Cable radio

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Distributor of the GRD (Communal Radiodistribution Service) in Utrecht, Netherlands, 2010 GRD-Utrecht.JPG
Distributor of the GRD (Communal Radiodistribution Service) in Utrecht, Netherlands, 2010
Elektronika russian cable radio Russian cable radio Elektronika PT-205 Elektronika PT-205 (14285222258).jpg
Elektronika russian cable radio

Cable radio is radio broadcasting into homes and businesses via a cable. This can be a coaxial cable used for television, or a telephone line. It is generally used for the same reason as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community antenna television", in order to enhance the quality of over-the-air radio signals that are difficult to receive in an area. However, cable-only radio outlets also exist. It can be both FM or AM.

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The use of cable radio varies from area to area - some cable TV systems don't include it at all, and others only have something approaching it on digital cable systems. Additionally, some stations may just transmit audio in the background while a public-access television cable TV channel is operating in between periods of video programming.

From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, before the advent of MTS Stereo television broadcasts, an additional cable decoder was offered to cable TV subscribers, which was connected to the FM antenna terminal of a radio receiver and broadcast audio simulcasts of television broadcasts on certain frequencies, but separately transmitted in FM stereo, along with traditional local radio stations at their specific frequencies, utilizing the cable system's own taller receiving antenna for maximum audio clarity. For instance, MTV's audio would be offered on a cable radio frequency, thus the video being played in monaural sound on cable would have its television audio muted, and the stereo audio instead heard through the radio receiver.

A related secondary meaning of the term is any automated music stream - the usual format of cable-only "stations".

History

The creator of wired radio is considered to be a psychologist, philosopher, publicist and inventor of Polish origin Julian Ochorowicz, who distinguished himself in such fields as electrical engineering, television, photography and chemistry, and invented a double-membrane electromagnetic telephone. In 1880, the loudspeaker of his invention was used in the first voiceover of an opera performance in Paris. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

United States

The first "commercial" cable radio station in the United States was CABL-FM 108 in California, on the Theta Cablevision system, serving West Los Angeles and surrounding areas. It went live on January 1, 1972, and was run by Brad Sobel, playing what he called "progressive top 40". CABL-FM 108 came into being after Sobel's original venture, K-POT, a bootleg FM station at 88.1 MHz, was silenced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November 1971. The illicit station ran for three days until it was shut down, and the event made the front page of the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner . Because Theta Cablevision charged extra for its FM hookups, CABL-FM 108's potential audience was between 4,700 and approximately 25,000 (based on information provided by Brad Sobel in an article in Billboard ), out of Cablevision's approximately 100,000 subscriber households.

95.9 CPVR-FM ad in the Daily Breeze (November 1973) 95.9 CPVR-FM ad in LA Daily Breeze (November 1973).jpg
95.9 CPVR-FM ad in the Daily Breeze (November 1973)

The first exclusively cablecasting community radio station was CPVR in Palos Verdes, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. CPVR 95.9 Cable FM radio was on the Times-Mirror cable system, and was started by a group of teenagers who initially practiced being disc jockeys in the homes of two of the founders. Since traditional broadcasting equipment was prohibitively expensive at the time, a young engineer named Tom Hewitt built much of the electronic hardware from scratch.

Mark Speer and Brad Gardner began the venture, which was run as a non-profit youth organization from a studio in the Golden Cove shopping center in Rancho Palos Verdes beginning in March 1972. Even though it was non-profit, it was not subject to the restrictions of terrestrial public radio stations, and thus was able to subsidize expenses by accepting commercial advertising.

Because the staff and audience were part of a highly desirable demographic (many of the DJs weren't even old enough to drive), advertisers of the day, such as concert promoter Pacific Presentations and local record stores eagerly bought ad time in order to reach such a prime demographic (males/females, 13-24) as CPVR had attracted during its history, further enabling CPVR to not only continue operations, but expand into larger studios.

