This book is the first full-length history of the BBC World Service: from its interwar launch as short-wave radio broadcasts for the British Empire, to its twenty-first-century incarnation as the multi-media global platform of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The book provides insights into the BBC's working relationship with the Foreign Office, the early years of the Empire Service, and the role of the BBC during the Second World War. In following the voice of the BBC through the Cold War and the contraction of the British empire, the book argues that debates about the work and purposes of the World Service have always involved deliberations about the future of the UK and its place in the world. In current times, these debates have been shaped by the British government's commitment to leave the European Union and the centrifugal currents in British politics which in the longer term threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom. Through a detailed exploration of its past, the book poses questions about the World Service's possible future and argues that, for the BBC, the question is not only what it means to be a global broadcaster as we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, but what it means to be a national broadcaster in a divided kingdom.

Walter Benjamin was fascinated by the impact of new technology on culture, an interest that extended beyond his renowned critical essays. From 1927 to '33, he wrote and presented something in the region of eighty broadcasts using the new medium of radio. Radio Benjamin gathers the surviving transcripts, which appear here for the first time in English. This eclectic collection demonstrates the range of Benjamin's thinking and his enthusiasm for popular sensibilities. His celebrated "Enlightenment for Children" youth programs, his plays, readings, book reviews, and fiction reveal Benjamin in a creative, rather than critical, mode. They flesh out ideas elucidated in his essays, some of which are also represented here, where they cover topics as varied as getting a raise and the history of natural disasters, subjects chosen for broad appeal and examined with passion and acuity. Delightful and incisive, this is Walter Benjamin channeling his sophisticated thinking to a wide audience, allowing us to benefit from a new voice for one of the twentieth century's most respected thinkers.

Norman Corwin is regarded as the most acclaimed creative artist of radio's Golden Age (mid 1930s to late 1940s). Corwin worked as a producer for CBS at a time when radio was the centerpiece of American family life. His programs brought high moments to the medium during a period when exceptional creativity and world crisis shaped its character and conviction. Bannerman's book is more than biography: it is also social history--the story of network radio, its great achievements and ultimate decline. Many of Corwin's programs are considered radio classics. During World War II his programs energized the people and marshaled morale. "We Hold These Truths, " commemorating the 150th anniversary of the American Bill of Rights, was broadcast eight days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and "On a Note of Triumph," a VE-Day special for CBS, marked the historic culmination of a momentous conflict. Bannerman's work is a portrayal of a remarkable man, who led an influential fight for the art and integrity of broadcasting, who endured unfounded accusations during the blacklisting period of the McCarthy era, and who by his dedication accomplished significant programs of historic dimensions.

In the early twentieth century, the magic of radio was new, revolutionary, and poorly understood. A powerful symbol of modernity, radio was a site where individuals wrestled and came to terms with an often frightening wave of new mass technologies. Radio was the object of scientific investigation, but more importantly, it was the domain of tinkerers, "hackers," citizen scientists, and hobbyists. This book shows how this wild and mysterious technology was appropriated by ordinary individuals in Germany in the first half of the twentieth century as a leisure activity. Clubs and hobby organizations became the locus of this process, providing many of the social structures within which individuals could come to grips with radio, apart from any media institution or government framework. In so doing, this book uncovers the vital but often overlooked social context in which technological revolutions unfold.

The rise of right-wing broadcasting during the Cold War has been mostly forgotten today. But in the 1950s and '60s you could turn on your radio any time of the day and listen to diatribes against communism, civil rights, the United Nations, fluoridation, federal income tax, Social Security, or JFK, as well as hosannas praising Barry Goldwater and Jesus Christ. Half a century before the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, these broadcasters bucked the FCC's public interest mandate and created an alternate universe of right-wing political coverage, anticommunist sermons, and pro-business bluster. A lively look back at this formative era, "What's Fair on the Air? "charts the rise and fall of four of the most prominent right-wing broadcasters: H. L. Hunt, Dan Smoot, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis. By the 1970s, all four had been hamstrung by the Internal Revenue Service, the FCC's Fairness Doctrine, and the rise of a more effective conservative movement. But before losing their battle for the airwaves, Heather Hendershot reveals, they purveyed ideological notions that would eventually triumph, creating a potent brew of religion, politics, and dedication to free-market economics that paved the way for the rise of Ronald Reagan, the Moral Majority, Fox News, and the Tea Party.

