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87-617: Metromedia (also often MetroMedia ) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMont Television Network ceased operations and its owned-and-operated stations were spun off into a separate company. Metromedia sold its television stations to News Corporation in 1985 (which News Corp. then used to form

174-498: A focus group study claimed Craft was "too old, too unattractive and not deferential to men" in the eyes of viewers. Craft declined the reassignment and subsequently resigned from the station. Craft initially won her case, though she lost on appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court . On May 22, 1986, Metromedia acquired a 6.5% stake in Orion Pictures Corporation ; a movie and television production studio. By December,

261-449: A semi-official release in 1994 and then an official release in 2008. According to author David Buckley, possessing a copy of the bootleg was the test of a "proper Bowie fan". On July 7, 1978, KMET aired Bruce Springsteen 's concert live from the Roxy . Many songs from that broadcast were included on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's album Live/1975–85 . KMET was a member of

348-427: A "radio station" as a government-licensed AM or FM station; an HD Radio (primary or multicast) station; an internet stream of an existing government-licensed station; one of the satellite radio channels from XM Satellite Radio or Sirius Satellite Radio ; or, potentially, a station that is not government licensed. AM stations were the earliest broadcasting stations to be developed. AM refers to amplitude modulation ,

435-494: A business opportunity to sell advertising or subscriptions to a broader audience. This is more efficient than broadcasting to a single country, because domestic entertainment programs and information gathered by domestic news staff can be cheaply repackaged for non-domestic audiences. Governments typically have different motivations for funding international broadcasting. One clear reason is for ideological, or propaganda reasons. Many government-owned stations portray their nation in

522-511: A futuristic billboard campaign called "Hollywood as seen from Mulholland Drive in the year 2525." Artist Neon Park did ads for KMET as well as the famous billboards. With this new programming design and branded marketing, in 1975 KMET became the number one radio station in Los Angeles. http://www.shadoe.com/kroq-kmet-fm.html KMET's station identification jingle , "A Little Bit of Heaven, Ninety-Four Point Seven - KMET - Tweedle-Dee"

609-696: A group of progressive-rock stations that emerged across the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with KSAN , WNEW-FM in New York City, WMMR in Philadelphia, WBCN in Boston, WMMS in Cleveland, and KQRS-FM in Minneapolis. The 1978 movie FM , written by former employee Ezra Sacks, was reportedly loosely based on KMET. The lead character was based around Mike Herrington ,

696-463: A kind of vacuum tube , was invented in 1904 by the English physicist John Ambrose Fleming . He developed a device that he called an "oscillation valve," because it passes current in only one direction. The heated filament, or cathode , was capable of thermionic emission of electrons that would flow to the plate (or anode ) when it was at a higher voltage. Electrons, however, could not pass in

783-546: A mode of broadcasting radio waves by varying the amplitude of the carrier signal in response to the amplitude of the signal to be transmitted. The medium-wave band is used worldwide for AM broadcasting. Europe also uses the long wave band. In response to the growing popularity of FM stereo radio stations in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some North American stations began broadcasting in AM stereo , though this never gained popularity and very few receivers were ever sold. The signal

870-592: A national boundary. In other cases, a broadcast may be considered "pirate" due to the type of content, its transmission format, or the transmitting power (wattage) of the station, even if the transmission is not technically illegal (such as a webcast or an amateur radio transmission). Pirate radio stations are sometimes referred to as bootleg radio or clandestine stations. Digital radio broadcasting has emerged, first in Europe (the UK in 1995 and Germany in 1999), and later in

957-426: A positive, non-threatening way. This could be to encourage business investment in or tourism to the nation. Another reason is to combat a negative image produced by other nations or internal dissidents, or insurgents. Radio RSA , the broadcasting arm of the apartheid South African government, is an example of this. A third reason is to promote the ideology of the broadcaster. For example, a program on Radio Moscow from

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1044-533: A public audience . In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio station , while in satellite radio the radio waves are broadcast by a satellite in Earth orbit. To receive the content the listener must have a broadcast radio receiver ( radio ). Stations are often affiliated with a radio network that provides content in a common radio format , either in broadcast syndication or simulcast , or both. The encoding of

