When the pirate operator Oliver Smedley shot and killed his rival Reg Calvert in Smedley s country cottage on June 21, 1966, it was a turning point for the outlaw radio stations dotting the coastal waters of England. Situated on ships and offshore forts like Shivering Sands, these stations blasted away at the high-minded BBC s broadcast monopoly with the new beats of the Stones and DJs like Screaming Lord Sutch. For free-market ideologues like Smedley, the pirate stations were entrepreneurial efforts to undermine the growing British welfare state as embodied by the BBC. The worlds of high table and underground collide in this riveting history."

"An anecdotal and readable history."--"nthposition online magazine"

"The most fascinating parts of the book are the stories of offbeat radio operations, which Walker describes with humor and empathy."--"The Review of Communication"

"Both academics and radio enthusiasts will appreciate this book."
"--Library Journal"

"Without a doubt, this is the most detailed and well-researched book ever published on the history of free radio in America. This includes the most comprehensive history ever written on the modern microradio movement; culled from personal interviews, the writing is mostly engaging and fast-paced...A must read."
--"The About Guide"

"The book is a great addition to the literature of the ways in which the state uses regulatory edicts and strong-arm tactics to stifle people's freedom."
--George C. Leef, "Freedom Daily"

"Jesse Walker's lively book is the first to offer a thorough history of what's come to be known as alternative radio."
--"Time Out New York"

"The story of early radio broadcasting is a fascinating one and well told."--"Monitoring Times"

"Walker goes a long way toward showing the considerable creativity in nonmainstream radio, despite its lack of funds and other problems. The strongest part of the discussion is that dealing with the last thee decades. An interesting balance to the perceived story of American radio."
--"Choice"

Boring DJs who never shut up, and who don't even pick their own records. The same hits, over and over. A constant stream of annoying commercials. How did radio get so dull?

Not by accident, contends journalist and historian Jesse Walker. For decades, government and big business have colluded tomonopolize the airwaves, stamping out competition, reducing variety, and silencing dissident voices. And yet, in the face of such pressure, an alternative radio tradition has tenaciously survived.

Rebels on the Air explores these overlooked chapters in American radio, revealing the legal barriers established broadcasters have erected to ensure their dominance. Using lively anecdotes drawn from firsthand interviews, Walker chronicles the story of the unsung heroes of American radio who, despite those barriers, carved out spaces for themselves in the spectrum, sometimes legally and sometimes not. Walker's engaging, meticulous account is the first comprehensive history of alternative radio in the United States.

From the unlicensed amateurs who invented broadcasting to the community radio movement of the 1960s and 1970s, from the early days of FM to today's micro radio movement, Walker lays bare the hidden history of broadcasting. Above all, Rebels on the Air is the story of the pirate broadcasters who shook up radio in the 1990sand of the new sorts of radio we can expect in the next century, as the microbroadcasters crossbreed with the even newer field of Internet broadcasting.

The early eras of radio storytelling have entered and continue to enter the public domain in large quantities, offering unprecedented access to the Golden Age of Radio. Author and Professor John Pavlik mines the best this age of radio has to offer in Masterful Stories, an examination of the masterpieces of audio storytelling. This book provides a chronological history of the best of the best from radio's Golden Age, outlining a core set of principles and techniques that made these radio plays enduring examples of storytelling. It suggests that, by using these techniques, stories can engage audiences emotionally and intellectually. Grounded in a historical and theoretical understanding of radio drama, this volume illuminates the foundational works that proceeded popular modern shows such as Radiolab, The Moth, and Serial. Masterful Stories will be a powerful resource in both media history courses and courses teaching audio storytelling for modern radio and other audio formats, such as podcasting. It will appeal to audio fans looking to learn about and understand the early days of radio drama.

Network radio from 1932 to 1953 was commercial broadcasting at its highest level: a high-stakes competition embracing technology, industry, government and advertising, ruled by dollars and dictated by ratings. This comprehensive almanac provides a fascinating account of broadcasting's most colorful era, when four nationwide networks dominated American media as no concerted communications force ever had. Early chapters chronicle the development of the broadcasting, advertising and entertainment industries, with an explanation of the ratings system and its evolution. Each subsequent chapter focuses on a specific year of radio's golden age, with industry statistics, daily program ratings and a chart of the year's 50 top programs. A summary lists the era's most successful programs within the five major formats.

