An often evocative study of the sociological impact of the Golden
Age of radio. Hilmes (Communication Arts/Univ. of Wisconsin,
Madison) notes that the years in which radio was the principal
source of American mass entertainment and information have been
almost completely forgotten by the public and ignored by academics.
She believes that radio had just as much of an impact on the way we
live as the frequently studied media of film and television, and
her study is an effort to redress this imbalance. Not attempting a
complete history, Hilmes has cast the book as a series of
interlocking but essentially self-contained essays on such subjects
as the radio images of immigrants (Rise of the Goldbergs, etc.),
blacks (Amos 'n' Andy), and women (the evolution of daytime
programming, etc.). This is intriguing material and Hilmes, an
admitted radio buff, appears uniquely suited to present it.
However, Radio Voices is uneasily balanced between the more casual
voice of popular history, with its entertaining anecdotes and
emphasis on vivid personalities, and a more rigorous scholarly
tone, with its heavy footnoting of sources and extensive, sometimes
ponderous analysis. The more scholarly voice often wins out, and
this is unfortunate, because Hilmes is at her best when simply
telling the lively stories of such forgotten favorites as Gertrude
Berg and Mary Margaret McBride. If her often insightful analyses
were couched in the same easy tone, she might have had a book that
would appeal to a wider audience than she attempts to reach. There
is much to admire here, but pop culture buffs may wish that Hilmes
could break her academic chains and speak as directly as the radio
voices she so clearly loves. (Kirkus Reviews)
An overview of radio's impact on American culture in the first half
of the twentieth century.
The Shadow. Fibber McGee and Molly. Amos 'n' Andy. When we think
back on the golden age of radio, we think of the shows. In Radio
Voices, Michele Hilmes looks at the way radio programming
influenced and was influenced by the United States of the 1920s,
1930s, and 1940s, tracing the history of the medium from its
earliest years through the advent of television.
Hilmes places the development of radio within the context of the
turmoils of the 1920s: immigration and urbanization, the rise of
mass consumer culture, and the changing boundaries of the public
and private spheres. Early practices and structures -- the role of
the announcer, the emergence of program forms from vaudeville,
minstrel shows, and the concert stage -- are examined.
Central to Radio Voices is a discussion of programs and their
relations to popular understandings of race, ethnicity, and gender
in the United States of this era. Hilmes explores Amos 'n' Andy and
its negotiations of racial tensions and The Rise of the Goldbergs
and its concern with ethnic assimilation. She reflects upon the
daytime serials -- the first soap operas -- arguing that these
much-disparaged programs provided a space in which women could
discuss conflicted issues of gender. Hilmes also explores industry
practices, considering the role of advertising agencies and their
areas of conflict and cooperation with the emerging networks as
well as the impact of World War II on the "mission" of radio.
Radio Voices places the first truly national medium of the
United States in its social context, providing an entertaining
account of the interplay betweenprogramming and popular
culture.
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