An examination of the development of local radio broadcasting and the trend for locally-owned, locally-originated and locally-accountable commercial radio stations to fall into the hands of national and international media groups. Starkey traces the early development of local radio through to present-day digital environments.

The soap opera is a major form of media art and popular culture. Revered and reviled by fans and critics, its history spans and reflects social change and plays a vital role in the development of broadcasting. This book traces the genre from its beginnings on American radio in the 1930s to the international television genre it has become today. While concentrating on British soap operas, it also discusses the influence of their American and Australian counterparts.

This is the first book to consider the soap opera within the economy of broadcasting; it includes a chapter based on interviews with leading broadcasting executives who give their analysis of the importance of the soap opera to their industry. The perspective of television producers as well as the views of audiences are also taken into account.

Accessibly written, "Soap Opera" links the genre to both its media and its literary heritage, and argues that soap operas cross international boundaries through the universal appeal of their characters and their stories. It will be of particular interest to students of media and cultural studies, literary studies, sociology and television production courses, as well as to professionals in the television industry.

Anna May Wong, born in Los Angeles in 1905 to a traditional family that did not support her ambition, is the only Asian-American actress to have achieved stardom during Hollywood's Golden Age. In her youth she went to hundreds of motion pictures and studied the actors. She remained single to avoid a conventional Chinese marriage that could endanger her career. With her beauty and grace, she gradually became the darling of the intelligentsia, inspiring poems, songs, and crowds of admirers in the British Isles, Europe, and China. During World War II, she toured the United States, New Zealand, and Australia for the benefit of the Chinese war relief. Leaving a legacy of some 60 film appearances, numerous stage and television shows, and several radio spots, Wong remains an outstanding role model for Asian-American performers. This book covers Anna May Wong's entire career through detailed filmographic entries, each containing critical commentary as well as standard cast and technical credits, synopses, and newspaper and magazine reviews. The separate sections detail Wong's stage work and radio and television appearances. Information on Wong's beginnings in Los Angeles and personal life is also provided.

'What's for tea, Clarrielove?' From the fabled kitchens of Ambridge come the recipes and gossip that fuel the nation's favourite village. Whether it's Susan's spicy chilli con carne on the hob or Helen's dramatic tuna bake in the oven, Jill's flapjacks stacked high or Alastair's Goan fish curry hotting up suppertime, this celebration of Ambridge life will take fans even closer to the heart of every Archers home. But this book isn't just a cook-along with our favourite families. It's full to the brim with tales and memories. The Archers Year of Food and Farming shares the ups and downs of the inhabitants of Ambridge and celebrates our countryside in all of its green and pleasant glory. Month-by-month, we learn more about the farming community and those big events in the Ambridge calendar: Shrove Tuesday and Easter, lambing, Open Farm Sunday, the village fete, Apple Day, the harvest, Stir-up Sunday and Deck the Hall. Rural traditions are alive and well in The Archers, but it's a contemporary world that is full of warmth, wit and the unexpected.

In One-Man Band, the third volume in his epic survey of Orson Welles' life and work, Simon Callow again probes in comprehensive and penetrating detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century, looking closely at the triumphs and failures of an ambitious one-man assault on one medium after another - theatre, radio, film, television, even, at one point, ballet - in each of which his radical and original approach opened up new directions and hitherto unglimpsed possibilities. The book begins with Welles' self-exile from America, and his realisation that he could only function happily as an independent film-maker, a one-man band; by 1964, he had filmed Othello, which took three years to complete, Mr Arkadin, the biggest conundrum in his output, and his masterpiece Chimes at Midnight, as well as Touch of Evil, his sole return to Hollywood and, like all too many of his films, wrested from his grasp and re-edited. Along the way he made inroads into the fledgling medium of television and a number of stage plays, including Moby-Dick, considered by theatre historians to be one of the seminal productions of the century. Meanwhile, his private life was as dramatic as his professional life. The book shows what it was like to be around Welles, and, with a precision rarely attempted before, what it was like to be him, in which lies the answer to the old riddle: whatever happened to Orson Welles?

