Customer Reviews

Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio

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Okay, well if you have read Susan J. Douglas' book "Tuning in" or "Inventing American B'casting." Or Hines' "Radio Voices" or Smulyans' "Selling Radio" -- you'll know exactly where this book comes from (this book is like an extension of these books - only up to modern day). I am very pleased that we are seeing more published books on radio in the academy, however, the majority of these are coming from the cultural studies perspective -- I guess because any quantitative study is thought to be largely the purveyance of the industry. So, it's a qualitative romp through the garden of radio past and the impact the medium has had on the American Psyche that perhaps we have overlooked due to our (new?) obsession with television. It's a step above the general "I recall when radio was great..." books due to the caliber of essayists in the thing. WHile it's not extremely original, the writing is superb and offers some more insights into the medium of radio. It benefits too from the fact that these essays are not overly written about (and published) in the academy. So, in other words, there is certainly more than enough room for it in the literature.