071-726: Is broadcast across airwaves throughout the community, but the listeners cannot always respond immediately, especially since many radio shows are recorded prior to the actual air time. Conversely, receivers can select opt-in or opt-out of getting broadcast messages using an Excel file, offering them control over the information they receive Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering , and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology , which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential parts of broadcast engineering, being their own subsets of electrical engineering. Broadcast engineering involves both

1134-502: Is now available for educational and personal use. Many guests got so frustrated with Gordon's hard-hitting style that they simply walked off the show in the middle of the interview. In one controversial episode, which originated from WKBS-TV in Philadelphia , mayor Frank Rizzo walked out of an interview with Lou because Rizzo thought the questions were unfair. Gordon was one of the first journalists to come out publicly against

1197-401: Is particularly true of performances of musical artists on radio when they visit for an in-studio concert performance. Similar situations have occurred in television production (" The Cosby Show is recorded in front of a live television studio audience ") and news broadcasting . A broadcast may be distributed through several physical means. If coming directly from the radio studio at

1260-593: Is referred to as over the air (OTA) or terrestrial broadcasting and in most countries requires a broadcasting license . Transmissions using a wire or cable, like cable television (which also retransmits OTA stations with their consent ), are also considered broadcasts but do not necessarily require a license (though in some countries, a license is required). In the 2000s, transmissions of television and radio programs via streaming digital technology have increasingly been referred to as broadcasting as well. In 1894, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi began developing

1323-476: Is that the public may learn the outcome of an event before the recording is broadcast, which may be a spoiler . Prerecording may be used to prevent announcers from deviating from an officially approved script during a live radio broadcast, as occurred with propaganda broadcasts from Germany in the 1940s and with Radio Moscow in the 1980s. Many events are advertised as being live, although they are often recorded live (sometimes called " live -to- tape "). This

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1386-505: Is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium , but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves ), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with AM radio , which came into popular use around 1920 with the spread of vacuum tube radio transmitters and receivers . Before this, most implementations of electronic communication (early radio , telephone , and telegraph ) were one-to-one , with

1449-714: Is usually associated with radio and television , though more recently, both radio and television transmissions have begun to be distributed by cable ( cable television ). The receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively small subset; the point is that anyone with the appropriate receiving technology and equipment (e.g., a radio or television set) can receive the signal. The field of broadcasting includes both government-managed services such as public radio , community radio and public television , and private commercial radio and commercial television . The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, title 47, part 97 defines broadcasting as "transmissions intended for reception by

1512-421: Is varied continuously with respect to the information) or digital (information is encoded as a set of discrete values). Historically, there have been several methods used for broadcasting electronic media audio and video to the general public: There are several means of providing financial support for continuous broadcasting: Broadcasters may rely on a combination of these business models . For example, in

1575-591: The Hawaiian Village Hotel , which Kaiser also owned and from which the call sign was derived. Kaiser purchased KULA-TV (channel 4) on May 8, 1958, changed its calls to KHVH-TV on July 16, 1958, and returned the original KHVH-TV license to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Kaiser also acquired San Francisco station KBAY-FM in 1960, renaming it KFOG-FM and implementing a beautiful music format. Later in

1638-654: The NBA 's Detroit Pistons , the NHL 's Detroit Red Wings and other area college teams. Many of the Kaiser stations purchased syndication rights for Star Trek before other large market stations as counterprogramming against evening news programs on the Big Three networks and, in the case of WKBF-TV, were aired in the same episode order as originally broadcast on NBC. Stations are listed in alphabetical order by state and city of license . Broadcast media Broadcasting

1701-774: The Nipkow disk and thus became known as the mechanical television . It formed the basis of experimental broadcasts done by the British Broadcasting Corporation beginning on 30 September 1929. However, for most of the 20th century, televisions depended on the cathode-ray tube invented by Karl Braun . The first version of such a television to show promise was produced by Philo Farnsworth and demonstrated to his family on 7 September 1927. After World War II , interrupted experiments resumed and television became an important home entertainment broadcast medium, using VHF and UHF spectrum. Satellite broadcasting

1764-536: The Vietnam War (in 1964, prior to the 1965 Marines invasion) and was also one of the first commentators to publicly accuse President Richard Nixon of wrongdoing in the Watergate scandal . Gordon considered being on Nixon's Enemies List as a "Badge of Honor". In early 1977, shortly before his death, Gordon interviewed Chuck Colson , who was on tour in support of his new book, Born Again . As suggested by

