EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Welcome, Radio! The US welcomes you with eager ears!
Illustration Exhibit (1)
Title: Aeriola Jr. Radio Receiver Advertisement. Advertiser: Radio Corporation of America. Maker: Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Date of Publication: Circa 1920. Source: Archives Center – NMAH from George H. Clark Radioana Collection (Click on picture to be directed to the site)
This advertisement by the Radio Corporation of America is more of an explanation than an advertisement for the general American public to understand how the radio functions. Its use of images labeled with very specific technical terms and instructions gives this advertisement a new, pristine sense that reflects the reactions of the American people to the introduction of the radio into homes. Long-distance electronic communication has been around since the middle of the 19th century, but it wasn’t until Guglielmo Marconi developed an early version of the wireless radio that this idea of the radio started being popularized around the world [1]. By 1912, amateur radio operators started broadcasting messages, but it wasn’t until 1926 that networks like NBC and CBS started rising [1]. The Golden Age of Radio occurred between 1930 and the mid- 1950’s, mostly because of its cultural significance during these periods of rising war and the Great Depression [1].
Illustration Exhibit (2)
Title: FDR Fireside Chat #1: On the Banking Crisis. Date of Speech: March 12, 1933. Publisher on Youtube: MCamericanpresident (Miller Center University of Virginia). Date published: October 26, 2010.
To visit original source and for other Fireside Chats, click here.
For the American public, the radio presented an “accessible form of media that existed on its own schedule…tuning in to a favorite program at a certain time became a part of listeners’ daily routine because it effectively forced them to plan their lives around the dial.”[1] By the late 1930s, radio had become so popular that broadcasts surpassed newspapers. Radio was an easier way to get instant news. This was something that President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to his advantage throughout his entire presidency as a form of easily communicating with the American people. Even before the US entered WWII in 1941, President FDR used the radio for his Fireside Chats which “brought to an ‘anxious nation’ mired in economic depression ‘a fresh personality, fresh ideas, and fresh hope.”[2] The following video is a sound recording of FDR’s first Fireside Chat addressing the Banking Crisis. It was through chats like these that FDR brought families together during desperate times in the US. Additionally, radio programs such as This is War! with Norman Corwin became more important as the US entered WWII, but by this time, television was on the rise.[1]
[1] [Author Removed at Request of Original Publisher], “Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication,” 7.2 Evolution of Radio Broadcasting | Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, March 22, 2016, section goes here, accessed April 21, 2017, http://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/7-2-evolution-of-radio-broadcasting/.
[2] David Michael Ryfe, “From Media Audience to Media Public: A Study of Letters Written in Reaction to FDR’s Fireside Chats,” Media, Culture & Society, section goes here, accessed April 21, 2017, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344301023006005.