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.

Few inventions evoke such nostalgia, such deeply personal and vivid memories as radio. Ask anyone born before World War II about radio, and you'll see that person time-travel to the lost world of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Arturo Toscanini; to the jokes of Jack Benny and Burns and Allen; to the sobering commentary of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Edward R. Murrow. Those born after World War II grew up tuned to Jean Shepherd in the darkness of their bedrooms; cruising with Sam Cooke, the Beatles, or the Doors; talking back to Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Listening In is the first in-depth history of how radio culture and content have kneaded and expanded the American psyche.
But Listening In is more than a history. It is also a reconsideration of what listening to radio has done to American culture in the twentieth century and how it has brought a completely new auditory dimension to our lives. Susan Douglas explores how listening has altered our day-to-day experiences and our own generational identities, cultivating different modes of listening in different eras; how radio has shaped our views of race, gender roles, ethic barriers, family dynamics, leadership, and the generation gap.
How we listened, where we listened, who we listened to and why: With her trademark wit and erudition, Susan Douglas has created an eminently readable cultural history of radio that fixes its place in our lives as shaper and reflector of our passions and obsessions.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, radio was the entertainment source for millions. Two of the primary themes of radio serials were mysteries and adventure. This is a detailed analysis of the important programs in these genres - ""Jack Armstrong,"" ""The Green Hornet,"" ""Sergeant Preston,"" ""Tom Mix,"" and more. Each entry includes type of series, broadcast days, air dates, sponsors, network, cast and production credits, and a comprehensive essay. When, as often happened, the series landed in other media, that is examined as well.

This is the fascinating history of the innovative work of Wisconsin's educational radio stations, from the first broadcast by experimental station 9XM at the University of Wisconsin to the network of stations known today as Wisconsin Public Radio. Randall Davidson provides the first comprehensive history of the University of Wisconsin radio station, WHA; affiliated state-owned station, WLBL; and the post-World War II FM stations that formed the WPR network. Davidson describes how, with homemade equipment and ideas developed from scratch, 9XM became a tangible example of "the Wisconsin Idea," bringing the educational riches of the university to all the state's residents.

Science and technology had a significant influence on American culture and thought in the years immediately following World War II. The new wonders of science and the threat of the Soviet Union as a powerful new enemy made science fiction a popular genre in radio, television, and film. Mutant creatures spawned by radioactive energy and intergalactic dictators unleashing horrific weapons upon Earth were characteristic of science fiction at the time and served as warnings to the very real dangers posed by the atomic age. This work examines science and science fiction in American culture beginning in the year World War II ended and going to 1962, the year of John Glenns orbital flight and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The radio work of Arch Oboler and the significance of his "Rocket from Manhattan, " which aired only one month after the dropping of the first atomic bomb and asked serious questions about the use of atomic energy, are examined. Other topics are the conflict between the free world and the Communist world in the context of science fiction plot lines, the dangers of science as shown in films like Godzilla, Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and radio and television programs, the flying saucer phenomenon and the treatment of such stories in the media (with special attention given to the 1956 documentary UFO), the changing and more positive depictions of scientists, television programs like Flash Gordon and Space Patrol, the shift in the balance of world power due to the successful launching of Sputnik I by the

(Book). Now in softcover, No Static shows why success in today's corporate-controlled world of radio depends on putting personality and fun back on the air and how to build the creative team to do it. This inspirational handbook by Quincy McCoy offers radio pros and aspiring broadcasters proven strategies for restoring the craft of creative programming. Practical techniques and exercises help develop leadership skills that encourage creativity, motivate staff, increase flexibility and nurture teamwork. Writing in a personal style, McCoy guides you and your radio station toward more focused branding, stronger programming, more personable DJs, and ultimately higher ratings leading to higher revenue.

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.

