1. What events led to the formation of RCA? What institutions/companies were involved?

 

2. Douglas notes that "by the end of the war [WWI] . . . . No firm controlled a complete technological system, and no firm enjoyed undisputed rights to manufacture vacuum tubes" (p. 288). What were the various firms which controlled the rights to different parts of the radio system, and how was the dilemma solved?

 

3. Did the Radio Act of 1912 dampen the enthusiasm or reduce the number of amateurs according to Douglas? Why or why not?

 

4. On what basis does Douglas dispute the standard historical interpretation that De Forest was not "a shrewd businessman" (. 295).

 

5. How and why was the image of amateurs in the media rehabilitated between 1912 and1917, when the US entered the war?

 

6. Who was Frank Conrad and why is he famous?

 

7. Why were department stores like the Joseph Horne Company of Pittsburgh early promoters/supporters of entertainment broadcasting?

 

8. Why did the emergence of entertainment broadcasting n the early 20s seem to come as such a surprise to the media, according to Douglas?

 

9. What were the hopes and fears expressed in the media about the new medium of radio in the early 20s? Whose hopes and fears were they, according to Douglas?

 

10. What does Douglas mean by "the regulatory marginalization of smaller, noncommercial stations" (p.316)?

 

11. Why do you think it took the executives of the corporate wireless firms longer to realize the potential of entertainment broadcasting? Yet why were they able to cash in on it fairly quickly once they did realize it?

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