1827-449: The studio and transmitter aspects (the entire airchain ), as well as remote broadcasts . Every station has a broadcast engineer , though one may now serve an entire station group in a city. In small media markets the engineer may work on a contract basis for one or more stations as needed. Lou Gordon (journalist) The show's theme song was MacArthur Park , composed by Jimmy Webb and performed by Richard Harris ;

1890-607: The 1960s, Kaiser explored new opportunities to expand its broadcast holdings on the U.S. mainland : construction permits were secured for multiple ultra high frequency (UHF) stations, all in large markets, and KHVH-TV was sold off to help fund this expansion. The first two of these stations signed on during 1965: WKBD-TV in Detroit went on the air in January, followed nine months later by WKBS-TV in Burlington, New Jersey ,

1953-401: The 1967–68 Detroit newspaper strike, Gordon published Scope Magazine in order to fill the news-hole made by a lack of daily newspapers in Detroit. Lou Gordon was the president of Scope Publishing, as well as a writer, and published the weekly until the Detroit newspaper strike ended. Scope Magazine also featured his wife, Jackie, as advice columnist. Among the people interviewed by Gordon

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2016-705: The United States, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS, television) supplement public membership subscriptions and grants with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is allocated bi-annually by Congress. US public broadcasting corporate and charitable grants are generally given in consideration of underwriting spots which differ from commercial advertisements in that they are governed by specific FCC restrictions, which prohibit

2079-421: The advocacy of a product or a "call to action". The first regular television broadcasts started in 1937. Broadcasts can be classified as recorded or live . The former allows correcting errors, and removing superfluous or undesired material, rearranging it, applying slow-motion and repetitions, and other techniques to enhance the program. However, some live events like sports television can include some of

2142-405: The agenda of any future communication theory in general". Dissemination focuses on the message being relayed from one main source to one large audience without the exchange of dialogue in between. It is possible for the message to be changed or corrupted by government officials once the main source releases it. There is no way to predetermine how the larger population or audience will absorb

2205-531: The aspects including slow-motion clips of important goals/hits, etc., in between the live television telecast. American radio-network broadcasters habitually forbade prerecorded broadcasts in the 1930s and 1940s, requiring radio programs played for the Eastern and Central time zones to be repeated three hours later for the Pacific time zone (See: Effects of time on North American broadcasting ). This restriction

2268-439: The central high-powered broadcast tower transmits a high-frequency electromagnetic wave to numerous receivers. The high-frequency wave sent by the tower is modulated with a signal containing visual or audio information. The receiver is then tuned so as to pick up the high-frequency wave and a demodulator is used to retrieve the signal containing the visual or audio information. The broadcast signal can be either analog (signal

2331-557: The concept altogether. After Lou's death, Jackie Gordon acted in television commercials, and performed voice-over work for various advertising campaigns. She also held the position of Consumer Advocate for Great Scott Supermarkets. Jackie was also head of Public Relations for the Jacobson's department store chain, and Public Relations Director for the Detroit Institute of Technology . Upon her retirement, she rejoined WKBD on

2394-463: The country, as well as Time magazine. In an ironic footnote to all the publicity and political fallout surrounding the Romney interview, the staff at WKBD did not initially realize the scoop they had on their hands. The station was still in its infancy (first air date only two and a half years earlier in January 1965) and was always looking for cost efficiencies. One of those cost-cutting directives

2457-570: The development of radio for the wartime purposes of aircraft and land communication, radio navigation, and radar. Development of stereo FM broadcasting of radio began in the 1930s in the United States and the 1970s in the United Kingdom, displacing AM as the dominant commercial standard. On 25 March 1925, John Logie Baird demonstrated the transmission of moving pictures at the London department store Selfridges . Baird's device relied upon

2520-566: The first independents in their respective markets. At a time when viewer interest in watching UHF television was still at its infancy, the Kaiser group programmed aggressively with movies, off-network programs, and children's shows. While the initial plan of creating a " fourth network " backed by this station group never came to fruition, many of these stations boasted successful local programs, several of which found varying degrees of success through syndication. WKBD-TV's early investment in sports programming enabled them to secure broadcast rights for