Eccentric, sentimental and homespun, John Betjeman's passions were mostly self-taught. He saw his country being devastated by war and progress and he waged a private war to save it. His only weapons were words - the poetry for which he is best known and, even more influential, the radio talks that first made him a phenomenon. From fervent pleas for provincial preservation to humoresques on eccentric vicars and his own personal demons, Betjeman's talks combined wit, nostalgia and criticism in a way that touched the soul of his listeners from the 1930s to the 1950s. Now collected in book form for the first time, his broadcasts represent one of the most compelling archives of twentieth-century broadcasting, reawakening the modern reader to Betjeman's unique perspective and the compelling magic of the golden age of wireless.

This collection examines the work of Norman Corwin - one of the most important, yet understudied, media authors of all time - as a critical lens to view the history of multimedia authorship and sound production. Known as the "poet laureate" of radio, Corwin is most famous for his radio dramas, which reached millions of listeners around the world and contributed to radio's success as a mass media form in the 1930s and 1940s. But Corwin was also a pioneer in other fields, including cinema, theater, TV, and journalism. In each of these areas, he had a distinctive approach to "soundwork," relying on inventive prerecorded and live-in-real-time atmospheric effects in the studio, among other aesthetic techniques. Exploring the range of Corwin's work-from his World War II-era poetry and his special projects for the United Nations to his path-breaking writing for film and television - and its influence on media today, these essays underscore the political and social impact of Corwin's oeuvre and cement his reputation as a key writer in the history of many sound media.

Eddie Mair is, by his own account, one of Britain's most beloved broadcasters. Born in Dundee, Scotland, he has worked in radio all his adult life. From the foothills of commercial radio in his hometown, through the sunlit uplands of the BBC in Scotland, he has reached the peaks of his profession, with BBC network radio in London. And he's never afraid to work a metaphor beyond endurance. In addition he's appeared on most of the BBC's TV channels, including ones that are no longer on TV. He witnessed the handover of Hong Kong and once asked Arnold Schwarzenegger a question - though he takes no responsibility for either. For nearly twenty years he has been at the helm of Radio 4's PM: a nightly news round up that means Eddie works for just one hour a day, giving him plenty time to knock together these diaries. Whether he's interviewing politicians, getting people to share their personal experiences, or just imparting his favourite zesty chicken recipes, Eddie is never happier than when he is at the microphone. Except when he is at the microphone with a large martini. In truth, his neediness is an irritation to everyone who knows him and if you buy this book he might get out of their hair. Eddie's other work, as a humanitarian and tireless, secret worker for charity is not mentioned in these pages.

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.

The saga of how the north of Scotland secured its own commercial radio station at this time in history is unique. Radio station licences were strictly controlled by the Home Office and the standards for output were set deliberately high. Here we have a group of community activists who didn't have experience or a penny to their name. They raised funds for photocopying their application by holding plant sales and in the process scared off the more serious local investors who didn't think they'd pull it off. But they did. The rest of the book looks at what they did with it, the story told largely in anecdotes from those who were there. With a bunch of largely untested on-air talent, and relying on a great deal of volunteer labour, they ended up with some of the best listening figures in the country. It's a remarkable tale backed up by dozens of photographs that will evoke the 80s and 90s. The book explains why truly local radio was so important to the communities of the north of Scotland at that time when the economy was fragile and unemployment savagely high in some places. Presenters share what it was like to become a household name and reminisce about the music and the lighter side of radio life and how it change the lives of so many. If you love radio this book is for you.

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.

