Personal Narrative: Empire Of The Air: The Men Who Made Radio

We often take for granted items that we use in our everyday lives. When I was a child, I never once stopped to think about the radio. It had simply always been there. I would record songs on a cassette tape off the radio. I would call into radio stations to wish my friends a ‘Happy Birthday’ on the air. When I started driving the radio was a constant presence. Even today on my daily commute to work I turn the radio on and sing along, not once wondering where it had come from. Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio was the documentary I never knew that I needed. It was interesting to learn not only how the radio we take for granted today came to be, but also the intense drama and fighting that the men who made radio went through.

Lee de Forest and David Sarnoff. Perhaps I had once learned about them in school, though more than likely they have been the subject of jokes on an episode of The Simpsons or South Park. It was the name Edwin Howard Armstrong that I had never heard of. It amazes me that so many brilliant inventors could be lost in the shuffle of history, overshadowed by people with far less talent and worthiness. Their bitter battles over power and patents remind me greatly of Thomas Edison and his constant court battles. The drama that ensued over the course of their lives could’ve made a great radio or television show! Greed and stubbornness led to wasted lives and suicide. I had to chuckle more than a few times over the arrogance of Dr. de Forest. For him to have asked his wife to write a book entitled, I Married a Genius was just too much. These three arrogant men were all the ‘Father of Radio’ in my opinion. They all contributed greatly to the radio industry success and eventually to the rise of