Murrow is the biography of America's foremost broadcast journalist, Edward R. Murrow. At twenty-nine, he was the prototype of a species new to communications-an eyewitness to history with power to reach millions. His wartime radio reports from London rooftops brought the world into American homes for the first time. His legendary television documentary See It Now exposed us to the scandals and injustices within our own country. Friend of Presidents, conscience of the people, Murrow remained an enigma-idealistic, creative, self-destructive. In this portrait, based on twelve years of research, A. M. Sperber reveals the complexity and achievements of a man whose voice, intelligence, and honesty inspired a nation during its most profound and vulnerable times.

This narrative contains the documentation and interpretation of two imaginative pastimes (radio and baseball) and illuminates each in a unique manner. It integrates radio and baseball historically, sociologically, and culturally using the common themes of imaginative expression. This book is a unique approach into the magic of radio's imaginative power. Broadcasting baseball on the radio has brought many millions of Americans an imaginative link to a game that is built upon recollections of athletic achievement that ring far truer in our ?sweet imaginations.? Through the use of our imaginations, we can see the game itself as more than just a game, but a gateway to an imaginative realm beyond the reality of everyday life.

First Published in 1969. Written in 1950, this book seeks to answer the three questions of how is it that broadcasting in Great Britain came to be organised on a monopolistic basis? What has been the effect of the monopoly on the development of, and policy towards, competitive services such as wire broadcasting and foreign commercial broadcasting intended for listeners in Great Britain ? Finally, what are the views which have been held on the monopoly of broadcasting in Great Britain?

Invisible Stars was the first book to recognize that women have always played an important part in American electronic media. The emphasis is on social history, as the author skillfully explains how the changing role of women in different eras influenced their participation in broadcasting. This is not just the story of radio stars or broadcast journalists, but a social history of women both on and off the air. Beginning in the early 1920s with the emergence of radio, the book chronicles the ambivalence toward women in broadcasting during the 1930s and 1940s, the gradual change in status of women in the 1950s and 1960s, the increased presence of women in broadcasting in the 1970s, and the successes of women in broadcasting in the 1980s and 1990s. The second edition is expanded to include the social and political changes that occurred in the 2000s, such as the growing number of women talk show hosts; changing attitudes about women in leadership roles in business; more about minority women in media; and women in sports and women sports announcers. The author addresses the question of whether women are in fact no longer invisible in electronic media. She provides an assessment of where progress for women (in society as well as broadcasting) can be seen, and where progress appears totally stalled.

This book explores how community radio contributes to social change. Community radio remains a unique communication platform under digital capitalism, arguably capable of expanding the project of media democratisation. Yet there is a lack of in-depth analysis of community radio experience, and a dearth of understanding of its functionality as an actively transformative tool for greater equity in society. This project combines the theoretical positions of the political economy of communication with a citizen's media perspective in order to interrogate community radio's democratic potential. By presenting case studies of two radio stations in Melbourne and Lospalos, and applying multiple research methods, the book reveals community radio's amplification of media participation, communication rights, counter-hegemony and media power - in effect, its distinct regenerative voice.

Invisible Stars was the first book to recognize that women have always played an important part in American electronic media. The emphasis is on social history, as the author skillfully explains how the changing role of women in different eras influenced their participation in broadcasting. This is not just the story of radio stars or broadcast journalists, but a social history of women both on and off the air. Beginning in the early 1920s with the emergence of radio, the book chronicles the ambivalence toward women in broadcasting during the 1930s and 1940s, the gradual change in status of women in the 1950s and 1960s, the increased presence of women in broadcasting in the 1970s, and the successes of women in broadcasting in the 1980s and 1990s. The second edition is expanded to include the social and political changes that occurred in the 2000s, such as the growing number of women talk show hosts; changing attitudes about women in leadership roles in business; more about minority women in media; and women in sports and women sports announcers. The author addresses the question of whether women are in fact no longer invisible in electronic media. She provides an assessment of where progress for women (in society as well as broadcasting) can be seen, and where progress appears totally stalled.