Young Johnnie Walker was obsessed with music and loved to share that passion. So it wasn't long after he'd started DJing in dance halls and pubs around his Solihull home that he got his big break: he talked his way into a slot with newly founded pirate station Radio England - and launched his incredible career. Here, he tells of forty years at the heart of British broadcasting, stints that involved working on the legendary Radio Caroline, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2; of the stars and musicians he's met and worked with; of how he won the hearts of his listeners and of his devotion to pioneering new music. Johnnie also speaks candidly about the personal challenges he's faced: divorce, exile and his very public struggles with drug addiction and cancer. His life has been inspiring and - above all - entertaining. His autobiography is no different.

'He played that so late, it was almost posthumous.' (John Arlott) For over fifty years, Test Match Special has provided the soundtrack to many cricket fans' lives - now this book collects its greatest hits. Here are all the witty sayings, bons mots, doubles entendres, wise words and priceless moments from the whole TMS team past and present, and of course their many and varied celebrity guests. Whether it's classic Test moments or hilarious asides from the boundary, you'll find the perfect line for every occasion. Collecting over half a century of quips and quotes, and beautifully illustrated throughout, The Wit and Wisdom of Test Match Special is a cricket fan's indispensable guide to bats, bowls, beards and bakes.

Convenient, entertaining, and provocative, talk radio today is unapologetically ideological. Focusing on Rush Limbaugh -- the medium's most influential talk show -- "Rushed to Judgment" systematically examines the politics of persuasion at play on our nation's radio airwaves and asks a series of important questions. Does listening to talk radio change the way people think about politics, or are listeners' attitudes a function of the self-selecting nature of the audience? Does talk radio enhance understanding of public issues or serve as a breeding ground for misunderstanding? Can talk radio serve as an agent of deliberative democracy, spurring Americans to open, public debate? Or will talk radio only aggravate the divisive partisanship many Americans decry in poll after poll? The time is ripe to evaluate the effects of a medium whose influence has yet to be fully reckoned with.

A group biography of four beloved women who fought sexism, covered decades of American news, and whose voices defined NPR In the years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women in the workplace still found themselves relegated to secretarial positions or locked out of jobs entirely. This was especially true in the news business, a backwater of male chauvinism where a woman might be lucky to get a foothold on the "women's pages." But when a pioneering nonprofit called National Public Radio came along in the 1970s, and the door to serious journalism opened a crack, four remarkable women came along and blew it off the hinges. Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie is journalist Lisa Napoli's captivating account of these four women, their deep and enduring friendships, and the trail they blazed to becoming icons. They had radically different stories. Cokie Roberts was born into a political dynasty, roamed the halls of Congress as a child, and felt a tug toward public service. Susan Stamberg, who had lived in India with her husband who worked for the State Department, was the first woman to anchor a nightly news program and pressed for accommodations to balance work and home life. Linda Wertheimer, the daughter of shopkeepers in New Mexico, fought her way to a scholarship and a spot on-air. And Nina Totenberg, the network's legal affairs correspondent, invented a new way to cover the Supreme Court. Based on extensive interviews and calling on the author's deep connections in news and public radio, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie is as beguiling and sharp as its formidable subjects.

Loren Ghiglione recounts the fascinating life and tragic suicide of Don Hollenbeck, the controversial newscaster who became a primary target of McCarthyism's smear tactics. Drawing on unsealed FBI records, private family correspondence, and interviews with Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, Charles Collingwood, Douglas Edwards, and more than one hundred other journalists, Ghiglione writes a balanced biography that cuts close to the bone of this complicated newsman and chronicles the stark consequences of the anti-Communist frenzy that seized America in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Hollenbeck began his career at the Lincoln, Nebraska "Journal" (marrying the boss's daughter) before becoming an editor at William Randolph Hearst's rip-roaring "Omaha Bee-News." He participated in the emerging field of photojournalism at the Associated Press; assisted in creating the innovative, ad-free "PM" newspaper in New York City; reported from the European theater for NBC radio during World War II; and anchored television newscasts at CBS during the era of Edward R. Murrow.