2583-423: The general public, either direct or relayed". Private or two-way telecommunications transmissions do not qualify under this definition. For example, amateur ("ham") and citizens band (CB) radio operators are not allowed to broadcast. As defined, transmitting and broadcasting are not the same. Transmission of radio and television programs from a radio or television station to home receivers by radio waves

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2646-412: The general public: The world's technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks more than quadrupled during the two decades from 1986 to 2007, from 432 exabytes of (optimally compressed) information, to 1.9 zettabytes . This is the information equivalent of 55 newspapers per person per day in 1986, and 175 newspapers per person per day by 2007. In a broadcast system,

2709-432: The greatest brainwashing that anybody can get.' One word, brainwashing, [emphasis added] and his presidential campaign would never recover. Worse, that single, politically-charged word became not just the shorthand for his aborted White House run, but also the bumper sticker for his entire life's work." The controversial interview with Romney landed Gordon and his Lou Gordon Program on the front page of newspapers across

2772-448: The instantaneous signal voltage varies continuously with the pressure of the sound waves . In contrast, a digital signal represents the original time-varying quantity as a sampled sequence of quantized values which imposes some bandwidth and dynamic range constraints on the representation. In general usage, broadcasting most frequently refers to the transmission of information and entertainment programming from various sources to

2835-523: The market's established seven other independent stations both on VHF and UHF. Also in June 1966, Kaiser purchased the broadcast assets of Harvey Radio Laboratories, including WXHR AM / FM /TV. The television station had been off the air since 1956 but the license remained active and was purchased by Harvey Radio in 1959. The Boston Globe then purchased a 50 percent stake in the Boston stations, creating

2898-455: The message intended for a single recipient. The term broadcasting evolved from its use as the agricultural method of sowing seeds in a field by casting them broadly about. It was later adopted for describing the widespread distribution of information by printed materials or by telegraph. Examples applying it to "one-to-many" radio transmissions of an individual station to multiple listeners appeared as early as 1898. Over-the-air broadcasting

2961-405: The message. They can choose to listen, analyze, or ignore it. Dissemination in communication is widely used in the world of broadcasting. Broadcasting focuses on getting a message out and it is up to the general public to do what they wish with it. Peters also states that broadcasting is used to address an open-ended destination. There are many forms of broadcasting, but they all aim to distribute

3024-568: The mid-1970s when "The Ghoul", a WKBF-TV horror host portrayed by Ron Sweed , was syndicated to WKBD-TV, WKBG-TV, KBHK-TV and later WFLD-TV (the latter after Kaiser purchased majority control). Beginning in 1968, Kaiser committed to launching news services throughout the chain, many of which boasted late-evening newscasts an hour earlier than network affiliates. Kaiser invested approximately $ 6 million (equivalent to $ 47.1 million in 2023) into these news departments, with emphasis given to WKBF-TV, WKBS-TV and WKBD-TV; WKBG-TV's news operation

3087-523: The portion of the song used for the show's theme was the long, jazzy climactic orchestral break approximately 3/4 way through the recording. The show was co-hosted by Lou's wife, Jackie Gordon (1932-1999), who would read questions sent by viewers to Lou. Lou would then give his opinions on the viewer's question. In addition to his television program, Gordon wrote a twice-weekly column for The Detroit News , which usually reflected, or elaborated on, topics recently featured on his television program. During

3150-623: The radio stations) while Kaiser acquired a 77.5 percent majority stake in WFLD-TV, Field's Chicago station. Completed in May 1973, the Kaiser/Field partnership was named Kaiser Broadcasting Co. (Kaiser Co.) and included KBHK-TV, WFLD-TV, WKBD-TV, WKBS-TV, WKBF-TV and majority control of WKBG-TV. The Boston Globe sold its stake in WKBG-TV to Kaiser in 1974, with the station renamed WLVI. After

3213-423: The recipient, especially with multicasting allowing the signal and bandwidth to be shared. The term broadcast network is often used to distinguish networks that broadcast over-the-air television signals that can be received using a tuner inside a television set with a television antenna from so-called networks that are broadcast only via cable television ( cablecast ) or satellite television that uses

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3276-424: The same time on January 2, 1968, and arranged for executives to be present at both facilities for the occasion, but repeated construction delays at the transmitter site due to inclement weather prevented WKBF-TV from signing on until January 19. Like WKBG-TV, WKBF-TV was jointly owned by Kaiser and Superior Broadcasting Company (which attained the station's construction permit) for its first four years of operation, but