In 1967, Jim Harmon published the first edition of The Great Radio Heroes to great acclaim. Thirty-three years later comes an illustrated, corrected, revised and greatly expanded new edition... Once there was a time--and it was not so long ago--when radio listening, especially to the dramas, was one of the most important events in many a young person's life. People developed a love affair with the radio, and though the old times are now gone forever, the love affair continues. The heroes and settings of radio drama spurred the imagination to supply its own and much better images than visual media provided. There were no padded shoulders on the Lone Ranger, Superman flew with no jiggly trick photography, and the Martians whom Orson Welles helped attack the Earth were more convincing than anything the movies can provide. For those who have been under the thrall of radio's alluring call, your new host Jim Harmon provides reminiscences of the heyday of radio programming, with insights on such radio dramas as I Love a Mystery, Gangbusters, The Shadow, Inner Sanctum, Batman and Robin, Superman, Tom Mix, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, Adventures by Morse and a couple of dozen more. Photographs, a bibliography, and an index are included to enhance the reader's journey into a past time when radio was the favorite pastime.

In the late 1920s radio exploded almost overnight into being America's dominant entertainment, just as television would do twenty-five years later. Gerald Nachman, himself a product of the radio years, takes us back to the heyday of radio, bringing to life the great performers and shows, as well as the not-so-great and not-great-at-all. Nachman analyzes the many genres that radio exploited or invented, from the soap opera to the sitcom to the quiz show, zooming in to study closely key performers like Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and Fred Allen. Raised on Radio is a generous, instructive, and sinfully readable salute to an extraordinary American phenomenon.

"Radio in the Global Age "offers a fresh, up-to-date, and wide-ranging introduction to the role of radio in contemporary society. It places radio, for the first time, in a global context, and pays special attention to the impact of the Internet, digitalization and globalization on the political-economy of radio. It also provides a new emphasis on the links between music and radio, the impact of formatting, and the broader cultural roles the medium plays in constructing identities and nurturing musical tastes.

Individual chapters explore the changing structures of the radio industry, the way programmes are produced, the act of listening and the construction of audiences, the different meanings attached to programmes, and the cultural impact of radio across the globe. David Hendy portrays a medium of extraordinary contradictions: a cheap and accessible means of communication, but also one increasingly dominated by rigid formats and multinational companies; a highly 'intimate' medium, but one capable of building large communities of listeners scattered across huge spaces; a force for nourishing regional identity, but also a pervasive broadcaster of globalized music products; a 'stimulus to the imagination', but a purveyor of the banal and of the routine. Drawing on recent research from as far afield as Africa, Australasia and Latin America, as well as from the UK and US, the book aims to explore and to explain these paradoxes - and, in the process, to offer an imaginative reworking of Marshall McLuhan's famous dictum that radio is one of the world's 'hot' media.

"Radio in the Global Age "is an invaluable text for undergraduates and researchers in media studies, communicationstudies, journalism, cultural studies, and musicology. It will also be of interest to practitioners and policy-makers in the radio industry.

During the Cold War, one of America's most powerful weapons struck a major blow against tyranny every day over the airwaves. Radio Liberty became a critical source of information for listeners within the Soviet Union, broadcasting in Russian and more than a dozen other languages, and covering all aspects of Soviet life.

Sparks of Liberty provides an insider's look at the origins, development, and operation of Radio Liberty. Gene Sosin, a key executive with the station for thirty-three years, combines vivid eyewitness reports with documents from his personal archives to offer the first complete account of Radio Liberty, tracing its evolution from Stalin's death to the demise of the USSR, to its current role in the post-Soviet world.

Sosin describes Radio Liberty's early efforts to cope with KGB terrorism and Soviet jamming, to minimize interference from the CIA, and to survive pressure exerted by J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who considered Radio Liberty a deterrent to detente. The insider's perspective sheds important light on world affairs as Sosin tells how, over the years, Radio Liberty took the advice of experts on Soviet politics to adapt the content and tone of its messages to changing times.

