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Organized as an A to Z listing, this book will guide readers in their search for an inside look at radio and how it shaped the lives and the attitudes of the American people through the Twenties, the Depression, World War II and beyond. If you collect recollections and want a complete reference book on what and who wafted over the air, then this tome is your tonic... --ENTERTAINMENT TODAY
Frank and Anne Hummert brought at least 125 separate series to the airwaves. The production dynasty over which they presided extended far beyond the serialized melodrama that became their trademark. Their genres also included music, mystery, juvenile adventure, quiz, sports, news, comedy and dramatic theater. The Hummerts tried to appeal to everyone's tastes and probably influenced more old time radio listeners than anyone else. By the 1940s the twosome controlled four and a half hours of the national weekday broadcast schedule. This book explores the private lives and professional dealings of broadcasting's most prolific creator-producers. There are five appendices: a list of all broadcast series that were created, adapted, supervised, augmented or influenced by the Hummerts; a list of the most active players among radio producers stemming from the Golden Age and their best-remembered titles; a collection of statements attributed to Frank or Anne that express their philosophy of broadcast programming; a chronology of defining moments in the Hummerts' lives; and three sample programming schedules that give the reader a clear understanding of the Hummerts' involvement in radio producing.
Produced in association with the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, the Encyclopedia of Radio includes more than 600 entries covering major countries and regions of the world as well as specific programs and people, networks and organizations, regulation and policies, audience research, and radio's technology. This encyclopedic work will be the first broadly conceived reference source on a medium that is now nearly eighty years old, with essays that provide essential information on the subject as well as comment on the significance of the particular person, organization, or topic being examined.
The period from 1925 to 1960 was the heyday of the American Radio Soap Opera. In addition to being part of popular culture, the soap opera had important commercial aspects as well that were not only related to their production, but also to the desperate need to sell products or perish. Both sides of this story are traced in this comprehensive compendium. The dictionary section, made up of more than 500 cross-referenced entries, provides brief vignettes of the more popular and also less well-known 'soaps,' among them Back Stage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Pepper Young's Family and The Guiding Light. Other entries evoke those who brought these programs to life: the actors, announcers, scriptwriters, networks, and even the sponsors. Nor are the basic themes, the stock characters and the gimmick, forgotten. The book's introduction defines the soap opera, examines the span of the radio serial, reviews its origins and its demise, and focuses on the character types that made up its denizens. The chronology outlines the period and the bibliography offers further reading. Together, these elements make a comprehensive reference work that researchers will find invaluable long into the future.
This reference book is designed as a road map for researchers who need to find specific information about American mass communication as expeditiously as possible. Taking a topical approach, it integrates publications and organizations into subject-focused chapters for easy user reference. The editors define mass communication to include print journalism and electronic media and the processes by which they communicate messages to their audiences. Included are newspaper, magazine, radio, television, cable, and newer electronic media industries. Within that definition, this volume offers an indexed inventory of more than 1,400 resources on most aspects of American mass communication history, technology, economics, content, audience research, policy, and regulation. The material featured represents the carefully considered judgment of three experts -- two of them librarians -- plus four contributors from different industry venues. The primary focus is on the domestic American print and electronic media industries. Although there is no claim to a complete census of all materials on print journalism and electronic media -- what is available is now too vast for any single guide -- the most important and useful items are here. The emphasis is on material published since 1980, though useful older resources are included as well. Each chapter is designed to stand alone, providing the most important and useful resources of a primary nature -- organizations and documents as well as secondary books and reports. In addition, online resources and internet citations are included where possible.
The 1950s was one of the most turbulent periods in the history of motion pictures and television. During the decade, as Hollywood's most powerful studios and independent producers shifted into TV production, TV replaced film as America's principal postwar culture industry. This pioneering study offers the first thorough exploration of the movie industry's shaping role in the development of television and its narrative forms. Drawing on the archives of Warner Bros. and David O. Selznick Productions and on interviews with participants in both industries, Christopher Anderson demonstrates how the episodic telefilm series, a clear descendant of the feature film, became and has remained the dominant narrative form in prime-time TV. This research suggests that the postwar motion picture industry was less an empire on the verge of ruin—as common wisdom has it—than one struggling under unsettling conditions to redefine its frontiers. Beyond the obvious contribution to film and television studies, these findings add an important chapter to the study of American popular culture of the postwar period.
"Radio Cultures examines the manifold ways in which radio has influenced the nation's social and cultural environment since its inception nearly a century ago. Written by leading scholars in the field, chapters address a wide range of topics, including how this powerful medium has impacted and affected non-mainstream segments of the population throughout its history and how these repressed and neglected groups have employed radio to counter and overcome discrimination and bias. The use of the audio medium for political, economic, and religious purposes is comprehensively probed and analyzed in this insightful and innovative volume."--Back cover.
Until the late 1940s, most Americans relied heavily upon radio, the only means of mass communication they knew, for information and entertainment. But with the 1950s came television sets and prosperity enabled more people to afford them. Radio began a decline. This work examines what could be called the final decade of AM network radio and the many factors that contributed to its decline. The first chapter is an overview of AM radio in the 1950s. The second chapter covers 1950 through 1953, when radio was still a popular medium but faced a need to make changes in its programming. Bill Paley and David Sarnoff strongly promoted radio in those years and the networks attempted to increase the ratings of their programs. Chapter three covers 1954 through 1956, three years in which radio experienced losses of its primary audience and some of its most popular shows (because of the pullout of advertisers), and an effort was made by the networks to keep their programs going and to convince audiences the medium was not on its way out. Chapter four, 1957 through 1960, chronicles the "end" of AM radio in homes, the cancellation of almost all remaining programs, network affiliates' going independent, and the rise in popularity of "drive time" radio. Chapter five covers 1961 to the present and summarizes the major changes that have taken place.
(Book). This lively blast from the past peels back the many layers of the Top 40 phenomenon: the DJs, fans, singles, jingles, dedications, contests, requests and more. The book features interviews with such renowned radio personalities and programmers as Casey Kasem, Dick Clark, Wolfman Jack, "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Gary Owens and many others, and includes an exclusive CD with "airchecks" rare recordings from 16 legendary DJs on actual Top 40 broadcasts so that readers can hear the crazed, creative and compelling voices that made Top 40 so memorable. Also includes lots of fantastic black-and-white photos to help readers put faces to the voices they know so well, a bibliography and index, and a special Top of the Pops section featuring the Number One records of Top 40 radio from 1957 through 1997 as calculated by the staff of Gavin.
The Lone Ranger has endured as an iconic figure in American popular culture, from his 1933 premier as a radio serial hero through a highly-rated television series (1949-1957) to a 2013 feature film. Created by script writer Fran Striker and radio station owner George W. Trendle, the character was meant to embody courage, fair play and honesty, and writers had to adhere to specific guidelines: "he never smokes ... he uses precise speech ... he never shoots to kill." The popularity of the Ranger and his companion Tonto inspired later crime fighting duos like Batman and Robin, and The Green Hornet and Kato. This book examines the franchise in detail, with summaries and production details of the original radio episodes.