Post by Max on Jul 29, 2005 22:29:53 GMT -5
With the corporate takeovers and conglamirates flying wild, it's refreshing to be able to sit back and view what it was REALLY like in the 'pioneer' days. I was fortunate enough to get into radio while it was still fun and had a bit of a mystique to it. This book portrays how it started off as a science and caught on like wildfire. Unfortunately, today alot of the 'humanity' has been taken out and replaced by computers and satellites, but like Nickolodeon and TV Land, this book allows readers to see things as they WERE. Alot of good history for today's broadcasters and the curious.
This is a submission of a review I wrote a few years back for Amazon.com regarding an excellent book I have checked out of the library repeatedly, but have never quite finished! The book is entitled "A Tower in Babel-A History of Broadcasting in the United States to 1933" by Erik Barnouw. To this day, I believe this should be required reading for anyone getting into radio, ESPECIALLY today. This book lets everyone know radio and the media have not always been this crappy. I mean it goes back to the very beginning of radio! I plan to find a copy and purchase it, so I can have it on hand and not have to run back and forth. Also, if I have it I can finish it and go ahead and start reading the sequels by Mr. Barnouw that I have purchased, "The Golden Web -A History of Broadcasting in the United States 1933-1953" and "The Image Empire-A History of Broadcasting in the United States from 1953".
Another book worth reading, despite the vulgarity and recurring negativity throughout, is "The Original Sex and Broadcasting-A Handbook on Starting a Radio Station for the Community" by Lorenzo Wilson Milam. The title is a little misleading, for he states on back his great aunt suggested he use the word 'sex' in the title to increase probability of sales. It is full of practical suggestions and truths applicable the time it was written (1988) and today.
This is a submission of a review I wrote a few years back for Amazon.com regarding an excellent book I have checked out of the library repeatedly, but have never quite finished! The book is entitled "A Tower in Babel-A History of Broadcasting in the United States to 1933" by Erik Barnouw. To this day, I believe this should be required reading for anyone getting into radio, ESPECIALLY today. This book lets everyone know radio and the media have not always been this crappy. I mean it goes back to the very beginning of radio! I plan to find a copy and purchase it, so I can have it on hand and not have to run back and forth. Also, if I have it I can finish it and go ahead and start reading the sequels by Mr. Barnouw that I have purchased, "The Golden Web -A History of Broadcasting in the United States 1933-1953" and "The Image Empire-A History of Broadcasting in the United States from 1953".
Another book worth reading, despite the vulgarity and recurring negativity throughout, is "The Original Sex and Broadcasting-A Handbook on Starting a Radio Station for the Community" by Lorenzo Wilson Milam. The title is a little misleading, for he states on back his great aunt suggested he use the word 'sex' in the title to increase probability of sales. It is full of practical suggestions and truths applicable the time it was written (1988) and today.