This book is a history of women, radio, and the gendered constructions of voice and sound in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay. Through the stories of five women and one radio station, this study makes a substantial theoretical contribution to the study of gender, mass media, and political culture and expands our knowledge of these issues beyond the US and Western Europe. Included here is a study of the first all-women's radio station in the Western Hemisphere, an Argentine comedian known as 'Chaplin in Skirts', an author of titillating dramatic serials and, of course, Argentine First Lady 'Evita' Peron. Through the concept of the gendered soundscape, this study integrates sound studies and gender history in new ways, asking readers to consider both the female voice in history and the sonic dimensions of gender.

Music in Range explores the history of Canadian campus radio, highlighting the factors that have shaped its close relationship with local music and culture. The book traces how campus radio practitioners have expanded stations from campus borders to sur-rounding musical and cultural communities by acquiring FM licenses and establishing community-based mandates. The culture of a campus station extends beyond its studio and into the wider community where it is connected to the local music scene within its broadcast range. The book examines campus stations and local music in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Sackville, NB, and highlights the ways that campus stations - through music-based programming, their operational practices, and the culture under which they operate - produce alternative methods and values for circulating local and independent Canadian artists at a time when ubiquitous commercial media outlets do exactly the opposite. Music in Range sheds light on a radio sector that is an integral component of Canada's musical and cultural fabric and positions campus radio as a worthy site of attention at a time when connectivity and sharing between musicians, music fans, and cultural intermediaries are increasingly shaping our experience of music, radio, and sound.

'Incredibly comprehensive. Learn and understand this lot and you will have a fine grasp' Jon Snow

'This sets the standard for every radio newsroom' - Andy Ivy, Editor, Sky News Radio

In an age of infinite choice made possible by new technology, and a disturbing move away from traditional reporting into colourful comment and speculation by blogs and 'citizen journalists' there has never been a better time to focus on pure journalism skills.

"Essential Radio Journalism "is a vastly comprehensive working manual for radio journalists as well as a textbook for broadcast journalism students. It contains practical advice for gathering, reporting, writing, editing and presenting, the news, alongside media law and ethics. There is a wealth of 'inside' information, checklists and on-the-job advice that you can immediately put to use whether you are in your first job or have several years of experience. This is a book to inspire responsible, accurate and exceptional journalism skills.

The crack of the bat on the radio is ingrained in the American mind as baseball takes center stage each summer. Radio has brought the sounds of baseball into homes for almost one hundred years, helping baseball emerge from the 1919 Black Sox scandal into the glorious World Series of the 1920s. The medium gave fans around the country aural access to the first All-Star Game, Lou Gehrig's farewell speech, and Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World." Red Barber, Vin Scully, Harry Caray, Ernie Harwell, Bob Uecker, and dozens of other beloved announcers helped cement the love affair between radio and the national pastime. Crack of the Bat takes readers from the 1920s to the present, examining the role of baseball in the development of the radio industry and the complex coevolution of their relationship. James R. Walker provides a balanced, nuanced, and carefully documented look at radio and baseball over the past century, focusing on the interaction between team owners, local and national media, and government and business interests, with extensive coverage of the television and Internet ages, when baseball on the radio had to make critical adjustments to stay viable. Despite cable television's ubiquity, live video streaming, and social media, radio remains an important medium through which fans engage with their teams. The evolving relationship between baseball and radio intersects with topics as varied as the twenty-year battle among owners to control radio, the development of sports as a valuable media product, and the impact of competing technologies on the broadcast medium. Amid these changes, the familiar sounds of the ball hitting the glove and the satisfying crack of the bat stay the same.