The book is rich in anecdotes that bring home the realities of the Cold War. Sosin tells how famous Western political figures, educators, and writers broadcast messages about workers' rights, artistic freedom, and unfettered scholarly inquiry--and also how, beginning in the late 1960s, Radio Liberty beamed the writings of Soviet dissidents back into the country. During these tumultuous years, Sosin and his associates saturated the airwaves with the words of Sakharov, Solzhenitsyn, and others, while many dissidents who had emigrated from the Soviet Union joined Radio Liberty to help strengthen its credibility among listeners. Radio Liberty ultimately became the most popular station from the West, its influence culminating with the crucial support of Gorbachev and Yeltsin during the attempted coup against them in August 1991.

As Radio Liberty entered the post-Soviet era, it became a model for the Russian media. It is now a voice for democratic education in the post-Soviet nations--broadcasting from Prague, with local bureaus in several major cities of the former Soviet Union. Capturing the work and legacy of this enterprise with authority and exhilaration, Sparks of Liberty is a testament to an enterprise that saw its message realized and continues to broadcast a message of hope.

In this book my father dies. I almost die.*** My showbiz career winds down. And yet everyone keeps telling me it's the funniest book I've ever written. If I'd known that's what the public wanted, I'd have cancelled Pets Win Prizes and just got sick sooner. Along the way this time we encounter, among others, David Bowie, Kanye West (I think), John Cleese, Peter O'Toole, and have several adventures in the Fourth Dimension. Oh, and I can reveal the Man With The Foulest Mouth In All Show Business. Plus assorted high-kicking hoopla and a whole lot of rather stark stuff about what it's like to be told you could be On The Way Out. *** (SPOILER ALERT: I don't actually die.)

Here is a first-hand portrait of the flamboyant American genius who became a titanic figure in twentieth century popular culture. Orson Welles revolutionised theatre, terrified a nation of radio listeners, and made cinematic history with Citizen Kane, regarded by many as the greatest American film ever made.

The most popular radio adventure show in history, The Lone Ranger held an audience of millions spellbound for over two decades. Key to its success was the music used on it-music rendered so beautifully, chosen with such delicate precision, that for half a century listeners have frantically searched for an answer to the question, "What was the music used on the Lone Ranger?" This book answers that question and many more, including, "Who performed it?" "Who recorded it?" "When?" "Where?". Set in Detroit, New York, Hollywood, and Mexico City against a backdrop of cliffhanging events that shaped the broadcasting industry, the story is as great an adventure as any heard on the show itself. Paperback edition available April 2002. Cloth edition previously published in 1987/

Now firmly established as one of the leading textbooks in the increasingly popular field of radio studies, Radio in Context provides students with a practical, critical and comprehensive understanding of the main principles and techniques used in radio programming. Organized around the most commonly studied radio genres and setting production within a range of different contexts - professional, institutional and historical - the text offers an ideal blend of theory and practical guidance. Readers of this fully updated new edition will continue to benefit from this core text, as it reflects important technological, regulatory and institutional changes since its initial publication in 2004 and expands on key areas such as digital radio, broadcasting over the internet, and the interplay between radio and social media. Supported by a full glossary, tips on getting into radio and exercises to develop practical and critical skills, Radio in Context is the ideal companion for anyone studying radio, the media, communications and/or journalism, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as short courses in radio or audio production techniques. Now firmly established as one of the leading textbooks in the increasingly popular field of radio studies, Radio in Context provides students with a practical, critical and comprehensive understanding of the main principles and techniques used in radio programming. Organized around the most commonly studied radio genres and setting production within a range of different contexts - professional, institutional and historical - the text offers an ideal blend of theory and practical guidance. Readers of this fully updated new edition will continue to benefit from this core text, as it reflects important technological, regulatory and institutional changes since its initial publication in 2004 and expands on key areas such as digital radio, broadcasting over the internet, and the interplay between radio and social media. Supported by a full glossary, tips on getting into radio and exercises to develop practical and critical skills, Radio in Context is the ideal companion for anyone studying radio, the media, communications and/or journalism, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as short courses in radio or audio production techniques.

