INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Website for COM 418 Radio Programming and Production at the University of Delaware. This is one of the Department of Communication upper-level skills courses. I'm Chuck Tarver the course instructor.

I always feel it important to share my biases with my students. That way they can seek other sources of information and form their own opinions. This site represents many of those biases, including:

• Students should be given a firm grounding in the history and development of radio.

  Radio is an old medium. It is now more than 80 years old. Programming did not begin with "Classic Rock" the format with which students are most familiar. If students are to fully understand the programming strategies of today, they need to understand what came before.

• Students should understand radio technology.

  Everyone is not going to be an engineer but there are some basics that anyone interested in radio needs to understand. For example: understanding the difference between AM & FM is an essential part of programming.

As a result of these biases, I have not found a suitable textbook. Too many textbooks concentrate only on modern-day formats. Others divorce history and technology from the art of programming. So rather than have my students purchase hundreds of dollars worth of textbooks, I have decided to compile information here.

• Another strong bias is that students should interact with professionals working in the industry.

  My life here at the University of Delaware is far gentler than my colleagues' working in the commercial side of the business. Students need an opportunity to interact with these professionals and gain a truer picture of the industry.

Finally, I firmly believe that radio is fun. I hope that students will continue to visit this site even after the class is over. I also hope they will take time to send me information and materials that will improve the course.