Greg McClure (a.k.a. Isaac O. Zzyzx), Jim Sideris, Harv Laser, David Zislis, Richard Hower, Tony Fasola, Dave Chrenko (a.k.a. Johnny Ace), Kerry Doolin, Liane Benson, Lorraine Dechter, Clyde Stanton (a.k.a. Certified Clyde) and Kathy Bauer were some of the young disc jockeys who helped create the station's legendary style and sound. Unlike Cable 108, CPVR was not only on the FM dial, but was in stereo, and also appeared on the cable system's "barker" channel (Channel 3).

Although the station was only on the "cable" for about two years programming free-form rock and roll, CPVR often scooped its over-the-air competitors, breaking acts such as Bruce Springsteen and Queen, and often premiering landmark albums such as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and Procol Harum's Grand Hotel sometimes several weeks before the Los Angeles stations picked them up.

Many of the original staff went on to careers in media. (Co-founder Brad Gardner has since been nominated for four Emmys, winning two—one for a music video, "The Doctor is In", and the other for the veterinary show Horse Vet. His other two nominations are for directing and audio.) For those involved and those who heard it, this tiny little community rock-and-roll radio station holds a special place in their hearts and minds, often discussed in the same breath as KMET, KPPC, KWST, KRLA, KROQ-FM and KNAC, legendary southern California radio stations in their own right.

CPVR Staff Photo 1973 Cpvr.gif
CPVR Staff Photo 1973

For a time, cable radio stations popped up across California and elsewhere in the U.S., most run by high school and/or college students. CCIA, a cable radio station on the campus of California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, is one example. But as the founders of these stations grew older and moved on, there was no one to take up where they left off. Eventually all these cable radio stations went dark. Today, where college or community groups might have once considered starting a "cable" radio station, they now look to creating an internet radio station.

On the East Coast the most popular commercial cable radio station was WLHE, started in 1979 in Woburn, Massachusetts. This station was the first commercial cable-only radio station in the country, and ran from 1979 to 1987. Larry Haber, owner and operator, started it. Frank Palazzi and Alan Rupa were the first disc jockeys. Palazzi was known as Frank Fitz, and Alan Rupa was known as Alan James. Mr Haber went by his own name. Other DJs were Jim Fronk (aka Jim Jacobs), oldies expert Chuck Steven, country music expert Glen Evans, indie rock expert Mark Sawyer, and jazz expert Scott Cavanagh (a.k.a. Scott Rogers). Larry Haber was the station’s first president and general manager, Palazzi served as program director, and Rupa was music director. The station was heard only on Continental Cablevision's local Channel 6 in Woburn, Wilmington, Stoneham, North Reading, and Billerica, Massachusetts.

Canada

In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission previously required most cable companies to provide cable FM service; those that did were required to convert all local AM broadcast radio stations to cable FM signals. The commission now requires only that campus, community, native radio stations, and one CBC Radio station in each official language, be provided by local cable companies, either via cable FM or digital cable audio channels. [6] [7]

North Korea

North Korea has had a cable radio system sometimes referred to as 'Third Broadcast' since the 1940s and it was declared that all cities and villages had been reached by the service in 1975.

Operated by the North Korean Ministry of Communications and focusing on music, news, and educational programs, Third Broadcast has been mandatory in new apartment blocks since the 1980s and is present in some offices and loud speakers posted in public places. [8]

United Kingdom

The earliest cable-only radio stations in the United Kingdom was Radio Thamesmead in Thamesmead, South East London and Radio Swindon Viewpoint in Swindon, Wiltshire. Cable relays of early BBC stations (in areas where direct reception was poor) dates back to the late 1920s.

Australia

The Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda had a landline radio station called 3SA which operated on weekends and public holidays from March 1954 until July 2010. [9]

Singapore

Rediffusion Singapore was a popular cable radio service on the island from 1949-1980's, which broadcast in English and Chinese. It is now a subscription[ dubious discuss ] digital radio service, broadcasting on DAB+.

