Teachback One: Societal Effects of Blood Types and FM Radio

Joel BenedictUniversity of Advancing Technology

HIS305-D09OCT16Professor Josh Miller

Introduction

Life and survival are worlds apart. While survival is a healthy patient, life is the way people exist in society. This teach back examines the innovations brought by the discovery of blood types and the invention of FM radio, the changes brought to society, and the continual impacts of each. FM radio began as a completely new broadcast system and emerged as a reflection of societal life.

Invention of FM radio

On June 2, 1934, Edwin Howard Armstrong used RCA's experimental television transmitter "to transmit test signals, broadcasting as experimental station W2XDG, the world's first FM transmitter" (Sterling, 2008, p 20). In the 1935 public debut “it was perceived as a cutting-edge technical marvel, all but eliminating the static that plagued existing AM service and providing far better quality sound (frequency response)” (p 11).

FM before 1960

FM broadcasts were hampered by legal challenges and frequency usage disputes through the 1940s. By the 1950s, FM broadcasts were sparse, and signal reception was reserved to hobbyists. Broadcast stations began to change when the FCC approved FM stereo broadcasts in 1961. By 1962, “United States radio stations begin broadcasting in stereophonic sound” (WCBN, 2005). “Fortunately, the advent of stereo FM in 1961 accelerated set sales for both the home and the all-important car-radio market, which in turn boosted the growth of FM advertising dollars by the late 1960s” (Sterling, p ix).

Innovations of FM

Beyond stereophonic sound, the FCC required “FM to differ from those broadcast on co-owned AM stations” (UNC, 2009). The differentiation between AM and FM directly led to different content and styles of delivery between the AM and FM bands. The primary innovation FM was always an increase in audio fidelity: “Today, FM is clearly the dominant medium among music-intensive radio formats, at least in part to its superior frequency response” (Wells, 1997, p 164).

Growth of FM

FM radio achieved commercial success due to technical superiority and uniqueness in content. The growth was rapid: “In 1964 total net FM revenues were $19.7 million. Ten years later that figure had increased thirteen times to $248.2 million. In 1962 , according to the FCC there were 983 commercial FM stations on the air; in 1972 their number stood at 2,328” (Douglas, 2004, p 259).

Societal impacts upon FM

The popularity of FM radio was a result of several factors; better quality sound and unique content was the main draw: "The FM revolution was, of course, about many things: changes in technology, regulatory initiatives, the rise of counterculture in America […] But at its heart the FM revolution was about an intensified quest for deeper, richer, more nuanced listening” (Douglas, p 257). FM radio provided long-term financial rewards for investors: “With thousands of new FM stations going on the air after 1960, property values in the 1980s and 1990s accelerated explosively, handsomely rewarding its supporters and advocates” (Sterling, p x). Even today, FM radio has a greater listener share: “Three-quarters of all radio listening is to FM outlets” (Sterling, p 2).

Legacy of FM

The development of FM was a specific societal movement reflective of a twenty year time span. “The final success of FM in the late 1960s was not just a technical reaction against AM; it was a cultural and political reaction as well” (Douglas, p 258). FM broadcasts began as part of a specific region: “FM broadcasting was invented and first developed in the United States […] The story we tell here is a distinctly American one” (Sterling, p 2).

Transition

FM found the favor of a society that favored audio quality and cultural upheaval. FM continues to change in format and delivery techniques. In summary, FM radio broadcasts are a reflection of society. In contrast to FM radio broadcasts, the discovery of blood types helped people survive to create a society. “A common physiological characteristic of humans is that every individual belongs to one of four blood groups. […] But it was only revealed to the world 100 years ago, through the work of an Austrian physician named Dr. Karl Landsteiner” (Cardwell, 2001).

Blood analysis in medical practice

The ability to analyze blood predated the discoveries of Landsteiner: “Blood analysis has always had a powerful symbolic place in medical practice and social thought. As Michel Fourcault and many others have observed [...] physicians continued to see blood as a motive force in heredity, racial identity, and disease” (Wailoo, p 5-6).

Description of blood types

Landsteiner discovered the four blood types would allow safer blood transfusions once the donor and recipient blood types were known: “people with A and B blood can donate to type AB (although a person with AB--which he termed a "universal receiver"--can only donate to someone with AB), and that a person with type O (a "universal donor") can be given to anyone" (Cardwell).

Blood transfusion matches

In healthy blood, “A person’s plasma does not contain any antibodies that will bind to molecules that are part of his or her own body” (Genetic, 2009). The reason the body accepts a blood is due to antibody matches: “If the donor blood cells have surface molecules that are the same as those of the recipient, the recipient’s body will not see them as foreign and will not mount an immune response.”

Legacy of blood type discovery

Blood type analysis has contributed to research of diseases such as diabetes and sickle cell anemia. Transfusions continue to save the lives of victims of blood loss and disease. In summary, the discovery of blood types has led to the survival and health of countless millions.

FM radio versus blood type discovery

Society as it is known today would not exist without the continual research of blood. Blood types and FM radio always play different roles in society. The discovery and continued research of blood types permits health and life, whereas FM radio remains a life sign of society.

References

Cardwell, M. (2001). The discoverer of the four blood groups. 37, Issue 14, p. 33. Toronto: Medical Post. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://proquest.umi.com/Douglas, S.J. (2004). Listening in: radio and the American imagination. , MN: University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://tinyurl.com/ygqdpqd Genetic Science Learning Center. (2009, October 18). Genes and Blood Type. Learn.Genetics. Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/blood/ Sterling, K.C., Keith, M.C. (2008). Sounds of change: a history of FM broadcasting in America. Carolina: UNC Press. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://tinyurl.com/ylmsds7

References continued

UNC Press. (2009). Sounds of change.Book detail. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=1446 Wailoo, K. (1997). Drawing blood: technology and disease identity in twentieth-century America.Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://tinyurl.com/yjm3wbwWCBN. (2005). CBN history: radio/broadcasting timeline.Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://www.wcbn.org/history/wcbntime.htmlWells, A., Hakanen, E.A. (1997). Mass media and society, 5th ed. , CT: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Retrieved 18 October, 2009 from http://tinyurl.com/yzmsv7d