1131-634: A radio broadcast depends on whether it uses an analog or digital signal . Analog radio broadcasts use one of two types of radio wave modulation : amplitude modulation for AM radio , or frequency modulation for FM radio . Newer, digital radio stations transmit in several different digital audio standards, such as DAB ( Digital Audio Broadcasting ), HD radio , or DRM ( Digital Radio Mondiale ). The earliest radio stations were radiotelegraphy systems and did not carry audio. For audio broadcasts to be possible, electronic detection and amplification devices had to be incorporated. The thermionic valve ,

1218-460: A significant threat to the AM broadcasting industry. It required purchase of a special receiver. The frequencies used, 42 to 50 MHz, were not those used today. The change to the current frequencies, 88 to 108 MHz, began after the end of World War II and was to some extent imposed by AM broadcasters as an attempt to cripple what was by now realized to be a potentially serious threat. FM radio on

1305-640: A song, from artists such as Bob Dylan , John Lennon , Pink Floyd , The Doors or Led Zeppelin —that underscored his point. KMET often mixed counterculture comedy skits by the Firesign Theatre and the Credibility Gap with the music. The Credibility Gap broadcast satirical skits during Pasadena's Tournament of Roses Parade in the 1970s. Another KMET staple at the time was Dr. Demento , whose variety show began on KPPC-FM. The Dr. Demento Show moved to KMET-FM in 1972 and soon became

1392-417: A state of limbo in 2002 due to regulatory issues. Beginning in 1967, Metromedia's television stations began utilizing a sans-serif typeface for their on-air logo. The typeface was a proprietary one called Metromedia Television Alphabet , which was as distinctive as the typeface employed by Group W unit of Westinghouse Electric for its TV and radio stations beginning in 1963. Metromedia Television Alphabet

1479-426: Is all that is necessary for a narrowband FM signal. The 200 kHz bandwidth allowed room for ±75 kHz signal deviation from the assigned frequency, plus guard bands to reduce or eliminate adjacent channel interference. The larger bandwidth allows for broadcasting a 15 kHz bandwidth audio signal plus a 38 kHz stereo "subcarrier" —a piggyback signal that rides on the main signal. Additional unused capacity

1566-421: Is little affected by daily changes in the ionosphere, so broadcasters need not reduce power at night to avoid interference with other transmitters. FM refers to frequency modulation , and occurs on VHF airwaves in the frequency range of 88 to 108 MHz everywhere except Japan and Russia . Russia, like the former Soviet Union , uses 65.9 to 74 MHz frequencies in addition to the world standard. Japan uses

1653-472: Is sometimes mandatory, such as in New Zealand, which uses 700 kHz spacing (previously 800 kHz). The improved fidelity made available was far in advance of the audio equipment of the 1940s, but wide interchannel spacing was chosen to take advantage of the noise-suppressing feature of wideband FM. Bandwidth of 200 kHz is not needed to accommodate an audio signal — 20 kHz to 30 kHz

1740-453: Is subject to interference from electrical storms ( lightning ) and other electromagnetic interference (EMI). One advantage of AM radio signal is that it can be detected (turned into sound) with simple equipment. If a signal is strong enough, not even a power source is needed; building an unpowered crystal radio receiver was a common childhood project in the early decades of AM broadcasting. AM broadcasts occur on North American airwaves in

1827-538: Is the automation of radio stations. Some stations now operate without direct human intervention by using entirely pre-recorded material sequenced by computer control. KMET (FM) As with many FM stations at the time, KMET featured an automated format (with female voices and middle-of-the-road music). The origin of KMET's freeform rock music format came about due to events at a rival radio station. In 1967, popular Top 40 disc jockey Tom Donahue (Rock Radio Hall of Fame inductee 2015) and his wife Raechel took

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1914-447: Is used by some broadcasters to transmit utility functions such as background music for public areas, GPS auxiliary signals, or financial market data. The AM radio problem of interference at night was addressed in a different way. At the time FM was set up, the available frequencies were far higher in the spectrum than those used for AM radio - by a factor of approximately 100. Using these frequencies meant that even at far higher power,

