That kindly old investigator, Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, sought missing and murdered individuals longer than any other fictional detective ever heard or seen on the air. For 18 years (19371955) Keen and his faithful assistant, Mike Clancy, entertained followers with their intuitive perception that kept listeners coming back for more. With 1690 nationwide broadcasts, Mr. Keen was the most resilient private detective in a namesake role. The nearest competitors were Nick Carter, Master Detective (726 broadcasts), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (657) and The Adventures of the Falcon (473).

This book presents a portrait of both the beloved character and the venerable dramatic series. An introductory chapter examines the significance of the sleuth in American entertainment. A concerted effort is also made to properly define each Keen era and an appendix provides an episodic log of the programs 1690 broadcasts.

A dazzling insight into what gives meaning to our life and to us as a species. What makes us human? From Carlo Rovelli on the particles of dust that make us, to Caitlin Moran on the joy of Friday nights, and A C Grayling on how we express ourselves through culture: this illuminating book shares 130 mind-expanding answers to that question. We all want to understand our place in the universe and find a sense of purpose in the life. This book will help the reader navigate that journey with the help of leading names from the worlds of literature, history, philosophy, politics, sport, comedy and popular culture. Originally broadcast as a popular feature on the Jeremy Vine Show, What Makes Us Human? includes short essays from: Andrew Marr, Carlo Rovelli, Marian Keyes, Alain de Botton, Robert Webb, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, and many more.

Changes in society, the pluralistic nature of the citizens and the geographic breadth of America preclude a common definition of what is indecent, profane, or obscene. What may appear to be 'dirty discourse' to some may be considered to be laudable satire to others. In this fascinating book, renowned media scholars and authors, Robert Hilliard and Michael Keith, examine the history and nature of indecent program content in American radio.
Examines the blue side of the airways with a first-ever analysis of the history and nature of off-color program content.
Explores the treatment of once-forbidden topics in the electronic media, investigating the beliefs, attitudes and actions of those who present such material, those who condemn it, and those who defend it.
Written from a social and cultural perspective, concentrates on the means of greatest distribution - radio, with its phenomenal growth of "shock jocks" and rap music lyrics.
Provides coverage of television and the Internet, showing how and why broadcasting has evolved from the ribald antics of the Roaring 20's to today's streaming cybersex, contrasting the standards and actions of the FCC v. the First Amendment amidst the over-the-air and in-the-court battles of over-the-top radio.
Illustrates political pressures and legal considerations, including Supreme Court decisions, and efforts to protect children from media smut.

James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader in Star Wars had a set of pipes a radio news anchor in the 1970s might envy. CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow wrote in a style many radio news writers tried to copy. Their skills were honed over time. While few ever reach the stature of a Jones or Murrow, radio broadcasters rely on stations where they can develop these skills. In the seventies, one such place was WYEN-FM in Des Plaines, Illinois.

In The WYEN Experience, author Stew Cohen tells the story of this mom-and-pop radio station--106.7 on the dial--that opened in 1971 and was built on a genuine passion for radio. It flourished through the 1970s, stumbled in the early 1980s, and then sold to a new owner. He provides an insider's look into the happenings of this station that entertained thousands with its music and announcers--including Ed Walters, the driving force behind WYEN; the lives of many of the talented broadcasters who worked here; Cohen's personal coverage of some of the biggest stories of the time; and his interviews with some greats from the entertainment industry.

Cohen describes an era that lived with pay phones, typewriters, turntables, transistor radios, and boom boxes; in The WYEN Experience he brings to life to both the times and the radio station.

The classic serial, invented by BBC Radio Drama sixty years ago, survived and adapted itself to television, the arrival of colour and the global market in what has become a flood of classics with all channels competing for ratings and overseas sales. This richly detailed book traces these developments and analyses the genre's response to social, economic, technical and cultural changes, which have re-shaped it into the form we recognise today. The book contains considerable interview material with performers and media professionals.

Ray Barfield has done something quite new in media studies. Rather than trace the history of radio through the usual route, he has sought out a body of oral history from those who grew up with and listened to radio. He has not only collated the responses of his informants but placed their comments in a larger cultural and historical context and thus provided a kind of history from the ground up. He demonstrates thereby just how important and influential radio was in the lives of ordinary Americans. General readers and scholars alike will learn something from Barfield's engaging narrative about why radio was once such a compelling force in our culture. (From the "Foreword" by Thomas Inge.) This fresh and engaging account of early radio's contributions to U.S. social and cultural life brings together varied perspectives of listeners who recall the programs that delighted and entranced them. The first electronic medium to enter the home, radio is examined as a chief purveyor of family entertainment and as a bridge across regional differences. Barfield draws from over 150 accounts, providing a forum and a context for listeners of early radio to share their memories--from their first impressions of that magical box to favorite shows. Opening chapters trace the changing perceptions of radio as a guest or an invader in U.S. homes during the exuberant 1920s, the cash-scarce 1930s, and the rapidly changing World War II and post-war years. Later chapters offer listener responses to every major program type, including news reporting and commentary, sportscasts, drama, comedy series, crime and terror shows, educational and cultural programs, children's adventure series, soap operas, audience participation shows, and musical presentations.

This fresh and engaging account of early radio's contributions to U.S. social and cultural life brings together varied perspectives of listeners who recall the programs that delighted and entranced them. The first electronic medium to enter the home, radio is examined as a chief purveyor of family entertainment and as a bridge across regional differences. Barfield draws from over 150 accounts, providing a forum and a context for listeners of early radio to share their memories--from their first impressions of that magical box to favorite shows.

Opening chapters trace the changing perceptions of radio as a guest or an invader in U.S. homes during the exuberant 1920s, the cash-scarce 1930s, and the rapidly changing World War II and post-war years. Later chapters offer listener responses to every major program type, including news reporting and commentary, sportscasts, drama, comedy series, crime and terror shows, educational and cultural programs, children's adventure series, soap operas, audience participation shows, and musical presentations.

After World War II, when thousands of African Americans left farms, plantations, and a southern way of life to migrate north, African American disc jockeys helped them make the transition to the urban life by playing familiar music and giving them hints on how to function in northern cities. These disc jockeys became cultural heroes and had a major role in the development of American broadcasting. This collection of interviews documents the personalities of the pioneers of Black radio, as well as their personal struggles and successes. The interviewees also define their roles in the civil rights movement and relate how their efforts have had an impact on how African Americans are portrayed over the air.

"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.

Providing a fresh reevaluation of a specific era in popular music, this book contextualizes the era in terms of both radio history and cultural analysis. "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 reimagine 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.