Hollenbeck's pioneering, prize-winning radio program, "CBS Views the Press" (1947-1950), was a declaration of independence from a print medium that had dominated American newsmaking for close to 250 years. The program candidly criticized the prestigious "New York Times," the "Daily News" (then the paper with the largest circulation in America), and Hearst's flagship "Journal-American" and popular morning tabloid "Daily Mirror." For this honest work, Hollenbeck was attacked by conservative anti-Communists, especially Hearst columnist Jack O'Brian, and in 1954, plagued by depression, alcoholism, three failed marriages, and two network firings (and worried about a third), Hollenbeck took his own life. In his investigation of this amazing American character, Ghiglione reveals the workings of an industry that continues to fall victim to censorship and political manipulation. Separating myth from fact, "CBS's Don Hollenbeck" is the definitive portrait of a polarizing figure who became a symbol of America's tortured conscience.

Now fans need no longer wait for the CBC to re-run recordings of Max Ferguson's notorious radio shows (assuming that the tapes have not all been destroyed by court order). A full dose of his lunacy, depravity, and flagrant disregard for management can now be enjoyed at any hour of the day or night simply by reading a copy of And Now... Here's Max, his scandalous memoir of a life in broadcasting at the CBC. This edition includes a new foreword by Shelagh Rogers. Max Ferguson's 52 years as an announcer on CBC television and radio included such programmes as After Breakfast Breakdown, The Max Ferguson Show, Tabloid, Gazette, Inside From The Outside, 55 North Maple, and Telescope, and earned him many honours: the Order of Canada, the Governor-General's Performing Arts Award, the John Drainie Award, the Gordon Sinclair Award, the Stephen Leacock Award (for And Now...Here's Max), three ACTRA awards, and honorary degrees from Dalhousie University, Brock, Waterloo, Western Ontario, and the University of Saskatchewan.

As World War II drew to a close and radio news was popularized through overseas broadcasting, journalists and dramatists began to build upon the unprecedented success of war reporting on the radio by creating audio documentaries. Focusing particularly on the work of radio luminaries such as Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, Norman Corwin, and Erik Barnouw, Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest traces this crucial phase in American radio history, significant not only for its timing immediately before television, but also because it bridges the gap between the end of the World Wars and the beginning of the Cold War. Matthew C. Ehrlich closely examines the production of audio documentaries disseminated by major American commercial broadcast networks CBS, NBC, and ABC from 1945 to 1951. Audio documentary programs educated Americans about juvenile delinquency, slums, race relations, venereal disease, atomic energy, arms control, and other issues of public interest, but they typically stopped short of calling for radical change. Drawing on rare recordings and scripts, Ehrlich traces a crucial phase in the evolution of news documentary, as docudramas featuring actors were supplanted by reality-based programs that took advantage of new recording technology. Paralleling that shift from drama to realism was a shift in liberal thought from dreams of world peace to uneasy adjustments to a cold war mentality. Influenced by corporate competition and government regulations, radio programming reflected shifts in a range of political thought that included pacifism, liberalism, and McCarthyism. In showing how programming highlighted contradictions within journalism and documentary, Radio Utopia reveals radio's response to the political, economic, and cultural upheaval of the post-war era.

