The Radio In The 1920's

“Radio is the theatre of the mind; television is the theatre of the mindless.” This sagacious quote was said by Steven Allen about the aged electronic, the radio. The maker of this device’s name is Gugliemo Marconi; an Italian inventor born in Bologna, Italy in 1875. At only 20 years old, Marconi had created this astonishing invention by basing his learning on earlier inventors such as, James Clerk Maxwell who predicted radio waves in in the 1860’s or, Mahlon Loomis whom demonstrated “wireless telegraphy” in 1866. The radio in the early 1920’s produced a broadcast made by KDKA, however only about 1,000 people could listen to the new device’s entertainment. Within two years, the radio had gotten a huge demand for more radio receivers from

Many people listened in on the radio for a source of entertainment, therefore wanting to hear any news from the world. A person by the name of Lee De Forest had helped push them out of our comfort zone of listening and brought them music, and other sounds right to their own houses. As stated by The California radio society,¨ ...and plays phonograph records to shore stations as the fleet comes into ports like San Francisco, and in NYC he (Lee De Forest) broadcasts on several occasions well-known opera singers to an audience of reporters. He wants to bring culture into homes.” Not only giving one region the chance to hear his collection of phonograph records, but also famous opera singers that many people were eagerly waiting to hear. Listeners were easily entertained with hearing new sounds and music they hadn’t before. After only 5 years, the radio inclusion to our lives had become very popular among people. “In 1925, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) released statistics indicating that of the 26,000,000 homes in the United States, 5,000,000, or 19.2 percent, had radio receivers...” This statistic was received by The Library of congress . This provides a prime example of willingness to pay for the radio, and how people changed their lives to spend the time to listen to it. Mind you that the radioś programs sometimes have had a negative effect on the

Politically, this was a social uproar and has helped change life in the white house and how we hear from our government and news. We had not had the chance to hear our president or elections until this time. As stated by A&E Television networks,¨In 1922, President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication of a memorial site for the composer of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key, becomes the first president to have his voice transmitted by radio.” This began the first step towards a chain reaction of people listening in on something other than entertainment, new politic stations were introduced to the radio waves.. ¨The broadcast heralded a revolutionary shift in how presidents addressed the American public.¨ inputted again by A&E Television networks, proving that the radio had changed not only normal citizens lives but presidents as well. Many presidents thereafter had used technological standpoints to win over their listeners or viewers. ¨Harding was also the first president to own a radio and was the first to have one installed in the White House.¨ This information was also announced by A&E Television networks.From then on, in the white house, a radio was there to entertain and inform our highest form of authority. Changing the white house and it’s listeners politically; also, affecting the people who looked up to our