A pioneering analysis of radio as both a cultural and material
production, Communities of the Air explores radio's powerful role
in shaping Anglo-American culture and society since the early
twentieth century. Scholars and radio writers, producers, and
critics look at the many ways radio generates multiple communities
over the air-from elite to popular, dominant to resistant,
canonical to transgressive. The contributors approach radio not
only in its own right, but also as a set of practices-both
technological and social-illuminating broader issues such as race
relations, gender politics, and the construction of regional and
national identities. Drawing on the perspectives of literary and
cultural studies, science studies and feminist theory, radio
history, and the new field of radio studies, these essays consider
the development of radio as technology: how it was modeled on the
telephone, early conflicts between for-profit and public uses of
radio, and amateur radio (HAMS), local programming, and low-power
radio. Some pieces discuss how radio gives voice to different
cultural groups, focusing on the BBC and poetry programming in the
West Indies, black radio, the history of alternative radio since
the 1970s, and science and contemporary arts programming. Others
look at radio's influence on gender (and gender's influence on
radio) through examinations of Queen Elizabeth's broadcasts, Gracie
Allen's comedy, and programming geared toward women. Together the
contributors demonstrate how attention to the variety of ways radio
is used and understood reveals the dynamic emergence and
transformation of communities within the larger society.
Contributors. Laurence A. Breiner, Bruce B. Campbell, Mary
Desjardins, Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Nina Hunteman, Leah Lowe,
Adrienne Munich, Kathleen Newman, Martin Spinelli, Susan Merrill
Squier, Donald Ulin, Mark Williams, Steve Wurzler
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