In many ways the censor bleep noise is like a super-swear. This gives board operators a head-start to catch a swear word, and cover it up with a bleep or other sound before it reaches the ears of unsuspecting listeners. Most live radio isn’t actually live, but is instead broadcast seven seconds after it happens in real life. The bleep was devised so radio stations could cover up swear words just in the nick of time. The first bleep was created by radio broadcast engineers using an oscillator, a piece of equipment that creates test tones and is built into most broadcast radio control boards. By this point, radio and TV was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, who had the power to dish out fines for any content they found indecent, giving rise to the bleep button. By the 1950s radio had gone fully professional, with big national broadcasters reaching everyone in America, and it was joined by a dynamic new flash-in-the-pan invention called TV. After years of newspapers and the telegraph, now, even the smallest local radio station could broadcast voices into hundreds or even thousands of homes. In the 1920s, in America, radio was the hot new thing. But there are other options, too, like silence - so why did this particular *bleep* sound become ubiquitous? There’s a particular one-kilohertz tone that is universally understood to be covering up inappropriate words on radio and TV. You’ll likely know within the first fifteen seconds if this episode is appropriate for your children. Note: This episode contains references to adult language, and might not be suitable for younger listeners.
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