2001-1326: The DuMont Broadcasting Corporation. The company's headquarters were co-located with WABD in the former DuMont Tele-Centre (which was later renamed the Metromedia Telecenter) in New York. In 1957, DuMont Broadcasting purchased two New York area radio stations, WNEW (now WBBR ) and WHFI (later WNEW-FM and WWFS), and later that year changed its name to the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation to distance itself from its former parent company. The following year, Paramount sold its shares in Metropolitan Broadcasting to Washington-based investor John Kluge , enough to give Kluge controlling interest. Kluge installed himself as chairman, and later increased his holdings to 75 percent. WABD's call letters were later changed to WNEW-TV to match its new radio sisters. Metropolitan Broadcasting's first acquisitions included WHK-AM - FM in Cleveland (in 1958);

2088-613: The Ice Capades (in 1963) and the Harlem Globetrotters (in 1967). Later in the decade Metromedia opened a television production center in Los Angeles, known as Metromedia Square , which served as the studio facility for numerous network programs. Metromedia also owned a TV production and distribution company called Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC), established in 1968 from Wolper Productions . MPC produced and syndicated various programs and TV movies, most notably

2175-570: The Marconi Research Centre 2MT at Writtle near Chelmsford, England . A famous broadcast from Marconi's New Street Works factory in Chelmsford was made by the famous soprano Dame Nellie Melba on June 15, 1920, where she sang two arias and her famous trill. She was the first artist of international renown to participate in direct radio broadcasts. The 2MT station began to broadcast regular entertainment in 1922. The BBC

2262-704: The Top 40 AM stations. The disc jockeys talked far less, and in a more personal, relaxed manner. They voiced their opinions on controversial topics, such as the killing of whales, the spraying of marijuana with the toxic chemical Paraquat , the Vietnam War and civil rights , and most importantly they chose the music that they played on the air. Emblematic of this approach was longtime KMET late-night host Jim Ladd (fired October 25, 2011 by one-time rival KLOS-FM , later hosting his own show on SiriusXM , now deceased), whose laid-back philosophical ruminations usually led into

2349-458: The game show Truth or Consequences and the 1972-86 version of The Merv Griffin Show . Metromedia spent the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s increasing its television and radio station portfolio, and continued to expand its syndication business. In 1976, it teamed up with MTM Enterprises to launch a first-run syndicated variety show. Metromedia entered the record business in 1969 with

2436-516: The medium wave frequency range of 525 to 1,705 kHz (known as the "standard broadcast band"). The band was expanded in the 1990s by adding nine channels from 1,605 to 1,705 kHz. Channels are spaced every 10 kHz in the Americas , and generally every 9 kHz everywhere else. AM transmissions cannot be ionospheric propagated during the day due to strong absorption in the D-layer of

2523-702: The 1960s to the 1980s was What is Communism? A second reason is to advance a nation's foreign policy interests and agenda by disseminating its views on international affairs or on the events in particular parts of the world. During the Cold War the American Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty and Indian Radio AIR were founded to broadcast news from "behind the Iron Curtain " that was otherwise being censored and promote dissent and occasionally, to disseminate disinformation . Currently,

2610-593: The 76 to 90 MHz frequency band. Edwin Howard Armstrong invented wide-band FM radio in the early 1930s to overcome the problem of radio-frequency interference (RFI), which plagued AM radio reception. At the same time, greater fidelity was made possible by spacing stations further apart in the radio frequency spectrum. Instead of 10 kHz apart, as on the AM band in the US, FM channels are 200 kHz (0.2 MHz) apart. In other countries, greater spacing

2697-812: The DuMont Television Network, radio personality Clarke Ingram has suggested that the Fox network is a revival or at least a linear descendant of DuMont. Kluge also sold Metromedia's outdoor advertising firm, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Ice Capades in 1985, its cellular phone and yellow pages divisions to the Southwestern Bell Corporation (now known as the second incarnation of AT&T, due to SBC's acquisition of AT&T Corporation in 2005) under

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2784-758: The FM underground rock sound to KMPX in San Francisco, and soon, along with L.A. Top 40 personality B. Mitchel Reed , to KPPC-FM in Pasadena. Both stations quickly became popular with their innovative formats, and brought the owners more success than they encountered before. But it was to be short-lived. After conflicts with the stations’ owners, the Donahues, Reed and the rest of the KPPC and KMPX staff left both stations and went on strike . As prospects for resolving

