The Birth of Mass Culture: The Rise of the Radio in the 1920’s

1898 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Radio in the 1920s

Throughout the 1920’s, a new era of pop culture was ushered in as America recovered from its involvement in the First World War. Within this era, society was dominated by the desire to express oneself and live lavishly while free of structural constraint, and this new pursuit of freedom was displayed within the evolution of jazz, flapper fashions, and an increased obsession with entertainment. While each of these events undoubtedly played a role in shaping the pop culture of the twenties, one particular aspect of entertainment was the driving force behind the redefinition of the American culture and lifestyle for decades to come. This new element of pop culture was the radio. Becoming an American sensation seemingly overnight, the radio soon was a standard appliance in every home, and owning a radio automatically characterized a household as “modern.” Through this single appliance, the nation was drawn together in the first real shared experience that provided entertainment and contributed to the rapid spread of new ideas. For the first time in history, Americans were granted the opportunity to enjoy radio shows, sports broadcasts, news programs, music, and other forms of entertainment, all within the comfort of their own living rooms. With the sudden emergence of the radio in the 1920’s, a new era of mass culture was born, one whose impact still resounds today.
Although the radio gained popularity in the twenties, its initial presence on the forefront of technology was in the late 1800’s when an Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, successfully sent and received the first radio signal in Italy. It was not until World War I that the United States began to utilize radios, and their main purpose was for communication betw...

... middle of paper ...

...orks Cited
“Amos and Andy.” Old Time Radio Catalog. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Bryson, Bill. One Summer: America, 1927. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2013. Print.
Koppes, Clayton R. “The Social Destiny of the Radio: Hope and Disillusionment in the 1920’s.” South Atlantic Quarterly 68.3 (1969): 363-376. America: History & Life. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
“New Popular Culture of the 1920’s.” Mt. Lebanon School District. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
“Pulling Sounds from the Air: The Early Days of Radio.” Between the Wars. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Taylor, Timothy D. “Music and the Rise of Radio in 1920’s America: Technological Imperialism, Socialization, and the Transformation of Intimacy.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television 22.4 (2002): 425-443. America History & Life. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
“The Formation of Modern American Mass Culture.” Digital History. Digital History, 2013. 5 Mar. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Empire of the Air: Invention of the Radio

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    Radio waves were first discovered in 1887, but radio itself was initially invented by Italian Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 (1). His biggest mentioned success was in 1901, when he managed to broadcast the letter “S” across the Atlantic Ocean (1). However, he focused primarily on point-to-point transmissions, not large scale broadcasts from one point (F). As such, three American inventors - Lee De Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff - took credit for making radio as it is today a success (F). De Forest was born and raised in Alabama and he thought of everything in terms of patents and eventually held more than 300, but many claimed that he simply stole the inventions of others (2). In 1900, he patented a device to enhance weak signals and in 1902, he formed the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company (1). In the same year. Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian, invented the “electrolytic detector”, which later became the spade detector that brought De Forest so much fame (F). In 1904, John Fleming invented the oscillation valve, which later became De Forest’s audion, and De Forest won the gold medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair for his “spade detector” (F). De Forest gained quite a bit of fame by broadcasting music live from the Eiffel Tower and from the Metropolitan Opera; however, many believed that this was a scam and that he had actually had the device broadcasting the signal only a few blocks away (F). In 1906, he envisioned bringing music and voices to all American households, but as it turns out Canadian inventor Fessenden had already broadcasted a Christmas greeting and music to the crew of a ship off the coast of Canada on Christmas Eve a year earlier (F). In 1912, Armstrong became prominent by inventing regeneration, wh...

    Read More

  • entertainment in the 1930's

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early 1930’s entertainment started to become popular. The reason for that was due to the Great Depression. Entertainment took people’s minds off of the struggles that were being faced. Country and blues were forms of music that were introduced during this time, but the 1930’s was mainly a time of jazz. Broadway and movies became more advanced and more popular then too. “Movies, music, and Broadway all combined to provide as an escape from the dreary life of the depression.”(Walker n.pag.) Throughout the 1930's people would turn to entertainment to forget about the hard times.

    Read More

  • roaring 20s

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e radio was invented during the era and found its way into broadcasting to every home in America. The era introduced the first movie made with sound, The Jazz Singer, which later makes movies more popular in demanding.

    Read More

  • The American Culture of the 1950s

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kallen, Stuart . A Cultural History of the United States through the Decades: The 1950's . San Diego, CA: Lucent books, Inc. , 1999. Print.

    Read More

  • The Roaring Twenties and Its Effect on American Culture

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1918 when World War I ended, American society and culture changed immediately after. World War I resulted in the death of nine million soldiers and twenty one million wounded. Families were left mourning the loss of their relatives and people titled World War I as a “war to end all war.” With the nation going through such tragedy, change was bound to happen. During the 1920s there was a change in consumer culture, art, music and literature. So much changed happened during the 1920s that it’s referred to as the roaring twenties. Entertainment was on a rise and the way that Americans were used to living started to change. Along with that came immigration laws that changed American culture as well.