3339-425: The title of his book, Colson was " born again " as a recently converted Christian . During the interview, Gordon asked Colson, "Do you suppose, Mr. Colson, that God caused your father to die while you were in prison as a punishment for your lifetime of sins?" Colson wrote later that as the two stared at each other, "absolute contempt passed between us," but Colson answered, "I don't believe that about my dad, Lou. Ours

3402-547: The voiceless, representing the little man and being the people's advocate." Following Gordon's death, WKBD attempted to find a worthy successor—in November 1977, the station launched a new weekly program hosted by conservative radio talk show host Barry Farber , but it was only short-lived. WKBD later attempted a televised pilot with Detroit News journalist Mike Wendland (August 1978) and a short-lived series hosted by Boston attorney Joe Oteri (1978–1979), before giving up on

3465-538: The world's first radio message to cross the Atlantic from North America. In 1904, a commercial service was established to transmit nightly news summaries to subscribing ships, which incorporated them into their onboard newspapers. World War I accelerated the development of radio for military communications . After the war, commercial radio AM broadcasting began in the 1920s and became an important mass medium for entertainment and news. World War II again accelerated

3528-534: Was Detroit's Mike Wallace , a broadcast cop who cowered before no one. The bigger the interview, the tougher he got. Most interviewers bowed and scraped before Bob Hope , but Gordon asked him about his defense of President Nixon during the Vietnam era. Gordon questioned George Wallace 's sanity – to his face. Gordon was, by far, the most feared man in television, maybe in the history of the local medium." Lou Gordon died May 24, 1977, of heart failure , stemming from

3591-454: Was dropped for special occasions, as in the case of the German dirigible airship Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, New Jersey , in 1937. During World War II , prerecorded broadcasts from war correspondents were allowed on U.S. radio. In addition, American radio programs were recorded for playback by Armed Forces Radio radio stations around the world. A disadvantage of recording first

3654-453: Was especially dire, having lost nearly $ 11 million over the course of four years. The unilateral move to cull local newscasts was met with doubts and concerns in the industry over the profitability of UHF stations given Kaiser's reputation as a well-equipped broadcaster. On May 26, 1972, Kaiser sold a 22.5 percent minority stake in their broadcasting holdings to Chicago -based Field Communications (excluded from this were KBSC-TV and

3717-546: Was formally recognized as "a Kaiser station" equally taking advantage of the FCC's aforementioned "top 50 market" ownership limit. The Globe reduced its ownership stake in the Boston stations to 10 percent, also in 1968. In September 1967, the Kaiser Broadcasting Corporation announced plans for live television network operations by 1970. Excluding KBSC-TV, all stations in the Kaiser chain placed

3780-495: Was initiated in the 1960s and moved into general industry usage in the 1970s, with DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellites) emerging in the 1980s. Originally, all broadcasting was composed of analog signals using analog transmission techniques but in the 2000s, broadcasters switched to digital signals using digital transmission . An analog signal is any continuous signal representing some other quantity, i.e., analogous to another quantity. For example, in an analog audio signal ,

3843-482: Was the last to launch on December 1, 1969, while KBHK-TV's attempt at a 10 p.m. newscast failed earlier in the year. The high costs incurred, in addition to a weak economic picture nationally and a marketplace reluctant to embrace UHF, led Kaiser to suspend news operations throughout the entire chain on November 12, 1970. Out of the five stations with a news department, only WKBD-TV turned a profit but still had ratings much lower than had been expected. WKBG-TV's picture

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3906-587: Was three-term Michigan Governor George W. Romney , whom he interviewed on August 31, 1967. Boston Globe reporter Neil Swidey said that "for more than a year, Romney had been talked about as the Republicans' best chance for winning the White House in 1968. So, during that August interview, when [Romney] was asked by Lou to explain his inconsistent position on the [Vietnam] war, Romney replied, 'Well you know Lou, when I came back from Vietnam, I had just had

3969-478: Was to routinely wipe and re-use videotape. With no hint of the firestorm that was about to come, the Gordon show reel was simply put on the shelf of available videotape and quickly re-recorded with another local show. In the days that followed the national attention from the Romney interview, the station officials mounted an all-hands search for the segment, but it remained missing until it surfaced in recent years and

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