Andre Kostelanetz On Records and On the Air is a comprehensive discography of the commercial recordings of the Russian/American conductor and radio personality, Andre Kostelanetz. James H. North has collected all his recordings, spanning the range from popular to classical. Organized chronologically by album, North provides the complete details of each recording: composer, song title, timing, date and site of the recording session, producer of that session, and matrix numbers, as well as every American issue of each recording. Several appendixes organize the information alphabetically by composer, song title, and album title, giving references back to the discography by date of recording. Available downloads from the Internet are included in the song title appendix. Two further appendixes deal with Compact Disc issues and with V-Discs, the records created by the United States Army and Navy for worldwide distribution to members of the Armed Forces during World War II. Initially a request from the Andre Kostelanetz Estate, who has generously supported this work, the discography grew to include a complete coverage of Kostelanetz's appearances on the radio, from the 1920s through 1980 (plus a few on television), as North discovered that Kostelanetz's radio career was as important as his records to music in America. More than 1,000 broadcasts are covered, including both his radio shows and his concert broadcasts with symphony orchestras, and the contents of each program are listed where known. An important extra in the book is a survey of Kostelanetz's career and an evaluation of his achievements, contributed by noted radio historian Dick O'Connor. A foreword by the Archivist and Historian of the New York Philharmonic, Barbara Haws, completes this reference tool, which will be invaluable to the millions of fans who welcome the opportunity to peruse the details of one of the most beloved figures in music.

This book is a real find - for those who enjoy radio nostalgia but more importantly for scholars of broadcasting. From 1947 to 1950 while listening to such voices as Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Milton Berle, Jacl Benny, Fred Allen, and Jimmy Durante, and shows like Fiber McGee & Molly, Amos 'n' Andy, Blondie, and You Bet Your Life, the author was writing down jokes, gags, one-liners and quotations. In that short time he had filled 11 spiral notebooks. Fifty years later in a labor of love, the author painstakingly transferred those childhood notes into this invaluable - in fact, undoubtably unique - record of a boom time in American radio. This is an unexpected treasure for radio scholars, who have long lamented the lack of recordings for the majority of radio programming. Television researchers as well will benefit - here are root sources of television comedy. It is a revelation to find that what we are laughing at today often was first done on radio over 50 year ago. The author has also included a notes and comments section which includes background material on all the radio programs in this book.

Radio's New Wave explores the evolution of audio media and sound scholarship in the digital age. Extending and updating the focus of their widely acclaimed 2001 book The Radio Reader, Hilmes and Loviglio gather together innovative work by both established and rising scholars to explore the ways that radio has transformed in the digital environment. Contributors explore what sound looks like on screens, how digital listening moves us, new forms of sonic expression, radio's convergence with mobile media, and the creative activities of old and new audiences. Even radio's history has been altered by research made possible by digital and global convergence. Together, these twelve concise chapters chart the dissolution of radio's boundaries and its expansion to include a wide-ranging universe of sound, visuals, tactile interfaces, and cultural roles, as radio rides the digital wave into its second century.

In her study of key radio dramas broadcast from 1930 to 1943, Lauren Rea analyses the work of leading exponents of the genre against the wider backdrop of nation-building, intellectual movements and popular culture in Argentina. During the period that has come to be known as the infamous decade, radio serials drew on the Argentine literary canon, with writers such as Hector Pedro Blomberg and Jose Andres Gonzalez Pulido contributing to the nation-building project as they reinterpreted nineteenth-century Argentina and repackaged it for a 1930s mass audience. Thus, a historical romance set in the tumultuous dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas reveals the conflict between the message transmitted to a mass audience through popular radio drama and the work of historical revisionist intellectuals writing in the 1930s. Transmitted at the same time, Gonzalez Pulido's gauchesque series evokes powerful notions of Argentine national identity as it explores the relationship of the gaucho with Argentina's immigrant population and advocates for the ideal contribution of women and the immigrant population to Argentine nationhood. Rea grounds her study in archival work undertaken at the library of Argentores in Buenos Aires, which holds the only surviving collection of scripts of radio serials from the period. Rea's book recovers the contribution that these products of popular culture made to the nation-building project as they helped to shape and promote the understanding of Argentine history and cultural identity that is widely held today.

Evangelicalism, a faith with which 1 in 4 American adults identifies, exerts an enormous impact on American society. Its story typically begins in the Seventies and is portrayed as a reaction to the social revolution of the Sixties. But the beginnings of evangelicalism as a distinctive American subculture date to the dawn of the Media Age. With the arrival of radio, evangelicals flocked to the airwaves. For the first time, they developed their own mass culture as evangelicals nationwide, across denominational lines, heard the same popular preachers and music. The Master's Radio captures the evangelical media and music culture of this pivotal midcentury era as evangelicals left behind the fundamentalism of the early twentieth century and prepared for the culturally engaged New Christian Right of the late twentieth century. To capture the spirit of these times, The Master's Radio avoids dry historical writing with a narratively driven "historical ethnography" that presents the era's major radio evangelists and songwriters in the own words-not only from their writings and recordings but from songbooks, record liner notes, and "song story" anthologies of the period. The Master's Radio is sure to become the standard work on the midcentury rise of evangelical mass culture.