    Read More

  • Postwar America: The Golden Age of Television

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paul S. Boyer. "Television." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved November 24, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Television.html

    Read More

  • Impacts of Civil War Reconstruction

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...Richard. "Communications Overview (1850-1877)." American Eras. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Student Resource Center - Junior. Gale. Great Valley Middle School. 24 Apr. 2014 http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&source=gale&srcprod=SRCJ&userGroupName=malv12024&prodId=SRC-4&tabID=T001&docId=EJ2301500255&type=retrieve&contentSet=GSRC&version=1.0

    Read More

  • American Influence Promotes Canadian Identity

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ever since technology has advanced, it played a major role in bringing the American culture in Canadian homes, especially through radio. This resulted Canadians to become more familiar with American artists and performers, because of this, the Aird Commissions were concerned of Canada losing its identity to Americanization, thus was the birth of the successful Canadian Broadcasting Commission as its purpose was to “engage in the quick distribution of news across Canada...and providing exposure to Canadian compositions.” (“Creation of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation”) To begin with, CBC radio was successful because it established a powerful sense of national unity across Canada. This connected Canadians coast to coast with news about what was happening everyday in the urbanized life, and exchanged cultural expressions that were made available in French and English to reflect on national consciousness and identity. Without having to rely on American culture, CBC allowed more airtime with only Canadian content by replacing American cult...

    Read More

  • The Impactline Of Jazz's Impact On Music History

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    History is often written as if there is a defining moment where everything changes. It is most often the case however, that a series of events and stresses are the culprits of such change. As is the case of the decline of jazz’s popularity. Sure some may point to The Beatles landing in JFK airport and others may say Elvis’s television appearance. But in reality, there were many evolvements both technological and cultural that lead to what some may call the “great decline” in music history. The television itself had a huge impact on our both our culture and technology, and still stands today as one of the larger influences of our society. Considering the era, one can’t talk about jazz without mentioning the civil rights movement. Likewise, jazz itself cannot be mentioned without talking about drugs and their influential impact on it’s musicians such as Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and John Coltrane. At it’s peak Jazz music could be heard in nearly every hall of every major city in America. Big bands were everywhere, musicians were endless, and the nations appetite see...

    Read More

  • The Jazz Age

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Jazz Age was more than merely a musical revolution—“The Jazz Age denotes not only a period of early big band, but also the events and fashions of an era”. During this decade a number of modern developments were invented, which included an expanded telephone service, network radio, electric inventions, and records set in aviation. These modern developments had a profound effect on American culture, creating a rise in leisure, specifically mass leisure. Automobiles, movies, and the radio overtook the lives of Americans, becoming necessities and part of everyday routines. This period also marks the beginning of films with soundtracks, an audio component, marking the rise of the musical and giving the American people another vehicle for leisure activity. The Jazz Age shaped the culture and attitude of America, “it was the first truly modern decade and, for better or for worse, it created the model for society that all the world follows today”.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: America in the 1920s

    2392 Words  | 5 Pages

    Works Cited Epstein, Dan. A. 20th Century Pop Culture: The Early Years to 1949. Philadelphia:

    Read More

  • Technology of the 1920's

    534 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 1920's brought many advancements in technology which allowed Americans to entertain themselves at home; the radio was one of them. The radio was actually developed before the 1920's; however, it was banned during World War I and allowed to reappear after the Prohibition ended in 1919 (Events 72). After the Prohibition ended, and radio broadcasting was being brought back to life, many people started up their first stations, like Frank Conrad (Events 72). Frank Conrad's first broadcast consisted of the Presidential Election results (Events 72). As Conrad was one of the first people to broadcast, KDKA was one of the first radio stations to appear in the Unite...

    Read More

  • Invention of the Radio

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walker, Jesse. Rebels on the air: an alternative history of radio in America. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Print.

    Read More

  • Entertainment Industry: American Vaudeville as Seen by Its Contemporaries

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the entertainment business already booming with traveling circuses, wild west shows, burlesque, and vaudeville, just to name a few, it seemed like Americans already had an abundant amount to choose from. However, going into the 20th century, with the invention of early motion picture cameras, such as Thomas Edison's kinetograph, it seemed like only the beginning for the entertainment industry; new means of entertainment were bound to be founded. Americans wanted cheap and easily available entertainment.1 They wanted something big, as evident in the quick decline in the popularity of the kinetoscope, a novelty one-man motion picture viewer also invented by Edison.2 Americans seem to prefer sitting and watching the show with everyone else. Vaudeville, an inexpensive variety show comprised of a variety of acts, was what Americans seem to have been looking for. However, as technologies improve, people become interested by the next big thing, creating a path for nickelodeons, which showed early films. Nickelodeon theaters continued to build upon the vaudeville model to create even more convenience for film distribution and exhibition, resulting in attracting consumers to nickelodeons rather than vaudeville theaters and the prominence of the film industry.

    Read More

  • Swing Goes to War

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    This book contains mountains of information about the World War II German forces, ranging from their daily routine to the very strategies they used. It has a section about music and morale, which should be useful when comparing the American spirit and attitude in song to the German spirit and attitude.

    Read More

More about The Birth of Mass Culture: The Rise of the Radio in the 1920’s

Open Document