The Radio Historian

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Radio broadcasting in the United States was the first means of electronic mass communication, and one of the country's chief means of information and entertainment during its first few decades. Radio as we know it today pales in comparison to the importance it held in the average American's life during the 1930's and 40's.

Radio as a mass medium first appeared in the United States in 1920, and its growth and transformation into a popular commercial medium took almost a decade. It's sudden invention and growth parallels the birth of the Internet and social media in our own time. The pioneers of broadcasting during these years created methods of sharing information and entertainment that never existed before, and their first amateurish attempts were gradually enhanced by those that followed into a high art form. Similarly, the crude equipment that first allowed the raspy transmission of the human voice was soon refined into complex and powerful transmitter and antenna systems that cast their programs into the farthest corners of the earth.

While the beginning attempts at radio broadcasting mostly took place in the Northeast part of the country, San Francisco was a unique oasis of the radio art. In 1920, the city had more experimental broadcasting stations than anywhere else. In the 1930's, the city was the network radio headquarters for the entire West Coast.

This web site was created to house a variety of writings and photographs that tell the story of broadcasting's early years. It also tells the story of San Francisco's fame as an early radio center, a subject that has not been documented to the extent of the country's well-known northeastern radio activities.

The website's author, John Schneider, is a lifelong radio historian and a Fellow of the California Historical Radio Society. He is a regular historical contributor to "Radio World" and "The Spectrum Monitor", and author of two books, "Bay Area Radio" and "Seattle Radio". He has compiled a large collection of original photographs of radio broadcasting's early years, although only a small portion of this collection appears on this site.

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About Copyrights:

This is a non-profit web site created for educational and historical purposes. The articles contained herein are copyrighted by John F. Schneider except where noted. Other than where indicated, the operator of this web site does not claim copyright or ownership of any photographic images contained herein. Such images are reproduced in low or medium resolution and consist principally of unclaimed or "orphan" images where the copyright owner is deceased or unknown. They appear on this site under the "fair use" doctrine of United States copyright law, which permits the use of copyrighted material for scholarship, archiving and research purposes. Any persons wishing to duplicate or otherwise make use of the images on this web site do so at their own risk.

www.theradiohistorian.org. This web site is owned and operated by John F. Schneider & Associates, LLC.
Except where otherwise noted, all articles are © Copyright 2015 or later by John F. Schneider. All rights reserved.

Please direct your comments and inquiries to john@theradiohistorian.org