What a radio may have looked like when it was first developed
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe known
professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was a pianist and composer, who
synthesized the blues, ragtime, and marching band traditions that created jazz.
The first full decade of radio broadcasting in the United States coincided with
the fabled "Jazz Age" or "Roaring Twenties," a period of
significant cultural upheaval on both sides of the color line. A major source
of radio programming during the Jazz Age was live and recorded music.
Initially, the use of phonograph records was widespread among broadcasters due
to records' utility and cost; they provided a cheap, ready-made solution to the
problem of what to offer listeners via the airways. But in 1922, the American
Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) began to demand that
radio stations pay an annual fee in return for the use of recorded music
copyrighted by ASCAP members. The owners responded by forming their own trade
organization, the National Association of Broadcasting (NAB), which then took
the lead in opposing the fee demands. While a number of the better financed
stations eventually cut a deal with ASCAP, especially after a federal court
upheld the legality of the music organization's position, the NAB remained
steadfast in its opposition to the yearly licensing fee. Toward that end, many
NAB members refused to include ASCAP songs in their programming. This impasse
led, in part, to an upsurge in live music broadcasts within the fledgling radio
industry. In all the radio allowed for the spread of Jazz not only as a musical
occurrence, but as a cultural outbreak, which has affected all music since its
creation in some way shape or form. --- By
Troy Tomlinson
Information obtained through:
Barlow, W. (1995). Black music on radio during the jazz age.
African American Review,29(2), 325.
JOYNER, C. (2009). Top Ten Southern Jazz Musicians. Southern
Cultures, 15(3), 21-23.
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