All three BBC radio dramatisations of the bestselling fantasy trilogy - plus bonus material A breathtaking epic spanning multiple worlds, His Dark Materials follows the adventures of Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, two children catapulted into a life-or-death struggle to save the future of the Cosmos. In Northern Lights, 11-year-old Lyra discovers dark forces at work involving kidnapped children and a mysterious substance called 'Dust'. With her shape-shifting daemon, Pantalaimon, she leaves her Oxford college home and embarks on a dangerous journey to the frozen North, aided by armoured bears, Gyptians and a witch-queen... The Subtle Knife sees 12-year-old Will finding an opening into the haunted world of Cittagazze, where daemon-destroying Spectres roam. There he meets Lyra, and together they acquire the most powerful weapon in all the universes - an object many would kill to possess. In The Amber Spyglass, a colossal war is brewing in Heaven, and Lyra and Will have been separated. They must find each other and journey onward - even into the World of the Dead... These thrilling dramatisations feature an all-star cast, including Lulu Popplewell, Terence Stamp, Bill Paterson, Kenneth Cranham and Adrian Scarborough. Also included is a bonus documentary, World Book Club, in which Philip Pullman answers readers' questions about Northern Lights.

With reference to a radio production directed and documented by the author himself, the study sets out to demonstrate that in presenting a figure in the media (, acting') the central concern is the shaping of the emotional expressive potential of language. At the same time, emotional expression is the main arena in which director and actors engage with each other on the, rightness' of the given role conception for the figure to being portrayed. This fact is also understood here as a reflection of the significance of emotional expression via language in everyday communication

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.

On January 12, 1926, radio audiences heard the first exchanges of wit and wisdom between ""Sam 'n' Henry""--the verbal jousters who would evolve into Amos 'n' Andy and whose broadcasts launched the radio sitcom. Here is a detailed look at 20 of the most popular such sitcoms that aired between the mid-1920s and early 1950s, the three-decade heyday of radio. Each series is discussed from an artistic and historical standpoint, with attention to the program's character development and style of comedy as well as its influence on other shows. The work provides complete biographical profiles of each sitcom's stars as well as several actors whose careers consisted primarily of supporting roles in these popular broadcasts. Appendices include an abbreviated summary of thirteen sitcoms beyond those discussed in the main body of the book, and a comprehensive list of 170 radio sitcoms.

As either observer or participant, radio deejay and political activist Richard E. Stamz witnessed every significant period in the history of blues and jazz in the last century. From performing first-hand as a minstrel in the 1920s to broadcasting Negro League baseball games in a converted 1934 Chrysler to breaking into Chicago radio and activist politics and hosting his own television variety show, the remarkable story of his life also is a window into milestones of African American history throughout the twentieth century. Dominating the airwaves with his radio show "Open the Door, Richard" on WGES in Chicago, Stamz cultivated friendships with countless music legends, including Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Memphis Slim, and Leonard Chess. The pioneering Chicago broadcaster and activist known as "The Crown Prince of Soul" died in 2007 at the age of 101, but not before he related the details of his life and career to college professor Patrick A. Roberts. "Give 'Em Soul, Richard " surrounds Stamz's memories of race records, juke joints, and political action in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood with insights on the larger historical trends that were unfolding around him in radio and American history. Narrated by Stamz, this entertaining and insightful chronicle includes commentary by Roberts as well as reflections on the unlikely friendship and collaboration between a black radio legend and a white academic that resulted in one of the few existing first-hand accounts of Chicago's post-war radio scene.

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.

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.

Charles Monroe-Kane is a natural raconteur, and boy, does he have stories to tell. Born into an eccentric Ohio clan of modern hunter-gatherers, he grew up hearing voices in his head. Over a dizzying two decades, he was many things-teenage faith healer, world traveler, smuggler, liberation theologian, ladder-maker, squatter, halibut hanger, grifter, environmental warrior, and circus manager-all the while wrestling with schizophrenia and self-medication. From Baby Doc's Haiti to the Czech Velvet Revolution, and from sex, drugs, and a stabbing to public humiliation by the leader of the free world, Monroe-Kane burns through his twenties and several bridges of youthful idealism before finally saying: enough. In a memoir that blends engaging charm with unflinching frankness, Monroe-Kane gives his testimony of mental illness, drug abuse, faith, and love. By the end of Lithium Jesus there may be a voice in your head, too, saying "Do more, be more, live more. And fear less."