Radio Broadcast in America

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, television quickly emerged into a popular and greatly desired entertainment system in America. Although expensive, the television was still found in over fifty million American homes. Socially, the television not only embellished what the time period believed to be the “ideal” family, but the new technology also helped pull women closer to a world vacant of sexism and stereotypes, while also drawing African Americans closer to a society without racism, segregation, and prejudice. As well as social benefits, the television substantially impacted the world of politics by airing the platforms of political candidates and broadcasting important news concerning America. Additionally, the fields of advertising and

The entertainment of the 1940s consisted of Hollywood, radio personalities and the musicians, all in the benefit of the country in the war. By the 1940s radio had become a mass medium, meaning that the radio was a device that had a mass audience.

The movie “Radio” is the tale of a young African-American man who suffers from severe mental retardness and his journey to fame from football in the small South Carolinian town of Anderson. James “Radio” Kennedy is befriended by the T. L. Hanna High School head football coach, Coach Jones, and begins to help as an “assistant coach” of some sort. Eventually, James begins to attend Hanna High as an eleventh grade student due to the persistent efforts of Coach Jones.

By the 1920’s the amount of African Americans in New York City had more than doubled. Meanwhile the roadways and subway system had just begun to reach Harlem, where some of the most influential Blacks had situated themselves. Soon after, Harlem became known as “The Black Mecca” and also as “The Capital of Black America”.

As the modern civil rights movement grew, visual culture became and important force for combating the negative view of African Americans and counteracting the dangerous effects of stereotypes. The birth of the modern African American pictorial magazine in the 1940s and 1950s provided an outlet to disseminate positive images of African Americans to a large African American audience. These images inspired activism, bolstered self-esteem, and acted against the damaging effects of prevailing stereotypes. Positive images of African Americans were also present in primarily “white” media. The presence of these images was intended

Similar to businesses standardizing in making and advertising consumers goods, the practice of mass-producing culture standardized and sped up in the 1920s. Radio became a national obsession. What started out as only a few

For my essay, I have chosen to discuss the statement “The Black Freedom Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s captured the attention of millions… As American Americans started streaming into American cities, or what American corporations call “”major markets” U.S. businesses sought to influence the consumption patterns of these increasingly important black consumers.”

For in the early years of television, African Americans were characterized as servants, maids, custodians, and as uneducated individuals. Families were depicted as low income, unemployed, poverty ridden, single parent households, living in an

“Many in the 1950's strove for the comfort and conformity depicted reality TV shows (“Voices Against Conformity.”1).” One of the biggest things to come out of the 50's was the global sensation known as television. Everybody was watching TV, families would gather around and just sit for hours watching television. “They would watch popular sitcoms (such as “I Love Lucy”), and later in the decade, westerns ("Gun smoke,” “Wagon Train,” “Have Gun Will Travel,” and “Wanted Dead or Alive”) (1950's TV Turns On America.”6).” Before the growing popularity of TV many Americans got their fill of entertainment from the movie business which included going the movie theater or going to the newly popular drive in theater. With all of its acclaimed popularity “TV threatened the movie business, and studios and theaters tried to attract crowds by introducing novelty technologies such as 3D, Stereoscope and CinemaScope (1950's TV Turns On America.”6).” TV was popularized so much that the biggest selling periodical of the decade was the TV Guide. Although television was used largely for entertainment, it too was used very commonly for advertising purposes. Think for just a moment. The best place to advertise or push a product to Americans would be where they spend most of their time, and most of their day; at home watching the television. With the invention of television, suburban life became not only enjoyable and peaceful, but very informative as

At the turn of the century, public attention to the dangers and unfortunate situation of most African Americans seemed to decrease dramatically (Wilson, Being Poor, Black, And American 2011). There was little to no media attention to the problem of concentrated poverty in inner city neighborhoods, in which almost all of population falls beneath the national poverty level (Wilson, Being Poor, Black,

Radio broadcast started in the 1920’s though not many people heard it,the public however could hear it well and was filled with radio’s. Many families would gather around the radios at night for their own entertainment. The first radio used and bought was the crystal radio to make these very simple radios you needed a piece of lead galena, crystal, and a cat whisker these radios were not very productive because people could make them at home if they wanted to. By 1922, 600 radio stations popped up in the United States. The very first radio station in Chicago in 1921 by Westinghouse Electric and a manufacturing company was KYW. It played apra music 6 days a week and became a favorite in Chicago. After apra singing started getting old they

By the commencement of the decade of the 1920s, Americans regarded the radio as one of the humanity’s greatest inventions and initiated a culture based on this new technology. The radio programs and advertisements created a platform upon which the American masses unified, educated and entertained their families, embraced modernization, and plunged into a cultural norm of consumerism. Such was the impact of broadcast programs and advertisements. Although early broadcasting implemented new technologies, the communicated ideas were far from fresh. In other words, the evolution of communication channels merely found different ways through which existing ideologies and traditions could reach the people. Radio comedies are a perfect case in point.

The article “Television, Black Americans, and the American Dream” explained how Black Americans have been represented in the media and television. The media has shifted our understanding of racial inequality away from a structured process. This makes it seem as though racial inequality is “natural and universal rather than as result of social and political struggles over power” (Gray, p. 431). This is illustrated in the CBS News documentary The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America by following the lives of underclass, single parents. It highlights drugs, riots, and teenage pregnancy to show that

“In 1913, Edwin Armstrong invented a special circuit that made long-range radio transmission of voice and music practical” (American). This technological advancement made it convenient to use the radio as means of delivering the news. Whether you lived in a rural countryside or in a packed city, you were able to get the news. Able to broadcast weather reports, sports news, and entertainment to thousands of Americans, the radio proved to be an invaluable resource.

During the Golden Age of Radio, listeners sat glued to their radios at the same time each week to catch their favorite shows. Shows like The Shadow, Little Orphan Annie, and The Mercury Theater captivated parents and children alike with their quality storytelling that always left the listener hanging, which ensured they’d tune in the following week. Over time, broadcast radio evolved into mostly music, then mostly talk, and now it’s mostly commercials, news, weather, and traffic. This is hardly compelling radio, and people choose not to tune into it every day.