Radio's America : the Great Depression and the rise of modern mass culture / Bruce Lenthall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lenthall, Bruce.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radio broadcasting--United States--History.

Radio broadcasting.

Radio broadcasting--Social aspects.

United States.

History.

Radio broadcasting--Social aspects--United States.

Physical Description:

x, 261 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Summary:

Orson Welles's greatest breakthrough into the popular consciousness occurred in 1938, three years before Citizen Kane, when his War of the Worlds radio broadcast succeeded so spectacularly that many listeners believed they were hearing a genuine report of an alien invasion-a landmark in the history of broadcasting's powerful relationship with its audience. In Radio's America, Bruce Lenthall documents the enormous impact that relationship had on the lives of Depression-era Americans. As many Americans came to feel overwhelmed by the vast world of the twentieth century, radio's capability to personalize an increasingly impersonal public arena made the medium hugely appealing. And Lenthall's discussions of such figures as President Franklin Roosevelt, proto-fascist Charles Coughlin, and medical quack John Brinkley offer revealing insight into how radio's ability to amplify individual voices held the potential to both manipulate and empower listeners at home. A unique exploration of how ordinary Americans first made broadcasting a part of their lives, Radio's America charts the formative years of our modern mass culture.

Contents:

Introduction: "The Story of the Century" 1

1 Radio's Challenges: Public Intellectuals and the Problem of Mass Culture 17

William Orton and the Mass-Consumption Critique 21

James Rorty and the Mass-Production Critique 30

African American Intellectuals and the Mass-Production Critique in Action 39

Related Solutions 43

Defenders of the Faith 46

2 Radio's Listeners: Personalizing Mass Culture 53

The Mass Audience Listens 56

Consumer Bargaining 63

"When You Can't Find a Friend, You've Still Got the Radio" 66

3 Radio's Democracy: The Politics of the Fireside 83

Roosevelt on the Radio 87

Radio Democracy: The Politics of Intimacy 92

Radio Democracy: The Politics of Information 98

Once and Future Ideals? 105

4 Radio's Champions: Strange Gods? 115

Radio Stars 118

Voices of the People 123

Power...Corrupts? 130

Limited Amplitude 137

5 Radio's Students: Media Studies and the Possibility of Mass Communication 143

Paul Lazarsfeld and Social Pragmatism's Hope 146

Herman Hettinger and Commercial Pragmatism's Faith 159

Theodor Adorno's Critical Theory: A Considerably Less Charitable View 165

6 Radio's Writers: A Public Voice in the Modern World 175

Art of the Air 177

Public Speech, Public Art, and Mass Communication 183

Modernism on the Air 193

Muffled Voices 201.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-253) and index.

ISBN:

9780226471914

0226471918

9780226471921

0226471926

OCLC:

84838887

Online:

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