Desmond Barrit stars as Horace Rumpole in this full-cast, feature-length radio drama Rumpole has no special objection to Christmas - except that with the Old Bailey closed, he has no opportunity to exercise his skills in court. But over the course of one unusual holiday, he nonetheless manages to triumph in two very different cases... Dragooned into spending Christmas in Norfolk, at the home of one of Hilda's old schoolfriends, Rumpole is feeling less than festive. Chilly Coldsands Rectory does not offer much in the way of enjoyment - but a trip to the local church and a surprise encounter with an old acquaintance leads to a God-given opportunity to indulge in a little seasonal, charitable blackmail. A New Year outing to see Aladdin also provides more excitement than expected. The traditional British pantomime is one of Rumpole's favourite institutions, but he has a vague feeling that there's something odd about this particular production. A post-panto drink, some overheard remarks and a glance at the programme confirm his suspicions - and put him on the path to solving an audacious crime... Starring Desmond Barrit as Rumpole and Joanna David as Hilda, with Tim McInnerny as Donald Compton and Nigel Anthony as Fred Timson. Written by John Mortimer Directed by Marilyn Imrie Produced by Catherine Bailey Pantomime music written and played by Neil Brand A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine is an honest and absorbing memoir from a man who has emerged as one of Wales's major cultural figures. Boyd Clack is a man of many talents: a writer, actor, singer, musician, enthusiast, and with this first book picks apart a challenging upbringing in Tonyrefail, his wanderings to Australia, Amsterdam and London, and his experimentation as a young man with drink and drugs and love. This is Boyd's story, told with candour and perception and skill that will absorb anyone interested in what it was to be young and Welsh - and are now older and maybe a little wiser. 'Boyd is a brilliant actor and writer, truly unique, a genius by any definition of the word.' - Rhys Ifans 'I love Boyd's unique take on life.' - Rob Brydon "Awesome and hilarious... I cannot recommend this moving, truthful, funny and endearing roller coaster of a ride enough." - Eve Myles

A Journey inside the World of Sports Talk Radio

Their voices explode over the airwaves -- with names like Mike and the Mad Dog, the Stinkin' Genius, Hacksaw, and JT the Brick. They broadcast in drive time and downtime, from rush hour to the dead of night. And yet, millions of fans tune in around the clock to hear their favorite larger-than-life radio personalities rant, rave, critique, predict, and mix it up with callers -- the dedicated fans of sports talk radio.

Never before has this cloistered world opened its doors to a no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes, full-access look at itself. Noted journalist (and fan) Alan Eisenstock embarks on a journey through the American sports radio landscape and gives readers a front-row seat -- from breakfast at the kitchen table of Eddie Andelman, Boston's godfather of sports radio, to the WFAN commissary with Mike and the Mad Dog in New York; from the plush home game room of Chicago's hot dog-vendorA-turned-#1 DJ Mike North to the empty 3 AM studio parking garage with nationally syndicated JT the Brick. Eisenstock goes into the studios, homes, and lives of these and many other of America's hottest and most-listened-to sports talk hosts.

Filled with hilarious and entertaining tales of what makes these hosts tick -- as well as the unbelievable stories of how they got where they are today -- "Sports Talk" paints a picture the fans never see. Eisenstock shows us the blood, sweat, and tears of program directors with their reputations on the line; hosts searching for career security; and station managers who are always eyeing the bottom line. And, of course, there are stories of the rabid, obsessed, and off-the-wall fans. Whether you're a sports fan or a sports talk junkie, you'll be hooked from the first page.

Long before the Arab Spring and its use of social media demonstrated the potent intersection between technology and revolution, the Mexican Revolution employed wireless technology in the form of radiotelegraphy and radio broadcasting to alter the course of the revolution and influence how political leaders reconstituted the government. Radio in Revolution, an innovative study of early radio technologies and the Mexican Revolution, examines the foundational relationship between electronic wireless technologies, single-party rule, and authoritarian practices in Mexican media. J. Justin Castro bridges the Porfiriato and the Mexican Revolution, discussing the technological continuities and change that set the stage for Lazaro Cardenas's famous radio decree calling for the expropriation of foreign oil companies. Not only did the nascent development of radio technology represent a major component in government plans for nation and state building, its interplay with state power in Mexico also transformed it into a crucial component of public communication services, national cohesion, military operations, and intelligence gathering. Castro argues that the revolution had far-reaching ramifications for the development of radio and politics in Mexico and reveals how continued security concerns prompted the revolutionary victors to view radio as a threat even while they embraced it as an essential component of maintaining control.

