Radio in the Television Age

Abstract

Radio jokes abounded in the early 1950s: one cartoon showed a young boy dusting off a radio in the attic and asking his dad, "What's that?" Americans had seen icemen put out of work, ice chests discarded for refrigerators, and silent pictures give way to talkies. It was against memories like these—recent memories—that many people gauged radio's chances against television. In 1954 the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters issued a report that noted, Stations are participating more and more in community activities. They originate campaigns for new libraries and better highways. Television not only failed to reach out to black audiences, but because blacks had a lower median income than whites and purchased fewer televisions in the early 1950s, they were a natural target for radio. Studies in city after city showed that a majority of the black population listened to the radio station that seemed most aware of black interests.

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