2871-745: The Foster & Kleiser outdoor advertising firm (in 1959); and KOVR in Stockton, California , Benedict Gimbel Jr. -owned WIP- AM - FM in Philadelphia , WTVH-TV (now WHOI ) in Peoria, Illinois , and WTVP television (now WAND ) in Decatur, Illinois (all in 1960). In 1961 Metropolitan purchased KMBC- AM - TV in Kansas City, Missouri . Later that year the company's name was changed to Metromedia ;

2958-436: The Metropolitan Broadcasting name was retained for its broadcasting division until 1967. In separate 1963 deals the company expanded into Los Angeles , buying first KTTV and later KLAC and the original KLAC-FM (now KIIS-FM ). The company would later engineer a swap of FM facilities; the second KLAC-FM (later KMET and now KTWV ) was established in 1965. Metromedia also entered the realm of live entertainment by purchasing

3045-506: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission designates the 88–92 megahertz band in the U.S. for non-profit or educational programming, with advertising prohibited. In addition, formats change in popularity as time passes and technology improves. Early radio equipment only allowed program material to be broadcast in real time, known as live broadcasting. As technology for sound recording improved, an increasing proportion of broadcast programming used pre-recorded material. A current trend

3132-759: The US and Canada , just two services, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio exist. Both XM and Sirius are owned by Sirius XM Satellite Radio , which was formed by the merger of XM and Sirius on July 29, 2008, whereas in Canada , XM Radio Canada and Sirius Canada remained separate companies until 2010. Worldspace in Africa and Asia, and MobaHO! in Japan and the ROK were two unsuccessful satellite radio operators which have gone out of business. Radio program formats differ by country, regulation, and markets. For instance,

3219-580: The US operates similar services aimed at Cuba ( Radio y Televisión Martí ) and the People's Republic of China , Vietnam , Laos and North Korea ( Radio Free Asia ). Besides ideological reasons, many stations are run by religious broadcasters and are used to provide religious education, religious music, or worship service programs. For example, Vatican Radio , established in 1931, broadcasts such programs. Another station, such as HCJB or Trans World Radio will carry brokered programming from evangelists. In

3306-628: The United States and Canada have chosen to use HD radio , an in-band on-channel system that puts digital broadcasts at frequencies adjacent to the analog broadcast. HD Radio is owned by a consortium of private companies that is called iBiquity . An international non-profit consortium Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), has introduced the public domain DRM system, which is used by a relatively small number of broadcasters worldwide. Broadcasters in one country have several reasons to reach out to an audience in other countries. Commercial broadcasters may simply see

3393-589: The United States came from KDKA itself: the results of the Harding/Cox Presidential Election . The Montreal station that became CFCF began broadcast programming on May 20, 1920, and the Detroit station that became WWJ began program broadcasts beginning on August 20, 1920, although neither held a license at the time. In 1920, wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in the UK from

3480-643: The United States, France, the Netherlands, South Africa, and many other countries worldwide. The simplest system is named DAB Digital Radio, for Digital Audio Broadcasting , and uses the public domain EUREKA 147 (Band III) system. DAB is used mainly in the UK and South Africa. Germany and the Netherlands use the DAB and DAB+ systems, and France uses the L-Band system of DAB Digital Radio. The broadcasting regulators of

3567-463: The breaking news and views of the day. The progressive format thrived on KMET throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s, at one time becoming one of the most successful FM stations in the country. But changing trends in music, culture and society, and the advent of strict formatting in radio eventually turned KMET into a relic. The station experienced staff turnover, radio consultants, tight playlists and an increasingly-impersonal approach typical of

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3654-728: The case of the Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , both governmental and religious programming is provided. Extensions of traditional radio-wave broadcasting for audio broadcasting in general include cable radio , local wire television networks , DTV radio , satellite radio , and Internet radio via streaming media on the Internet . The enormous entry costs of space-based satellite transmitters and restrictions on available radio spectrum licenses has restricted growth of Satellite radio broadcasts. In

3741-669: The college teamed up with WLOE in Boston to have students broadcast programs. By 1931, a majority of U.S. households owned at least one radio receiver . In line to ITU Radio Regulations (article1.61) each broadcasting station shall be classified by the service in which it operates permanently or temporarily. Broadcasting by radio takes several forms. These include AM and FM stations. There are several subtypes, namely commercial broadcasting , non-commercial educational (NCE) public broadcasting and non-profit varieties as well as community radio , student-run campus radio stations, and hospital radio stations can be found throughout

