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.

This book examines the history of UK radio from its analogue beginnings to its digital future by highlighting the roles played by the BBC and commercial radio in ensuring the medium's long-term success. Beginning as a mere technological innovation, radio developed into a broadcasting model which has sustained for almost one hundred years. The UK model was defined by a public service broadcaster responsible for maintaining standards of broadcasting, as well as commercial operators-acting illegally and then legally-who have sought to exploit radio's economic potential. This book aims to show how both these entities have contributed to the success of radio in the UK, whether acting competitively or by cooperating in order to ensure radio's survival into the next century. This study will appeal to students of media or anyone with a general interest in the history of radio.

In the minds of today's audiences, George Burns was a solo act. But in the history of show business, he will long be remembered for his work with Gracie Allen. Few performers have enjoyed so much popular and critical acclaim. Together they enjoyed phenomenal success in vaudeville, radio, television, and film. Although they were celebrities, the two performers enjoyed a life remarkably free of scandal. After the death of Allen in 1964, Burns made commercials, a music video, and an exercise video. He wrote books and won numerous awards, and his nightclub and convention appearances did not stop until shortly before his death.

Through a thoughtful biography and detailed entries, this book serves as a comprehensive reference to the careers of Burns and Allen together and individually. The biography summarizes their rise as vaudeville performers, their work in a range of media, and Burns' continued achievements after Allen's death. Sections of the book cover their work on the stage, on radio, on television, and in films. Each section provides detailed entries for their performances, including cast and credit information, plot synoposes, and review excerpts. Appendices list their awards, personal appearances, and archives; and an extensive annotated bibliography cites and discusses sources of additional information.

The most successful weekend show on Radio 2, Sounds of the Sixties has over 3.5 million listeners every Saturday morning. Presented by Brian Matthew, the programme has become an institution. This new book contains fascinating facts about memorable hits from key Sixties artists, hard-to-find tracks alongside many hidden gems that have never before been made available on any CD or compilation album since their initial Sixties release plus fascinating stories and behind-the-scenes info from producer Phil The Collector Swern. This is a comprehensive collection that music fans and hardened Sixties collectors will cherish.

In this media history of the Caribbean, Alejandra Bronfman traces howtechnology, culture, and politics developed in a region that was "wired" earlierand more widely than many other parts of the Americas. Haiti, Cuba,and Jamaica acquired radio and broadcasting in the early stages of theglobal expansion of telecommunications technologies. Imperial historieshelped forge these material connections through which the United States,Great Britain, and the islands created a virtual laboratory for experiments inaudiopolitics and listening practices. As radio became an established medium worldwide, it burgeoned in theCaribbean because the region was a hub for intense foreign and domesticcommercial and military activities. Attending to everyday life, infrastructure,and sounded histories during the waxing of an American empire andthe waning of British influence in the Caribbean, Bronfman does not allowthe notion of empire to stand solely for domination. By the time of the ColdWar, broadcasting had become a ubiquitous phenomenon that renderedsound and voice central to political mobilisation in the Caribbean nationsthrowing off what remained of their imperial tethers.

During the fateful summer of 1966, a handful of restless and frustrated deejays in New York and San Francisco began to conceive of a whole new brand of radio, one which would lead to the reinvention of contemporary music programming. Gone were the screaming deejays, the two minute doowop hits, and the goofy jingles. In were the counterculture sounds and sentiments that had seldom, if ever, made it to commercial radio. This new and unorthodox form of radio-this radical departure from the Top 40 establishment-reflected the social and cultural unrest of the period. Underground radio had been born of a desire to restore substance and meaning to a medium that had fallen victim to the bottom-line dictates of an industry devoted to profit. In this compelling and intriguing account of the counterculture radio movement, over 30 pioneers of the underground airwaves share insights and observations, and tell it like it was. Michael Keith has interviewed some of the most prominent figures of underground radio and has woven their reflections into a seamless, engrossing oral history of one of radio's most extraordinary moments. From the first broadcasts of a Screamin' Jay Hawkins record and a live Love-In and Be-In Rock 'n Roll concert, to the ultimate corporate takeover of the commercial underground airwaves, Keith provides the reader with a unique and fresh look at this turbulent era. There had never been anything like commercial underground radio before its '60s debut, and there has not been anything like it since its premature demise in the early 1970s. The innovativeness and boldness of underground radio brought a new golden age to the medium. Ignoring playlists, rigid programming formulas and program clocks, the underground deejays attracted a dedicated following of maturing baby boomers.

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.

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.

This book is a study of contemporary Radio 4 output, covering the entire broadcast day. Radio is largely neglected by media and cultural studies. The small body of existing work on Radio 4 is predominantly historical, focusing on institutional history, or sociological, focusing on contemporary BBC editorial and journalistic practices. Reading Radio 4, by contrast, analyses contemporary Radio 4 programmes entirely from the point of view of today's listener. Individual chapters correspond to all existing Radio 4 timeslots in the entire broadcast day of 19 hours 40 minutes, from 5.20am to 1.00am. The study, while academic in approach, aims to promote an informed and critical appreciation of Radio 4 for all listeners, as well as students of the media.

Radio, the most widely used medium in the world, is a dominant mediator of musical meaning. Through a combination of critical analysis, interdisciplinary theory and ethnographic writing about community radio, this book provides a novel theorisation of democratic aesthetics, with important implications for the study of old and new media alike.