RTF 316 The Lucky Seven Kevin Ludlow Paper I The Lucky Seven RTF 316 History of Radio and Television Amanda Lotz October 13 1998 After viewing the NBC television history movie I reminded myself of the media s What s Hot What s Not routine NBC being a large news source is able to manipulate the idea of agenda setting even when they are only reminiscing They have also shown the world a variety of changes in media technology by displaying the show in a variety of television formats black and white vs color and program formats as well entertainment vs news Having been the first real network in mass media NBC shows a great deal of character by showing off a small portion of more popular shows that have been aired since the birth of television They did not only show NBC run shows but also those of cable stations and the other major networks ABC CBS and even FOX As they began their clip NBC chose a U2 sounding drum and bass beat without words to introduce the viewer to the beginning of television similar to Where the Streets Have No Names Perhaps because at this point in time the television shows had no names simply meaning that the viewers could not associate with them in the same fashion that we can today Similarly as the years progressed so did the vocal content crying out that television shows finally had concrete names in people s lives The idea that we have advanced so quickly in mass media is an excellent parallel to the rapid speed of the program changes Not only were the shows mixed quickly they were also intermingled with news clips of the relevant time period as well NBC did a very good job of displaying the decade to the viewer and allowing us to see what the programming quality of that time period was like It was also very clear to see a push from black and white programming to color between the 1950 s and 1960 s decades It is simply impossible for NBC to have displayed every precious moment in television history in seven minutes The simple fact is that it would take about four hundred and twenty hours times the number of television stations basically every running hour of television to show off every great moment which again put delicately is impossible to recap Since the birth of the printing presses hundreds of years ago creators of media have done the same thing over and over again agenda setting Although very exciting and entertaining the entire seven minutes of this film exaggerate that idea to an extreme If we accept the idea that it is impossible to cram hours and hours of programming into a mere few minutes then who is to say what gets shown and what does not As always of course the media I imagine that many people alive in the 70 s got entirely sick of seeing Nixon s mishaps broadcast on television just as we today get sick of O J s affairs or even Clinton s The media has become so good at pounding information like that into the public s heads that we get sick of it However NBC pushes it upon us a bit more by showing all three examples in a history of television On the same note NBC showed us a clip of Kennedy s assassination followed by the Beatles Five incredibly popular men that most of the world would like to have seen more of in the same program with three men that most of the world love to see no more of The idea that the media can not give us certain beliefs is factual but it is quite obvious that they try their hardest to by choosing what we can and can not view I think it is safe to say that the world has listened to more sob stories from Monica Lewinsky on television then John Lennon ever had the time to even write The way in which NBC presented their clip was not only entertaining but clearly planned out carefully as well Their color and sound changes were shown in a very timely fashion according to the time period at hand The amount of symbolism used specifically with the sound and a selective few joint clips made the viewer think about exactly what television has meant to him or her over the years However although NBC did a relatively good job putting together an appropriate reel of clips for entertaining an audience they were unable to show an unbiased selection Perhaps someday NBC will be able to create a television history not of what they view it as but rather for what it is in its exactness I only hope that the unwanted show s producers can forgive history for not including them in the lucky seven minutes

RTF 316 Lucky Me Kevin Ludlow Paper II Lucky Me RTF 316 History of Radio and Television Amanda Lotz November 24 1998 As television moved into American homes in the early 50 s racism certainly came with it Although racism was something that was clearly evident in America around that time television had a unique way of presenting it to look like it was not a problem of the time From shows with white stars like The Rifleman to shows that had African American stars such as Amos n Andy racism was always evident in the script When looking at a particular text such as The Rifleman it is generally easy to pick out bits of racism throughout the show The reason it is so easy for us to pick it out is simply because we live in a period where racism although it exists is generally seen as wrong Although many civil rights movements occurred within the 50 s and 60 s African Americans were still segregated and viewed as an inferior race to many In the show The Rifleman Chuck Connors stars the show as the character Lucas McCain He lives with his boy Mark on a ranch somewhere in New Mexico Within the five years that it was on the air there were many shows that dealt with issues of racism towards not only African Americans but also Native Indians African Americans were commonly shown to be thieves and cheap laborers They were not stars of the show by any means and if they were to appear chances are they would be rebels of the town and Lucas would have to hunt them down Many shows also had Indian characters that were generally threats to the community Uniquely enough if they honestly were non hostile Indians who meant no harm to the community Lucas would side with them On the flip side the town would turn against them no matter what the situation was Native Indians were viewed as the lowest class of people in the area They were disrespected mocked and distrusted even when they did nothing wrong The townspeople in New Mexico often wanted to gun them down clean their town even though the Indians caused little havoc Chuck Connors was the dominant white male character that the society of that time viewed to be in control of everything He was on the side of the sheriff and of the townspeople and wanted justice to always be served He was a single father and did an excellent job raising Mark which made him the type of character that people wanted to be Perhaps it was because of this heroic character that the show became so popular Of course with so many people watching shows that constantly portrayed minorities as having unacceptable qualities it is no wonder racism was so out of hand Maybe if networks had shows that stared African Americans people would have viewed them differently on the other hand maybe it would make it worse Although a predecessor of The Rifleman Amos n Andy was a show that not only stared African Americans was centered on them as well Staring Alan Childress as Amos and Spencer Williams as Andy their show was a relatively popular sitcom derived from the even more popular radio show The shows were often focused on Kingfish played by Tim Moore He usually had some sort of idea or scheme to make his lifestyle better or more particularly to become wealthy Although the show was focused on the African American community it portrayed blacks in a terrible sort of way The general character on the show was a poor porch sitter who barely made enough money to get by on a regular basis The characters did not stand up for things that they believed in especially to white folk They were uneducated loud obnoxious and worst of all were portrayed to have the worst English grammar in society The women of the show were portrayed to be just as loud and obnoxious but also very demanding and general nuisances to their husbands In the episode of The Happy Stevens we are able to see exactly how a typical wife acted on the show Sapphire Ernestine Wade is constantly nagging at the Kingfish to act more like their favorite radio show The Happy Couple We see how Kingfish miserably tried to mimic the show the best that he can by using cheap imitations of The Happy Couple s ideas Such disregard for the Kingfish s taste would never have been shown had he been white The show was watched by millions of people across America from children to elderly people More importantly African Americans watched it too Although blacks were being represented on the television they would have probably been better off without being so Not only did people of the time get to see white folk make fun of African Americans they got to see African Americans make fun of themselves Although we are now able to look back at how racism was portrayed on television we must ask ourselves has it gotten any better I think that the answer is no Directors and producers have simply done a much better job of incorporating racism into shows without us realizing it Even in much more recent shows African Americans are still portrayed to be more deviant characters in society Take for example the popular seven year show of Designing Women One of the main characters of the show is Anthony Bouvier played by Meshach Taylor Anthony is portrayed to be a hard working and educated friend and employee of the Sugarbaker firm He was on the show from the beginning until the end and even though he was such a hard worker his past always seemed to come up He had served time in prison for a crime he had committed some time ago and many episodes incorporate racist humor on him Suzanne Sugarbaker played by Delta Burke often makes comments about Anthony that are shots against the African American community Of course she does them in a way that seems so natural and innocent that we can not help but realize that she is joking Although she is his friend and she means no harm upon him her views towards African Americans are openly expressed in a humorous way to him throughout her five years on the show Racism will most likely be a problem that occurs long past our lifetimes but is it really necessary for television shows to take advantage of it Most everyone is guilty of finding a great deal of humor in the racist jokes that we hear on television Many of us do not even view it as racism because it seems so naturalized on television It will be hard for the world to be completely non racist as long as television is part of our lives and racism is part of television I would like to think that I know how it feels to have an entire viewing audience laughing at me but unfortunately I will never know I am a white male who is supposed to find humor in it lucky me