3828-473: The comedy Oh, Madeline as The Madeline Kahn Show for first-run syndication, but the deal never came to fruition. On May 4, 1985, Kluge announced the sale of Metromedia's television stations, and Metromedia Producers Corp., to News Corporation (owned by Australian newspaper publisher Rupert Murdoch ) and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (owned jointly by Murdoch and Marvin Davis ) for $ 3.5 billion. With

3915-714: The company and the Carver Corporation later cut the number of models produced before discontinuing production completely. As well as on the medium wave bands, amplitude modulation (AM) is also used on the shortwave and long wave bands. Shortwave is used largely for national broadcasters, international propaganda, or religious broadcasting organizations. Shortwave transmissions can have international or inter-continental range depending on atmospheric conditions. Long-wave AM broadcasting occurs in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The ground wave propagation at these frequencies

4002-467: The country at night. During the night, absorption largely disappears and permits signals to travel to much more distant locations via ionospheric reflections. However, fading of the signal can be severe at night. AM radio transmitters can transmit audio frequencies up to 15 kHz (now limited to 10 kHz in the US due to FCC rules designed to reduce interference), but most receivers are only capable of reproducing frequencies up to 5 kHz or less. At

4089-486: The dominant medium, especially in cities. Because of its greater range, AM remained more common in rural environments. Pirate radio is illegal or non-regulated radio transmission. It is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes. Sometimes it is used for illegal two-way radio operation. Its history can be traced back to the unlicensed nature of the transmission, but historically there has been occasional use of sea vessels—fitting

4176-715: The entire KMET on-air staff on February 9, 1987, signing off its album rock format at Noon on February 14, 1987, with The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers Medley" (Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End). KMET was replaced by the new-age KTWV "The Wave". Today, "The Wave" has evolved into a Smooth Jazz format, though now plays Urban Adult Contemporary and is owned by Entercom , which merged with CBS Radio in 2017. The KMET call letters have been since reassigned to an AM Talk radio station, KMET in Banning, California . On June 21, 2009, Los Angeles radio station KSWD ("The Sound 100.3") announced that on July 10, 2009, it would do

4263-560: The exception of WCVB-TV (which was subsequently sold to the Hearst Corporation ), all of the former Metromedia stations formed the nucleus of the Fox Broadcasting Company (which began operations on October 9, 1986), while MPC was folded into 20th Century Fox Television . The transactions became official on March 6, 1986. Because of these transactions, and the fact that Metromedia was originally spun off from

4350-471: The fall of 1983. Unlike INN , the program was planned to be offered as a hybrid, hour-long local/national newscast, fed to affiliates by satellite as a headlines block and three other segments, which could be aired by local stations in whatever order the stations deemed alongside locally produced news content. Also as part of this plan, Metromedia established full news departments for KRIV in Houston and what

4437-575: The former went bankrupt in 2008. Metromedia International operated subscription television operators ( Kosmos-TV , Alma TV , Ala TV , Kamalak TV ) and private radio stations in Eastern Europe and CIS countries; by 2006 following the sale of most assets, it bought Magticom in Georgia to ease financial burden from filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Most assets were joint-ventures with government-linked companies. Its Kazakh operations were put in

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4524-583: The highest and lowest sidebands is quite apparent to the listener. Such distortion occurs up to frequencies of approximately 50 MHz. Higher frequencies do not reflect from the ionosphere, nor from storm clouds. Moon reflections have been used in some experiments, but require impractical power levels. The original FM radio service in the U.S. was the Yankee Network , located in New England . Regular FM broadcasting began in 1939 but did not pose

4611-474: The ionosphere. In a crowded channel environment, this means that the power of regional channels which share a frequency must be reduced at night or directionally beamed in order to avoid interference, which reduces the potential nighttime audience. Some stations have frequencies unshared with other stations in North America; these are called clear-channel stations . Many of them can be heard across much of

4698-508: The launch of the Metromedia Records label, whose biggest-selling artist was Bobby Sherman . The label was also notable as having issued the first two studio albums of Peter Allen , Peter Allen (1971) and Tenterfield Saddler (1972). The label was closed in 1974. Allen's Tenterfield Saddler , the title song of which has become an Australian standard , was acquired and reissued by A&M Records in 1978. In 1976, similar to