Malta

Rediffusion Malta was a popular cable radio service on the island from 1935-1975, with broadcasts in English and Maltese Language. In 1975 the service was nationalised and it was demised on 31 January 1989. It is now part of Radio Malta [10]

Germany

Italy

Ricevitore per filodiffusione a valvole, monofonico - Museo scienza tecnologia Milano 10099 09.jpg
Ricevitore per filodiffusione a valvole, monofonico - Museo scienza tecnologia Milano 10099.jpg
Early Italian cable radio tuner, designed to be plugged into a regular radio's phono input

Italy had cable radio, called Filodiffusione (lit. "wire-broadcasting"), between 1958 and 2023. The service offered six amplitude-modulated longwave channels, 15 kHz wide, with the following center frequencies: [11]

ChannelFrequency
FD1 178 kHz
FD2 211 kHz
FD3 244 kHz
FD4 277 kHz
FD5 310 kHz
FD6 [12] 343 kHz

Filodiffusione was available in its coverage areas (approx. 7 km from major exchanges) over SIP's public switched telephone network, for a small additional fee; [13] it was touted as an upgrade over wireless radio thanks to its improved channel bandwidth, interference resistance, and wider choice of programmes. While its popularity sharply declined in the 1970s (with the introduction of frequency-modulated radio and the legalisation of commercial broadcasting) and again in the 2000s (being incompatible with *DSL service), filodiffusione developed a good reputation for the quality of programming, eventually becoming available over the Internet and other digital media. [11]

Though no end of service was formally announced by TIM – with only a passing mention of the intention to discontinue it in 2023 [14] – a listener reported that FD was no longer receivable by February 2023. [15]

Switzerland

Swiss 'Telefonrundspruch' radio Museum Enter Telefonrundspruch 1K4A7934.jpg
Swiss 'Telefonrundspruch' radio
ChannelFrequency
Swiss Radio International175 kHz
RSR1 "la première" (French)208 kHz
Classical music241 kHz
RSI1 "rete UNO" (Italian)274 kHz
DRS 1 (German)307 kHz
Easy music340 kHz

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cable television</span> Television content transmitted via signals on coaxial cable

Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves and received by a television antenna ; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves from a communications satellite and received by a satellite dish on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Very high frequency</span> Electromagnetic wave range of 30-300 MHz

Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted high frequency (HF), and the next higher frequencies are known as ultra high frequency (UHF).

In-band on-channel (IBOC) is a hybrid method of transmitting digital radio and analog radio broadcast signals simultaneously on the same frequency. The name refers to the new digital signals being broadcast in the same AM or FM band (in-band), and associated with an existing radio channel (on-channel). By utilizing additional digital subcarriers or sidebands, digital information is multiplexed on existing signals, thus avoiding re-allocation of the broadcast bands.

A subcarrier is a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. Examples include the provision of colour in a black and white television system or the provision of stereo in a monophonic radio broadcast. There is no physical difference between a carrier and a subcarrier; the "sub" implies that it has been derived from a carrier, which has been amplitude modulated by a steady signal and has a constant frequency relation to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital radio</span> Use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum

Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.

Second audio program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. Used mostly for audio description or other languages, SAP is part of the multichannel television sound (MTS) standard originally set by the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) in 1984 in the United States. The NTSC video format and MTS are also used in Canada and Mexico.

Multichannel Television Sound (MTS) is the method of encoding three additional audio channels into analog 4.5 MHz audio carriers on System M and System N. It was developed by the Broadcast Television Systems Committee, an industry group, and sometimes known as BTSC as a result.

Television in Hong Kong is primarily in Cantonese and English. It is delivered through analogue and digital terrestrial, cable, IPTV, and the Internet. Satellite TV is not common, although many housing estates have dishes and re-distribute a limited number of free channels through coaxial cables. The dominant broadcaster is TVB, ViuTV and HOY TV.

Simulcast is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio. Likewise, the BBC's Prom concerts were formerly simulcast on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television. Another application is the transmission of the original-language soundtrack of movies or TV series over local or Internet radio, with the television broadcast having been dubbed into a local language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuner (radio)</span> Frequency selection subsystem for various receiver systems

A tuner is a subsystem that receives radio frequency (RF) transmissions, such as FM broadcasting, and converts the selected carrier frequency and its associated bandwidth into a fixed frequency that is suitable for further processing, usually because a lower frequency is used on the output. Broadcast FM/AM transmissions usually feed this intermediate frequency (IF) directly into a demodulator that converts the radio signal into audio-frequency signals that can be fed into an amplifier to drive a loudspeaker.

