History of Media and the Super Bowl

Jessica Trihey

Media

  

In the year 2011, where media is on the verge of a whole other digital dimension, people associate media with internet, cell phones, and advertisements. Many people know little about it’s history, and the crucial strides taken by those who inhabited this Earth thousands of years earlier. In 4000BC the Indus Valley Civilization, were the first to make paved roads. This may not seem like a form of media, but without this primal step, people would not be in communication thus yielding the expansion for future contact. 

The ancient Egyptians were another group of people whose discoveries accelerated the way we communicate today. In 3100BC, Hieroglyphics were being used as a type of record keeping. This was the precursor to written languages, and the spoken language. Soon, other civilizations around the world would be writing on bones, and developing paper. By 1200BC the Greek alphabet was developed, this is the foundation for all written and spoken languages. This phonetic alphabet shows each separate letter with it’s own vowel and consonant. All of these primary inventions aided in the evolution of what would be media today. 

There are numerous other things that have aided tremendously in the evolution of media, and communication. Homing pigeons were another means of communication that are often over looked. What is a homing pigeon exactly; you might be wondering? They were used as a sort of messenger between villages to transfer information to one another. In 776BC these birds were being used to deliver the results of the Olympic games; which leads to the next portion in media’s history. 

The first Olympic games were probably the most foundational and influential event. The first Olympic games, which took place in 776BC in Olympia, Greece. The games greatly influenced the many sporting events we have today. Although we still have the Olympic games, the hype, and publicity of football, and other mainstream athletic events have grown, thanks to Olympia, Greece in 776BC.  

February 6, 2011, the 45th Super Bowl football tournament aired on CBS television. Guessing that the majority of the people sitting on the couch with their chips, nacho cheese, and drinks anticipating the results of the game have never contemplated how exactly this annual monumental sporting event came about; but it is something that should be. So much of our current history is build upon what many others before us have laid out. 

The fireworks of 1100BC in China were used as a way of advertisement, and distant communication. The Super Bowl is known for their outrageously expensive, and over dramatized commercials. In this year’s 2011 Super Bowl, commercials on average cost between $2.5 and $3 million dollars per 30 seconds of air time. The high cost of air time insures that people across the country are tuned into their commercials. If you think about the length that the fireworks in China could reach; probably not much further than a few hundred miles, today we are able to communicate with others across the world with one click of a button. 

If the people who made the fundamental building blocks for media in our society today could see how far we have come, they probably would have keeled over from shock. To go from only being able to communicate with others from the next near by town, to picking a palm-sized devise and pushing the screen, and being able to talk to someone across the world seems way beyond comprehension. All of this is normal to those who live in today’s society. The break through inventions that are to come might surpass what we could have ever fathomed for technology and media today. We can’t forget about the founding individuals that have paved the way for us to discover new means of communication with one another.