4785-434: The leadership of Zane Barnes, Robert G. Pope, and J.B. Ellis. They also spun off the radio stations into a separate company (which took on the Metropolitan Broadcasting name) before they were sold to various other owners by the early 1990s. In retaliation for a lawsuit brought by Paul Winchell , who sought the rights to his children's television program Winchell-Mahoney Time , which was produced at KTTV in Los Angeles during

4872-498: The mid-1960s, it is believed that KTTV management destroyed the program's video tapes. In 1989 Winchell was awarded nearly $ 18 million as compensation for Metromedia's capricious behavior. In 1983, Christine Craft , a former evening news co-anchor at KMBC-TV in Kansas City, sued Metromedia on claims of fraud and sexual discrimination . After spending eight months at KMBC-TV in 1981, she was demoted to reporting assignment after

4959-588: The more mainstream album oriented rock format. KMET is also notable for broadcasting the program The Mighty METal Hour, which was hosted by Jim Ladd on Friday nights from 10PM to midnight, and showcased the music of many then-up-and-coming hard rock and heavy metal bands, including Metallica , Slayer , Megadeth , Anthrax , Iron Maiden , Queensrÿche , Mötley Crüe , Motörhead , Y&T , Metal Church , Great White , Armored Saint , Dio , W.A.S.P. , Ratt , Quiet Riot , Twisted Sister , Saxon , Riot , Loudness , Warrior and Agent Steel . Metromedia fired

5046-513: The more successful SFM Holiday Network of syndicated stations launched two years later, Metromedia teamed up with Ogilvy and Mather for a proposed linking of independent TV stations termed MetroNet . The proposed programming would consist of several Sunday night family dramas, on weeknights a half-hour serial and a gothic series similar to Dark Shadows , and on Saturdays a variety program hosted by Charo . The plans for MetroNet failed when advertisers balked at Metromedia's advertising rate, which

5133-402: The most common perception of a pirate—as broadcasting bases. Rules and regulations vary largely from country to country, but often the term pirate radio describes the unlicensed broadcast of FM radio, AM radio, or shortwave signals over a wide range. In some places, radio stations are legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially when the signals cross

5220-624: The most listened-to Sunday evening radio program in Los Angeles. Following Dr. Demento on Sunday nights, Mike Harrison hosted a phone-in talk show called Harrison's Mike . KMET aired live concerts that went on to become seminal recordings. David Bowie's show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 during the Ziggy Stardust Tour was aired by KMET. Bootlegs of the broadcast were widely distributed, even in chain record stores, before it gained

5307-441: The new band had to begin from the ground floor. As a commercial venture, it remained a little-used audio enthusiasts' medium until the 1960s. The more prosperous AM stations, or their owners, acquired FM licenses and often broadcast the same programming on the FM station as on the AM station (" simulcasting "). The FCC limited this practice in the 1960s. By the 1980s, since almost all new radios included both AM and FM tuners, FM became

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5394-540: The nucleus of Fox Television Stations ), and spun off its radio stations into a separate company in 1986. Metromedia then acquired ownership stakes in various film studios, including controlling ownership in Orion. In 1997, Metromedia closed down and sold its media assets to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . The company arose from the ashes of the DuMont Television Network , the world's first commercial television network . DuMont had been in economic trouble throughout its existence, and

5481-540: The program director for much of the era preceding the film. Much of the history of KMET is documented in Jim Ladd's book Radio Waves , where the station is referred to as Radio KAOS and many of the DJs are given pseudonyms. Arguably, 1978 was the pinnacle year at the station. The line-up was impressive. Jeff Gonzer, Bob Coburn, Cynthia Fox, Jack Snyder, Mary Turner, and Jim Ladd. Ace Young and Patrick 'Paraquat' Kelley provided

5568-455: The range of a given FM signal was much shorter; thus its market was more local than for AM radio. The reception range at night is the same as in the daytime. All FM broadcast transmissions are line-of-sight, and ionospheric bounce is not viable. The much larger bandwidths, compared to AM and SSB, are more susceptible to phase dispersion. Propagation speeds are fastest in the ionosphere at the lowest sideband frequency. The celerity difference between