"One of the few books we'd recommend" BBC Training "The perfect guide for anyone who wants to get on in this ever-changing and challenging media" Controller BBC Radio 5 Live "A rich repository of real, practical experience" Director - BBC Nations & Regions "An invaluable guide" Director - The Radio Academy This is a practical, how-to guide to producing and presenting radio to a professional standard. Packed with day-to-day advice that captures the essence and buzz of live broadcasting; from preparing your show before it goes out, last minute changes to running orders, deciding what to drop in over a track, how to sell a feature or promote a programme, setting up competitions, thinking fast in a phone in - this book will help you do all that and more. It covers network and commercial, music and talk radio skills and is particularly suited to the independent local or community radio. It features advice from professionals, covers industry-wide best practice with enough 'need-to-know' technical information to get you up and running. This edition has been updated throughout and has more than 500 weblinks to downloads and audio and video examples, as well as cross-references to the official National Occupational Standards for Radio Content.

A brilliant biography of the young Orson Welles, from his prodigious childhood and youth, his triumphs with the Mercury Theatre, to the making of CITIZEN KANE. Vivid, vastly entertaining, this is the definitive Wells biography.

Why is music so important to radio? This anthology explores the ways in which musical life and radio interact, overlap and have influenced each other for nearly a century. One of music radio's major functions is to help build smaller or larger communities by continuously offering broadcast music as a means to create identity and senses of belonging. Music radio also helps identify and develop musical genres in collaboration with listeners and the music industry by mediating and by gatekeeping. Focusing on music from around the world, Music Radio discusses what music radio is and why or for what purposes it is produced. Each essay illuminates the intricate cultural processes associated with music and radio and suggests ways of working with such complexities.

In Race and Radio: Pioneering Black Broadcasters in New Orleans, Bala James Baptiste traces the history of the integration of radio broadcasting in New Orleans and tells the story of how African American on-air personalities transformed the medium. Analyzing a trove of primary data-including archived manuscripts, articles and display advertisements in newspapers, oral narratives of historical memories, and other accounts of African Americans and radio in New Orleans between 1945 and 1965-Baptiste constructs a formidable narrative of broadcast history, racism, and black experience in this enormously influential radio market. The historiography includes the rise and progression of black broadcasters who reshaped the Crescent City. The first, O. C. W. Taylor, hosted an unprecedented talk show, the Negro Forum, on WNOE beginning in 1946. Three years later in 1949, listeners heard Vernon ""Dr. Daddy-O"" Winslow's smooth and creative voice as a disk jockey on WWEZ. The book also tells of Larry McKinley who arrived in New Orleans from Chicago in 1953 and played a critical role in informing black listeners about the civil rights movement in the city. The racial integration of radio presented opportunities for African Americans to speak more clearly, in their own voices, and with a technological tool that opened a broader horizon in which to envision community. While limited by corporate pressures and demands from advertisers ranging from local funeral homes to Jax beer, these black broadcasters helped unify and organize the communities to which they spoke. Race and Radio captures the first overtures of this new voice and preserves a history of black radio's awakening.

This book is the definitive guide to the film, stage, radio and television career of Kay Francis, one of the most glamorous stars from the golden age of Hollywood. For each film, the authors provide a thorough synopsis plus cast and crew information (including biographies), opening dates, production notes, behind-the-scenes details, and reviews. In addition, information is provided on her stage, radio, and television appearances, and a section is devoted to collecting Kay Francis memorabilia, including such items as cigarette cards, sheet music and soundtracks. Also covered is the stage and vaudeville career of Kay Francis' mother, Katherine Clinton. A brief biography of Kay Francis is provided, along with an insightful foreword by film scholar James Robert Parish. Truly a treasure trove for Kay Francis fans and anyone interested in classic filmmaking in the 1930s and 1940s, the book includes more than 130 illustrations, many of them rare.