The following tables show the frequencies assigned to analog broadcast television channels in various regions of the world, along with the ITU letter designator for the system used. The frequencies shown are for the analog video and audio carriers. The channel itself occupies several megahertz of bandwidth. For example, North American channel 1 occupies the spectrum from 44 to 50 MHz. See Broadcast television systems for a table of signal characteristics, including bandwidth, by ITU letter designator. Analog television broadcasts have been phased out in most regions, having been replaced by digital television broadcasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD Radio</span> Digital radio broadcast technology

HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used primarily by AM and FM radio stations in the United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, Mexico and the Philippines, with a few implementations outside North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereophonic sound</span> Method of sound reproduction using two audio channels

Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration of two loudspeakers in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FM broadcasting</span> Radio transmission of audio by frequency modulation

FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting offers higher fidelity—more accurate reproduction of the original program sound—than other broadcasting techniques, such as AM broadcasting. It is also less susceptible to common forms of interference, having less static and popping sounds than are often heard on AM. Therefore, FM is used for most broadcasts of music and general audio. FM radio stations use the very high frequency range of radio frequencies.

Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) in the United States, and Subsidiary Communications Multiplex Operation (SCMO) in Canada, is a subcarrier on a radio station, allowing the station to broadcast additional services as part of its signal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KZUC-LP</span> Radio station in Edmond, Oklahoma

KZUC-LP is the student radio station on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma. UCentral Radio applied for an LPFM license in November 2013 and was awarded a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission on February 24, 2015. UCentral Radio is part of the UCentral student media network at the University of Central Oklahoma.

A linjesender was a low-power longwave transmitter system used for broadcasting in Norway. It consisted of a power line communication system, which fed the radio programme on a frequency in the longwave broadcasting range into domestic powerlines. The power lines acted as a combination of transmission line and antenna.

Television frequency allocation has evolved since the start of television in Australia in 1956, and later in New Zealand in 1960. There was no coordination between the national spectrum management authorities in either country to establish the frequency allocations. The management of the spectrum in both countries is largely the product of their economical and political situation. New Zealand didn't start to develop television service until 1965 due to World War 2 and its economic harm in the country's economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio Malta</span> Maltese radio station

Radio Malta is the main radio service of Public Broadcasting Services, the public broadcaster of Malta.

Rediffusion Singapore, started in 1949, was the first cable-transmitted radio station in Singapore. It was a Singapore subsidiary of the Broadcast Relay Services (Overseas) Ltd. It was also Singapore's only subscription radio service.

References

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  4. "Obiekt miesiąca: O „Psychologii uczuć" Juliana Ochorowicza". BuwLOG (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  5. "Radioelektronicy polscy". sp2put.pl. Archived from the original on 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  6. Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-119 Archived 2007-01-14 at the Wayback Machine , 8 September 2006
  7. Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-51 Archived 2006-05-04 at the Wayback Machine , 19 April 2006; see para. 26 for discussion of analog/digital carriage issue
  8. p.g 52-54
  9. "RadioInfo Australia". 18 March 2019.
  10. Toni Sant, Remembering Rediffusion In Malta, A History Without Future,Malta 2016, Page 14
  11. 1 2 "Storia della filodiffusione" (in Italian). RAI. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017.
  12. Left/right difference signal for stereo broadcasts on channel 5
  13. "FD5: Abbonarsi" (in Italian). RAI. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  14. Battisti, Marco; Ferrero, Umberto; Picca, Michele. "Il valore del decommissioning". Notiziario tecnico TIM (in Italian) (2023/2): 35. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  15. "Addio alla Filodiffusione". Portale Italradio: Osservatorio Radiofonia Internazionale in Lingua Italiana (in Italian). 2023-04-19. Retrieved 30 September 2024.

Billboard Magazine, July 7, 1973, pages 24 and 28: "Once 'Pirate', Now Cable Radio Pioneer", written by J. Christopher Ehler.

Los Angeles Times, Peninsula Edition, June 1972.