Fireside Politics: Radio and Political Culture in the United States, 1920-1940

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JHU Press, 2000 - 362 pages

In Fireside Politics, Douglas B. Craig provides the first detailed and complete examination of radio's changing role in American political culture between 1920 and 1940—the medium's golden age, when it commanded huge national audiences without competition from television. Craig follows the evolution of radio into a commercialized, networked, and regulated industry, and ultimately into an essential tool for winning political campaigns and shaping American identity in the interwar period. Finally, he draws thoughtful comparisons of the American experience of radio broadcasting and political culture with those of Australia, Britain, and Canada.

 

Contents

The Radio Age The Growth of Radio Broadcasting 18951940
3
Radio Advertising and Networks
18
Regulatory Models and the Radio Act of 1927
36
The Federal Radio Commission 19271934
59
A New Deal for Radio? The Communications Act of 1934
78
The Federal Communications Commission and Radio 19341940
92
Radio and the Business of Politics 19201940
111
The Sellers Stations Networks and Political Broadcasting
113
The Consumers Radio Audiences and Voters
186
Radio and Citizenship 19201940
203
Radio and the Problem of Citizenship
205
Radio at the Margins Broadcasting and the Limits of Citizenship
234
Radio and the Politics of Good Taste
258
Conclusion
279
Notes
285
Bibliography
329

The Buyers National Parties Candidates and Radio
140
The Product Radio Politics and Campaigning
167

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About the author (2000)

Douglas B. Craig is a reader in history at the Australian National University. He is the author of After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920–1934.

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