Radio was as much the culmination of the work of a series of scientists in the 19th Century, starting with Faraday, as it was an invention by Marconi. This book aims to illustrate the contributions made by these scientists and show how each was dependent upon the work and ideas of his predecessors; Faraday, Henry, Maxwell, Hughes, Fitzgerald, Hertz, Lodge and Marconi.
The commonly accepted history of FM radio is one of the twentieth century’s iconic sagas of invention, heroism, and tragedy. Edwin Howard Armstrong created a system of wideband frequency-modulation radio in 1933. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), convinced that Armstrong’s system threatened its AM empire, failed to develop the new technology and refused to pay Armstrong royalties. Armstrong sued the company at great personal cost. He died despondent, exhausted, and broke. But this account, according to Gary L. Frost, ignores the contributions of scores of other individuals who were involved in the decades-long struggle to realize the potential of FM radio. The first scholar to fully examine recently uncovered evidence from the Armstrong v. RCA lawsuit, Frost offers a thorough revision of the FM story. Frost’s balanced, contextualized approach provides a much-needed corrective to previous accounts. Navigating deftly through the details of a complicated story, he examines the motivations and interactions of the three communities most intimately involved in the development of the technology—Progressive-era amateur radio operators, RCA and Westinghouse engineers, and early FM broadcasters. In the process, Frost demonstrates the tension between competition and collaboration that goes hand in hand with the emergence and refinement of new technologies. Frost's study reconsiders both the social construction of FM radio and the process of technological evolution. Historians of technology, communication, and media will welcome this important reexamination of the canonic story of early FM radio.
An in-depth look at a century of radio history—and its continuing relevance in a radically changed world. A century after Marconi’s experimental transmissions, this book examines the history of radio and traces its development from theories advanced by James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz to the first practical demonstrations by Guglielmo Marconi. It looks back to the pioneering broadcasts of the BBC, examines the development of broadcast networks in North America and around the world, and spotlights radio’s role in the Second World War. The book also features the radio programs and radio personalities that made a considerable impact on listeners during the “Golden Era.” It examines how radio, faced by competition from television, adapted and survived. Indeed, radio has continued to thrive despite increased competition from mobile phones, computers, and other technological developments. Radio Broadcasting looks ahead and speculates on how radio will fare in a multi-platform future.
Precisely how and why radio developed as it did is a fascinating story, told with authority in this book. Of interest to both the specialist and the general reader, this history concentrates on the years between 1920 and 1930 in the United States when radio was rapidly growing and changing. It covers all important areas in the development of the radio industry: business, programming, regulation, finance, the manufacturing of radio sets and equipment, the development of technology, the rise of networks, and the flowering of radio as a medium of entertainment and news.
Radio has just celebrated its 75th anniversary and it's as vital and varied as ever. Rhoads, a zealous radio historian and archivist, has captured radio's exuberance and fluency in this marvelous collection of more than 900 photographs, many of which have never before been published. This collection of portraits, both posed and candid, of radio personalities is a veritable radio hall of fame, showcasing everyone from Jack Benny to Howard Stern. Rhoads begins with photographs chronicling the rise of the pioneering Pittsburgh station, KDKA, the first to achieve continuous broadcasting, then keeps pace with radio's rapid growth, offering rare documentation of every type of on-air performer, from men of the cloth delivering the first on-air services to vaudevillians, conductors, sportscasters, and dramatists, many of whom went on to achieve fame in Hollywood. Styles change, but the magic continues as radio continues to evolve in conjunction with its competitor, television. On-air performers gave way to disc jockeys and talk show hosts, but talents such as Garrison Keillor and various NPR contributors have helped keep imaginative radio alive and well. - Donna Seaman--BL 03/15/1996.
This history of commercial radio networks in the United States provides a wealth of information on broadcasting from the 1920s to the present. It covers the four transcontinental webs that operated during the pre-television Golden Age, plus local and regional hookups, and the developments that have occurred in the decades since, including the impact of television, the rise of the disc jockey, the rise of talk radio and other specialized formats, implications of satellite technology and consolidation of networks and local stations.
During the first fifty years of the twentieth century, ham radio went from being an experiment to virtually an art form. Because of the few government restrictions and the low monetary investment required, the concept of ham radio appealed to various people. More than just a simple hobby, however, ham radio required its operators to understand radio theory, be able to trace a schematic and know how to build a transmitter and receiver with whatever material they might have available. With the advent of World War II and the increased need for cutting-edge communications, the United States government drew upon the knowledge and skill of these amateur ham radio operators. This book explores the history of ham radio operators, emphasizing their social history and their many contributions to the technological development of worldwide communications. It traces the concept of relays, including the American Radio Relay League, from contacts as close as 25 miles apart to operators anywhere in the world. The book highlights the part played by ham radio in many of the headline events of the half century, especially exploration and aviation "firsts". The ways in which these primarily amateur operators assisted in times of disaster including such events as the sinking of the Titanic and the 1937 Ohio River flood, are also examined.
Public radio stands as a valued national institution, one whose fans and listeners actively support it with their time and their money. In this new history of this important aspect of American culture, author Jack W. Mitchell looks at the dreams that inspired those who created it, the all-too- human realities that grew out of those dreams, and the criticism they incurred from both sides of the political spectrum. As National Public Radio's very first employee, and the first producer of its legendary All Things Considered, Mitchell tells the story of public radio from the point of view of an insider, a participant, and a thoughtful observer. He traces its origins in the progressive movement of the 20th century, and analyzes the people, institutions, ideas, political forces, and economic realities that helped it evolve into what we know as public radio today. NPR and its local affiliates have earned their reputation for thoughtful commentary and excellent journalism, and their work is especially notable in light of the unique struggles they have faced over the decades. This comprehensive overview of their mission will fascinate listeners whose enjoyment and support of public radio has made it possible, and made it great.
When amateur enthusiasts began sending fuzzy signals from their garages and rooftops, radio broadcasting was born. Sensing the medium's potential, snake-oil salesmen and preachers took to the air, at once setting early standards for radio programming and making bedlam of the airwaves. Into the chaos stepped a young secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover, whose passion for organization guided the technology's growth. When a charismatic bandleader named Rudy Vallee created the first on-air variety show and America elected its first true radio president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, radio had arrived. Rudel tells the story of the boisterous years when radio took its place in the nation's living room and forever changed American politics, journalism, and entertainment.
Early '70s Radio focuses on the emergence of commercial music radio "formats," which refer to distinct musical genres aimed toward specific audiences. This formatting revolution took place in a period rife with heated politics, identity anxiety, large-scale disappointments and seemingly insoluble social problems. As industry professionals worked overtime to understand audiences and to generate formats, they also laid the groundwork for market segmentation. Audiences, meanwhile, approached these formats as safe havens wherein they could re-imagine and redefine key issues of identity. A fresh and accessible exercise in audience interpretation, Early '70s Radio is organized according to the era's five prominent formats and analyzes each of these in relation to their targeted demographics, including Top 40, "soft rock", album-oriented rock, soul and country. The book closes by making a case for the significance of early '70s formatting in light of commercial radio today.