Writing for radio brings together theoretical and practical aspects of radio writing. It deals with writing for all principal radio genres - short stories, plays, documentaries/drama documentaries, talks and features, adaptations/dramatisations, poems, and advertisements. It contains historical overviews of the genesis and development of each of these categories and attempts an analysis of the nature of radio itself. For the first time there is an attempt to isolate a 'radio language', a syntax and vocabulary guaranteed to produce pictures in the mind of the listener. This means radio can be taught as an academic subject as all writing - prose, drama and verse, can be tested as radio and examples for analysis are used from both broadcast and non-broadcast work. -- .

'Jim Beaman's Interviewing for Radio is a classic and seminal practice text, brilliantly written and masterful in its content. Nobody working in professional radio can do without it. It is a must for all radio courses and I could not recommend it more highly' - Tim Crook, Head of Radio, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK

Interviewing for Radio is a thorough introduction to the techniques and skills of the radio interview. It offers advice on how to ask the right question and elicit a response, and guides the reader through the use of equipment, the mechanics of recording, the studio environment, live broadcasts, presentation and pronunciation, and editing material.

Written by an experienced producer and instructor, Interviewing for Radio includes:

• the history of the radio interview and the importance of its role today
• practical exercises which introduce successful interview and technical skills
• case studies and hypothetical scenarios to help you prepare for potential difficulties
• a discussion of ethics, risk assessment, codes of conduct and regulations

This second edition has been thoroughly updated and includes advice from a new range of practitioners, and examples of recent UK and international interviews. The author critically analyses these interviews and explains the preparation, organisation and expertise required in order to produce a successful radio broadcast. Interviewing for Radio references both new and existing regulations and guidelines for UK journalists, then offers a global perspective by drawing on the differences and similarities with those applicable to other countries.

This invaluable book is supported by a companion website that includes audio interviews with practitioners accompanied by a range of student exercises, a comprehensive glossary in the form of interactive flashcards, and suggested links for further listening.

'Jim Beaman's Interviewing for Radio is a classic and seminal practice text, brilliantly written and masterful in its content. Nobody working in professional radio can do without it. It is a must for all radio courses and I could not recommend it more highly' - Tim Crook, Head of Radio, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK Interviewing for Radio is a thorough introduction to the techniques and skills of the radio interview. It offers advice on how to ask the right question and elicit a response, and guides the reader through the use of equipment, the mechanics of recording, the studio environment, live broadcasts, presentation and pronunciation, and editing material. Written by an experienced producer and instructor, Interviewing for Radio includes: the history of the radio interview and the importance of its role today practical exercises which introduce successful interview and technical skills case studies and hypothetical scenarios to help you prepare for potential difficulties a discussion of ethics, risk assessment, codes of conduct and regulations This second edition has been thoroughly updated and includes advice from a new range of practitioners, and examples of recent UK and international interviews. The author critically analyses these interviews and explains the preparation, organisation and expertise required in order to produce a successful radio broadcast. Interviewing for Radio references both new and existing regulations and guidelines for UK journalists, then offers a global perspective by drawing on the differences and similarities with those applicable to other countries. This invaluable book is supported by a companion website that includes audio interviews with practitioners accompanied by a range of student exercises, a comprehensive glossary in the form of interactive flashcards, and suggested links for further listening.

This powerful history of broadcasting in the United States goes beyond traditional accounts to explore the field's important social, political, and cultural ramifications. It examines how broadcasting has been organized as a business throughout much of the 20th century, and focuses on the aesthetics of programming over the years.
Surveys four key broadcasting periods from 1921 to 1996, drawing on a range of new sources to examine recent changes in the field, including coverage of the recent impact of cable TV and home video
Includes new data from collections at the Library of Congress and the Library of American Broadcasting
Ideal for anyone seeking a readable history of the field, offering the most current coverage available

The Biographical Encyclopedia of American Radio presents the very best biographies of the internationally acclaimed three-volume Encyclopedia of Radio in a single volume. It includes more than 200 biographical entries on the most important and influential American radio personalities, writers, producers, directors, newscasters, and network executives. With 23 new biographies and updated entries throughout, this volume covers key figures from radioa (TM)s past and present including Glenn Beck, Jessie Blayton, Fred Friendly, Arthur Godfrey, Bob Hope, Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Ryan Seacrest, Laura Schlesinger, Red Skelton, Nina Totenberg, Walter Winchell, and many more.