5655-475: The reverse direction because the plate was not heated, and thus not capable of thermionic emission of electrons. Later known as the Fleming valve , it could be used as a rectifier of alternating current, and as a radio wave detector . This greatly improved the crystal set , which rectified the radio signal using an early solid-state diode based on a crystal and a so-called cat's whisker . However, an amplifier

5742-410: The same service area. This prevents the sideband power generated by two stations from interfering with each other. Bob Carver created an AM stereo tuner employing notch filtering that demonstrated that an AM broadcast can meet or exceed the 15 kHz baseband bandwidth allotted to FM stations without objectionable interference. After several years, the tuner was discontinued. Bob Carver had left

5829-913: The stake in Orion's ownership was increased from 9.3% to 12.6% and on April 12, 1988, to 44.1% On May 20, 1988, Metromedia acquired Sumner Redstone 's share for $ 78 million, holding a majority stake in Orion Pictures worth nearly 67%. In 1995, Kluge merged Orion, MCEG Sterling Entertainment (producer of the Look Who's Talking series), the holding company Actava, and Metromedia into a new Metromedia International Group. In November 1995, Metromedia announced that it would acquire Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA) for $ 32 million, followed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company for $ 115 million in February 1996. On April 11, 1997, Metromedia sold Orion/Goldwyn and MPCA to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for $ 573 million and

5916-534: The station was moved to the top of the Westinghouse factory building in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . Westinghouse relaunched the station as KDKA on November 2, 1920, as the first commercially licensed radio station in the United States. The commercial broadcasting designation came from the type of broadcast license ; advertisements did not air until years later. The first licensed broadcast in

6003-556: The station. At the time, the studios of KMET and its local AM counterpart, country-western KLAC , were located across the street from the La Brea Tar Pits on Wilshire Blvd. In Summer 1976, both stations moved to the then-Metromedia complex where KTTV Channel 11 was located. KMET stood in direct contrast to other music stations of the era. KMET and other progressive-rock stations played more eclectic artists with much longer songs and more socially-conscious lyrics than

6090-487: The strike looked hopeless (the owners had hired scabs to continue the rock programming), Tom Donahue looked elsewhere, and eventually convinced Metromedia to install KPPC's format at KMET in June 1968. They did likewise at KMET's sister station, KSAN-FM in San Francisco. Many of the personalities at both stations transferred to Metromedia. The KPPC format was only mildly successful. After leaving KROQ AM/FM , Shadoe Stevens

6177-408: The time that AM broadcasting began in the 1920s, this provided adequate fidelity for existing microphones, 78 rpm recordings, and loudspeakers. The fidelity of sound equipment subsequently improved considerably, but the receivers did not. Reducing the bandwidth of the receivers reduces the cost of manufacturing and makes them less prone to interference. AM stations are never assigned adjacent channels in

6264-399: The time was the largest amount ever spent on a single television station property. Two years later, John Kluge bought out Metromedia's shareholders and took the company private. Also around this time, Metromedia attempted to bring to the air a national newscast for independent stations (much as the rival Tribune Company had created Independent Network News in 1980), planned for launch in

6351-463: The two companies were really separate. By 1955, DuMont realized it could not compete against the other three networks and decided to wind down its operations. Soon after DuMont formally shut down network service in 1956, the parent firm DuMont Laboratories spun off the network's two remaining owned and operated stations , WABD in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D.C., to shareholders as

6438-455: The two stations at some point, Metromedia never owned either of these two stations. This is a list of television programs that were produced and/or syndicated by Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC): https://github.com/microsoft/WindowsAppSDK/issues/3089#issue-1430110636 Radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata , by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to

6525-567: The world. Many stations broadcast on shortwave bands using AM technology that can be received over thousands of miles (especially at night). For example, the BBC , VOA , VOR , and Deutsche Welle have transmitted via shortwave to Africa and Asia. These broadcasts are very sensitive to atmospheric conditions and solar activity. Nielsen Audio , formerly known as Arbitron, the United States –based company that reports on radio audiences, defines

6612-530: Was amalgamated in 1922 and received a Royal Charter in 1926, making it the first national broadcaster in the world, followed by Czechoslovak Radio and other European broadcasters in 1923. Radio Argentina began regularly scheduled transmissions from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires on August 27, 1920, making its own priority claim. The station got its license on November 19, 1923. The delay