More than 700 uncredited scriptwriters who created the memorable characters and thrilling stories of radio's Golden Age receive due recognition in this encyclopedia. For some, radio was a stepping stone on the way to greater achievements in film or television, on the stage or in literature. For others, it was the culmination of a life spent writing newspaper copy. Established authors dabbled in radio as a new medium, while working writers saw it as another opportunity to earn a paycheck. When these men and women came to broadcasting, they crafted a body of work still appreciated by modern listeners.

Payola is as old as the music industry and continues today. Contrary to popular belief, the acceptance of payola is legal. (Only the nonreporting of it would be illegal.) The recipients of payola and the reasons behind it are discussed decade-by-decade. The early bribes to the minstrel groups and vaudeville players are traced, as are modern-day payments to disc jockeys and radio station programme directors, where drugs are often given instead of cash. Particular attention is paid to 1959 and 1960 when federal investigators attempted to eradicate the practice.

Shortwave broadcasting originated in the 1920s, when stations used the new technology to increase their range in order to serve foreign audiences and reach parts of their own country that could not easily be covered by regular AM stations. The early days of shortwave radio were covered in On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening in the Pioneer Days of Radio, published by McFarland in 1999. This book picks up the story after World War II, focusing on the stations themselves and the environment in which they operated. A companion volume, Listening on the Short Waves, 1945 to Today, focuses on the shortwave listening community.] The heart of the book is a detailed, year-by-year account of the shortwave bands in each year from 1945 to the present. It reviews what American listeners were hearing on the international and domestic shortwave bands, describes the arrivals and departures of stations, and recounts important shortwave events. The book also introduces readers to the several categories of broadcasters--international, domestic, religious, clandestine and pirate--and to private shortwave broadcasting in the United States. It explains the impact of relay stations, frequency management, and jamming, and describes promising shortwave technologies. It also addresses the considerable changes in, and challenges to, shortwave broadcasting since the end of the cold war. The book is richly illustrated and indexed, and features a bibliography and extensive notes to facilitate further reading or research.

The discovery and development of shortwave technology during the 1920s and 1930s permitted radio stations throughout the world to transmit their programs over long distances, even worldwide, for the first time, and the thrill of hearing broadcasts from faraway places produced a dedicated American audience. Developments in shortwave broadcasting and shortwave listening from their inception through the war years were covered in On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening in the Pioneer Days of Radio, published by McFarland in 1999. This book picks up the story in 1945, describing the resumption of organized shortwave listening after the war and its development in the years since. The companion volume, Broadcasting on the Short Waves, 1945 to Today, focuses on the world's shortwave stations. Written from the standpoint of the serious shortwave enthusiast, this book begins with an examination of the broader shortwave listening audience. It then presents in detail the histories of the major North American shortwave clubs and reviews the professional and listener-generated shortwave literature of the era. It also covers the DX programs and other listening fare to which shortwave listeners were most attracted and the QSL-cards they sought as confirmation of their reception. The book presents a chronology of the shortwave receivers available and discusses how changes in receiver technology impacted the listening experience. It also addresses the important role that computers have played in the shortwave listening of recent decades. The book is richly illustrated and indexed, and features extensive notes to facilitate further reading or research.

How did Philip Gault become ""The Whisperer""? What radio series was the proving ground for a motion picture? Who owned the Solomon Levy Department Store? The answers to these and many other questions can be found in this encyclopedic reference work to 1802 radio programs broadcast from the years 1924 through 1984. Entries include casts, character relationships, plots and storylines, announcers, musicians, producers, hosts, starting and ending dates of the programs, networks, running times, production information and, when appropriate, information on the radio show's adaptation to television. Hundreds of program openings and closings are included.