Scholarly but accessible, this encyclopedia provides an unrivaled guide to the voices behind radio for students and general readers alike.

This volume gathers together, for the first time in English translation, Brecht's own writings on the new film and broadcast technologies that revolutionised arts and communication in the early part of the twentieth century This book includes all of Brecht's theoretical writing about film, radio, broadcasting and the new media written between 1919 and 1956 as well as all of his important screenplays produced during the 1920s and 1930s. Screenplays written during this time include an early sound-film adaptation of The Threepenny Opera, and a collaboration with Fritz Lang, Hangmen Also Die. Brecht's writings on the new media document his fascination with it from Weimar Germany to Hollywood and the movie industry.A must for students of Brecht and film studies alike.

This powerful history of broadcasting in the United States goes beyond traditional accounts to explore the field's important social, political, and cultural ramifications. It examines how broadcasting has been organized as a business throughout much of the 20th century, and focuses on the aesthetics of programming over the years.
Surveys four key broadcasting periods from 1921 to 1996, drawing on a range of new sources to examine recent changes in the field, including coverage of the recent impact of cable TV and home video
Includes new data from collections at the Library of Congress and the Library of American Broadcasting
Ideal for anyone seeking a readable history of the field, offering the most current coverage available

In her study of key radio dramas broadcast from 1930 to 1943, Lauren Rea analyses the work of leading exponents of the genre against the wider backdrop of nation-building, intellectual movements and popular culture in Argentina. During the period that has come to be known as the infamous decade, radio serials drew on the Argentine literary canon, with writers such as Hector Pedro Blomberg and Jose Andres GonzA!lez Pulido contributing to the nation-building project as they reinterpreted nineteenth-century Argentina and repackaged it for a 1930s mass audience. Thus, a historical romance set in the tumultuous dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas reveals the conflict between the message transmitted to a mass audience through popular radio drama and the work of historical revisionist intellectuals writing in the 1930s. Transmitted at the same time, GonzA!lez Pulido's gauchesque series evokes powerful notions of Argentine national identity as it explores the relationship of the gaucho with Argentina's immigrant population and advocates for the ideal contribution of women and the immigrant population to Argentine nationhood. Rea grounds her study in archival work undertaken at the library of Argentores in Buenos Aires, which holds the only surviving collection of scripts of radio serials from the period. Rea's book recovers the contribution that these products of popular culture made to the nation-building project as they helped to shape and promote the understanding of Argentine history and cultural identity that is widely held today.

In 1929, ""The Goldbergs"" debuted on the air, introducing Gertrude Berg - and her radio alter ego, Bronx housewife Molly Goldberg - to the nation. The show would become one of the most beloved and enduring programs of Golden Age radio and of early TV. At the helm was Berg who, as creator, star, writer, and producer, became a force to be reckoned with. This multifaceted biography provides a penetrating look at how Gertrude Berg carved a special place for herself in the annals of broadcast history. Decades before Lucille Ball, Berg triumphed as a woman of commercial and creative consequence in what was essentially a male-dominated arena. For over three decades, Berg's ""Molly"" fluttered about and hung out her kitchen window dispensing motherly advice laced with engaging malapropisms, insights, and lots of ""schmaltz."" The show offered a warmly comedic look at the lives and dreams of working-class American Jews and subtle insights into the nature of assimilation. While Molly, husband Jake, and Uncle David represent Old World Jewish stereotypes, children Rosalie and Sammy are as American as apple pie. A sentimental portrait of the immigrant experience, ""The Goldbergs"" offered a mythic ideal of the American dream. Drawing on Gertrude Berg's papers at Syracuse University's Bird Library and rare interviews with her family and colleagues, the author reveals her as shrewd, creative, and forthright. Unlike ""Molly,"" Berg was a cultivated woman and a Columbia graduate. A pioneer in the concept of product tie-in, she parlayed the show's popularity into a movie, short stories, and even a cookbook. In 1951, she stood up to the blacklist by refusing to fire longtime co-star Philip Loeb who was under investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The book also chronicles Berg's accomplishments in theater, film, and literature.