6699-513: Was carrying audio by the next year. (Herrold's station eventually became KCBS ). In The Hague, the Netherlands, PCGG started broadcasting on November 6, 1919, making it arguably the first commercial broadcasting station. In 1916, Frank Conrad , an electrical engineer employed at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation , began broadcasting from his Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania garage with the call letters 8XK. Later,

6786-421: Was closed on July 10 of the same year. In 1998, MPCA broke apart from MGM becoming independent again. Following the sale of the film business to MGM, Metromedia still owned Metromedia Restaurant Group (which it had renamed from S&A Restaurant Group, which was acquired from Grand Metropolitan ) in 1990 as well as Metromedia Fiber Network. The latter went bankrupt a few years later and became AboveNet , while

6873-460: Was due to the lack of official Argentine licensing procedures before that date. This station continued regular broadcasting of entertainment, and cultural fare for several decades. Radio in education soon followed, and colleges across the U.S. began adding radio broadcasting courses to their curricula. Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts introduced one of the first broadcasting majors in 1932 when

6960-493: Was hired by General Manager L. David Moorhead in 1974 to create something new for the struggling format KMET had put in place. With a staff that included B. Mitchell Reed, Stevens, Jimmy Rabbitt, Brother John, and Mary ("The Burner") Turner, Stevens introduced a new rock format that retained some of Donahue's progressive freedom but gave it energy and consistency that featured programming and high production values similar to those that had been integrated at KROQ. Stevens also designed

7047-508: Was only slightly lower than the Big Three's and low national coverage, leaving for another similar operation, Operation Prime Time . In 1979, Metromedia Producers Corporation had also reached a deal with Bob Stewart Productions for an exclusive co-producing agreement. In 1982, Metromedia made its biggest broadcasting purchase when it acquired WCVB-TV in Boston for $ 220 million, which at

7134-469: Was originally written by Shadoe Stevens and the song was sung by the Pointer Sisters during an interview on his show. This ID "jingle" came to be emblematic for KMET. Stevens left in 1975 to begin a production company and the station's programing was taken over by Sam Bellamy. Ms. Bellamy, who had been hired from Billboard Magazine , had been Stevens' assistant for most of the time he programmed

7221-537: Was quickly becoming viable. However, an early audio transmission that could be termed a broadcast may have occurred on Christmas Eve in 1906 by Reginald Fessenden , although this is disputed. While many early experimenters attempted to create systems similar to radiotelephone devices by which only two parties were meant to communicate, there were others who intended to transmit to larger audiences. Charles Herrold started broadcasting in California in 1909 and

7308-616: Was seriously undermined when ABC accepted a buyout offer from United Paramount Theaters in 1953. The ABC-UPT deal gave ABC the resources to operate a national television service along the lines of CBS and NBC . DuMont officials quickly realized the ABC-UPT deal put their network on life support, and agreed in principle to merge with ABC. However, it was forced to back out of the deal when minority owner Paramount Pictures raised antitrust concerns. UPT had only spun off from Paramount four years earlier, and there were still doubts about whether

7395-494: Was still required. The triode (mercury-vapor filled with a control grid) was created on March 4, 1906, by the Austrian Robert von Lieben ; independently, on October 25, 1906, Lee De Forest patented his three-element Audion . It was not put to practical use until 1912 when its amplifying ability became recognized by researchers. By about 1920, valve technology had matured to the point where radio broadcasting

7482-602: Was then KRLD-TV in Dallas (another news department was planned for WFLD in Chicago, but that department ultimately didn't launch until 1987, after the Murdoch buyout). Metromedia attempted to hire Charles Kuralt away from CBS News to serve as anchor. Kuralt chose to stay to with CBS; John Hart was also considered as an anchor, but ultimately the planned newscast never came to fruition. In 1985, it made an attempt to revive

7569-612: Was used for the channel numbers of its television stations until 1977, when another typeface modeled slightly after the Futura family was introduced. Stations are listed alphabetically by state and city of license . Two boldface asterisks appearing following a station's call letters ( ** ) indicate a station that was built and signed-on by Metromedia or its predecessor companies. This list does not include WDTV (now KDKA-TV ) in Pittsburgh or KCTY in Kansas City. Although DuMont owned

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