The Rise of Radio from Marconi through the Golden Age

About this book

As the dominant form of electronic mass communication in the United States from the 1930s into the 1950s radio helped to forge a modern continental nation. It fused myriad subcultures--heavily rural ethnic and immigrant--into a national identity unifying the nation in the face of the Depression and war. Later federal deregulation allowed the radio of the "Golden Age " 1926-1952 to devolve into a chain-dominated satellite-fed plaything of Wall Street. Today radio has the highest profit ratio of all the media outlets--and Golden Age traditions of programming taste diversity balance and localism are a legacy squandered. This anecdote-rich sweep of radio history from its birth as Marconis "wireless telegraph" through its current status under deregulation analyzes the changing mediums social political and cultural impact. It casts new light on many topics including the roles of women and African Americans programming sources outside the Hollywood-Broadway nexus and arguments about Amos n Andy--once the hit that jump-started radios young networks now a controversial remnant of a bygone era. The book is augmented with more than sixty photos extensive source notes and a bibliography.