For more than sixty years, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans personified the romantic, mythic West that Americans cherished. Blazing a trail through every branch of the entertainment industry - radio, film, recordings, television, and even comic books - the couple capitalized on their attractive personas and appealed to the nation's belief in family values, an independent spirit, and community. Raymond E. White presents these two celebrities in the most comprehensive and inclusive account to date. Part narrative, part reference, this impeccably researched, highly accessible survey spans the entire scope of Rogers's and Evans's careers and highlights their place in twentieth-century American popular culture. In a dual biography, he shows how Rogers and Evans carefully husbanded their public image and - of particular note - incorporated their Christian faith into their performances. Testifying to both the breadth and the longevity of their careers, the book includes radio logs, discographies, filmographies, and comicographies that will delight historians and collectors alike.

The Wireless World sets out a new research agenda for the history of international broadcasting, and for radio history more generally. It examines global and transnational histories of long-distance wireless broadcasting, combining perspectives from international history, media and cultural history, the history of technology, and sound studies. It is a co-written book, the result of more than five years of collaboration. Bringing together their knowledge of a wide range of different countries, languages, and archives, the co-authors show how broadcasters and states deployed international broadcasting as a tool of international communication and persuasion. They also demonstrate that by paying more attention to audiences, programmes, and soundscapes, historians of international broadcasting can make important contributions to wider debates in social and cultural history. Exploring the idea of a 'wireless world', a globe connected, both in imagination and reality, by radio, The Wireless World sheds new light on the transnational connections created by international broadcasting. Bringing together all periods of international broadcasting within a single analytical frame, including the pioneering days of wireless, the Second World War, the Cold War, and the decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the study reveals key continuities and transformations. It looks at how wireless was shaped by internationalist ideas about the use of broadcasting to promote world peace and understanding, at how empires used broadcasting to perpetuate colonialism, and at how anti-colonial movements harnessed radio as a weapon of decolonization.

Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers star in ten classic episodes of The Goon Show, plus a host of bonus features. Immensely popular and hugely influential, The Goon Show changed the face of British comedy. This fourteenth and final collection returns to the programme's fourth series and includes the episodes 'The History of Communications', 'The Kippered Herring Gang', 'The Tooth-Paste Expedition', 'The Case of the Vanishing Room', 'The Greatest Mountain in the World', 'Collapse of the British Railways Sandwich System', 'The Case of Agent X2 (aka The Silent Bugler)', 'The Story of Brain [sic] (aka Western Story)', 'The Saga of the Internal Mountain' and 'Bank of England Robbery'. Also included is the special satirical show The Starlings, recorded without an audience or orchestra, plus radio programmes including Vivat Milligna!, Growing Up with the Goons and Radio Fun: The Story of Radio Comedy Part 7. Documentary extracts include items from Kaleidoscope and Dad Made Me Laugh, as well as 'The Disconnected Thoughts of Chairman Spike', featuring unused interview material from At Last the Go On Show. In addition, two physical booklets combine to tell the story of the show's development with reference to original archive paperwork, plus the history of the recordings themselves. Remastered using new material and the latest technology to give the best possible sound quality, these recordings are sure to appeal to all collectors of The Goon Show. Duration: 9 hours 35 mins approx.

Listening to British Nature: Wartime, Radio, and Modern Life, 1914-1945 reveals for the first time how the sounds and rhythms of the natural world were listened to, interpreted and used amid the pressures of early twentieth century life. The book argues that despite and sometimes because of the chaos of wartime and the struggle to recover, nature's voices were drawn close to provide security and engender optimism. Nature's sonic presences were not obliterated by machine age noise, the advent of radio broadcasting or the rush of the urban everyday, rather they came to complement and provide alternatives to modern modes of living. This book examines how trench warfare demanded the creation of new listening cultures to understand danger and to imagine survival. It tells of the therapeutic communities who made use of nature's quietude and the rhythms of rural work to restore shell-shocked soldiers, and of ramblers who sought to immerse themselves in the sensualities of the outdoors. It reveals how home-front listening during the Blitz was punctuated by birdsong, broadcast by the BBC. To listen to nature during this period was to cultivate an intimate connection with its energies and to sense an enduring order and beauty that could be taken into the future. Listening to nature was a way of being modern.

