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.
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