Radio History

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Cecil B. DeMille Tries his Hand at Radio (Pic Magazine, 1941)

At the age of 63, after 44 years in show business, and ten years as director of the Lux Radio Theaterstyle=border:none, Cecil B. De Mille is still producing. He can’t stop and he probably never will. He is first, last and all the time a showman. The show business is in his blood, and whether he is on a set or taking his leisure at home, his heart and mind are in the theater. He loves to have people around him so that he can play a part, for consciously or unconsciously, he is always acting… C.B.’s father was an actor and playwright, and later a partner of David Belasco. His mother was an actress, and later a very successful play agent.

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The State of Radio In 1937 America (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Girding the United States today are two major national radio chains and one smaller chain. They are the National Broadcasting Company, the Columbia Broadcasting Company and the Mutual Broadcasting System, NBC, with its combined Red and Blue networks, has about 110 stations. CBS on a single network has 101. Mutual has 45 and will add a new section of 10 more next month.

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The State of Radio In 1937 America (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Girding the United States today are two major national radio chains and one smaller chain. They are the National Broadcasting Company, the Columbia Broadcasting Company and the Mutual Broadcasting System, NBC, with its combined Red and Blue networks, has about 110 stations. CBS on a single network has 101. Mutual has 45 and will add a new section of 10 more next month.

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A Monopoly on Radio Talent? (Pic Magazine, 1941)

This article will cue you in to a 1941 dust-up between the FCC and the biggest radio broadcasters in America.

Apparently CBS, NBC and the Mutual Broadcasting System were in cahoots, united behind a scheme to fix the prices they had to cough-up in order to pay all the various assorted musicians and acting talents they needed to hire if they were to attract their radio audiences. The feds got wind of the plan and smelled a rat:

The big radio networks are currently worried by the Federal Communication Commission’s accusation that they are talent monopolists, part of the FCC’s blanket charge that the radio chains constitute a trust within the broadcasting industry…

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The Timeless Comedy of Bob and Ray (Quick Magazine, 1952)

A single page from the petite pages of the short-lived magazine QUICK, heralding the arrival of the Bob and Ray radio show:

Two young fugitives from from a Boston radio station (W.H.D.H.) ,Bob Elliott (b. 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922 – 1990) were proving that radio – and some 15 million listeners – could take anything. In exchange for lampooning radio’s most sacred cows – soap operas and commercials – Bob and Ray now have four separate radio shows (two on NBC’s network; two on NBC’s New York station), were on the air five days a week…

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‘Radio Here and Abroad” (Pathfinder Magazine, 1932)

During the early days of radio, as in the early days of the internet, there was much scrambling done all around in order to figure out a way to make the technology profitable. When this article was on the newsstand the pioneers of radio were getting closer to achieving this goal but they were not there yet. In Europe, by contrast, the concept of commercial radio was held askance by many; some nations barred all ads from the invisible wave, while others preferred that commercials only be heard during certain hours of the day.

Educational broadcasting is growing in popularity in Europe and is being extended into the afternoon school hours.


A good deal of column space explains how the Soviet Union used radio.

Read about the radio program that was produced by the WPA writers and actors branch in order to celebrate American diversity; click here.

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