There are approximately 502 million radios in America. For this savvy, far-reaching diary, celebrated journalist and author Vowell turned hers on and listened--closely, critically, creatively--for an entire year.
As a series of impressions and reflections regarding contemporary American culture, and as an extended meditation on both our media and our society, this keenly focused book is as insightful as it is refreshing.
Throughout "Radio On," "Vowell's touch is about as delicate as Teddy Kennedy's after a pitcher of martinis" (Richard Roeper, "Chicago Sun-Times").

Treason on the Airwaves traces the journeys of three World War II radio broadcasters whose wartime choices became treason in Britain, Australia, and the United States. John Amery was a virulent anti-Semite and member of a highly respected British family who joined Hitler's propagandists in Berlin and was executed for treason after the war. Charles Cousens, a popular radio personality at home in Australia, was a soldier in Japanese captivity who was put to work on Radio Tokyo and later tried as a traitor. Iva Toguri, better known as "Tokyo Rose," was an American student visiting relatives in Japan when war broke out. She broadcast her English-language show on Radio Tokyo out of necessity rather than conviction. The United States jailed Toguri for treason. These three powerful stories provide an overview of the way in which the three nations dealt with suspected collaborators after the war. Judidth Keene also examines the significance of radio propaganda during World War II and the techniques the Germans and the Japanese used to engage listeners. All three accounts provoke questions about the nature of justice-and the justice of retribution.

WBAA: 100 Years as the Voice of Purdue documents the fascinating history of WBAA, Indiana's first radio station founded at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, on April 4, 1922. Richly illustrated with more than 150 photos, the book chronicles the station's evolution over the years, while highlighting the staff, students, and volunteers significant to WBAA's success. WBAA began as a lab experiment conducted by Purdue electrical engineering students in 1910. Later, the station became a vital method for Purdue's Cooperative Extension Service to broadcast the knowledge of the university, particularly agricultural news, to the people of the state. From the 1960s to 1980s, WBAA aired Purdue basketball and football games, with station manager John DeCamp as the "Voice of the Boilermakers." In 1971, WBAA became a member station of National Public Radio (NPR), offering popular programming such as All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Listeners tuned into WBAA to hear classical, jazz, and international music, along with in-depth news reporting. Mayors and Purdue presidents aired weekly programs. WBAA gave a voice to arts and community organizations. Read about the invention of the first all-electronic television by pioneering Purdue scientist Roscoe George; WBAA's long-running School of the Air educational program deemed the "invisible textbook"; and the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI), an airplane that transmitted videos to schools while flying over six Midwestern states in the 1960s. Famous WBAA alumni include NBC sportscaster Chris Schenkel, comedian Durward Kirby, Today Show newscaster Lew Wood, Indiana State Representative Sheila Klinker, actress Karen Black, and actor George Peppard, among others. From the vacuum tube era to the digital age, this thoroughly researched book brings to light the intriguing backstories of the esteemed one hundred-year history of WBAA.

In a wide-ranging, cross-cultural, and transhistorical assessment, John Mowitt examines radio's central place in the history of twentieth-century critical theory. A communication apparatus that was a founding technology of twentieth-century mass culture, radio drew the attention of theoretical and philosophical writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Lacan, and Frantz Fanon, who used it as a means to disseminate their ideas. For others, such as Martin Heidegger, Theodor Adorno, and Raymond Williams, radio served as an object of urgent reflection. Mowitt considers how the radio came to matter, especially politically, to phenomenology, existentialism, Hegelian Marxism, anticolonialism, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies. The first systematic examination of the relationship between philosophy and radio, this provocative work also offers a fresh perspective on the role this technology plays today.