RTF 316 Early Times Kevin Ludlow Extra Credit Paper III Early Times RTF 316 History of Radio and Television Amanda Lotz December 3 1998 It is not often that I get the chance to talk to my 74 year old grandmother about anything that interests her so she was delighted to be asked about the radio She was born sometime in 1925 and has a recalled listening to radio broadcasts ever since she was a young girl I first asked her simply what it was like listening to the radio and her responses were certainly much more positive then mind towards radio My grandmother explained to me how although they were listening to the radio it was so similar to watching television but at the same time better She told me how the front of the radio had a large fuzzy screen on it that was often stared at like a picture was inside of it The best part of course was that it was all in the imagination She and her brothers would sit in front of the radio and stare at the blank screen imagining that there were really actors there to watch No matter what kind of show they were listening to they were always able to come up with a visual story to follow along with in their heads At times certain stories could stretch the images in their mind much more elaborately then today s greatest special effects can One of the biggest problems that they had was being allowed to listen to the shows that they wanted to She explained to me how the content of many programs restricted them from listening in on the radio Although we would probably view such content now as children s programming back in the 30 s she explained such content was much more regarded by parents Amongst her favorite programs was Tom Mix who was a movie star back then He played the role of a cowboy on the radio and was apparently quite popular The Lone Ranger was also a program that was broadcast in her household during that time period One of both my grandmother and grandfather s favorite programs was Jack Armstrong The American Boy which at that time which was sponsored by Wheaties I asked her if she recalled any comic shows that she may have watched during the time period and she told me about Eddie Couter He was a comic on the radio around the middle 1930 s to early 1940 s He was a household favorite as well On the weekends the radio was used more as what we understand today It simply broadcast musical programs during the peak hours of the day She recalled listening to the Metropolitan Opera every Saturday afternoon from 1 00 in the afternoon to about 4 00 in the afternoon They would broadcast whatever was being played that day at the Metropolitan Opera House On Sunday s she would tune into the Firestone Hour which was a musical broadcast sponsored by Firestone tires In order to gain a common point with my grandmother I asked her if she ever listened to the Orson Welles show She jumped into stories of him very quickly of how her and her brothers used to listen to his show weekly I proceeded to ask her about the infamous War of the Worlds she of course had heard it She explained to me that she remembered that October day very well Growing up in New Jersey the show was focused right around town She explained to me that she understood that it was only a show and that aliens were not really taking over the planet However at the same time she remembers being very frightened because of the incredible realism that Orson Welles used for that time My grandmother also recalled how the radio station got hundreds of calls the next day and how the newspapers made such an incredible ordeal over it because of the panic that it had caused Although the radio had always been a part of my grandmother s life she remembers when those days started to slow down In the early 50 s her father went out and bought a Muntz television set from the popular salesman Mad Man Muntz It was a simple black and white television and best of all it was brand new After that the radio started transforming into what it is today Radio shows slowly began to cease and musical broadcasts became more common

Mt. Cook Mt. Cook was definitely one of the more enjoyable and scenic parts of Tisa and I's voyage. To anyone who is not familiar with it, Mt. Cook (or Aoraki in Maori) is the tallest peak in New Zealand with an summit of 3,754 meters or 12,316 feet. The water in the river was frigid and the shaky suspension bridge that towered over it was something out of an Indiana Jones movie. To say the very least, I loved the experience.