RADIO AND THE POWER OF BROADCASTING

Although wireless technology developed prior to World War I, only experimental broadcasting occurred prior to 1920. World War I army and navy training introduced thousands of men to radio's technology and applications. Pooling (sharing) of patents allowed the manufacture of the best radio equipment. By World War II, radio broadcasting had become an established mass medium and contributed strongly to the war effort. After World War II, television replaced radio as the source of news for most Americans.

radio and world war i

Radio played only a limited role in the First World War. Telegraph and telephone were more important on the battlefield, and newspapers, magazines, and film communicated war news to the homefront. The few experimental broadcasters closed down from 1917 to 1919. Because the military needed trained personnel, thousands of men (and a few women) learned radio's technology. To meet military demand, manufacturers such as Westinghouse and General Electric (GE) were encouraged to share ("pool") their patents during the emergency, thus allowing both to create vastly improved radio transmitters and receivers—and demonstrating the cooperation that would be needed after the war. Inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong, serving in the army, developed improved receiver circuits that would be used for years.

Westinghouse and GE converted their military capacity to manufacture civilian radios in 1920–1921 and initiated some of the first broadcast stations to encourage people to buy receivers. With other firms they created a postwar commercial patent pool, allowing more rapid production of better radios than would otherwise have been possible. As radio broadcasting developed in the 1920s, men trained during the war played a central role.

radio and world war ii

Radio played a far larger homefront role in the Second World War. By 1941 most homes owned at least one radio and listening to both news and entertainment was a national pastime. Wartime priorities eliminated manufacture of civilian products—including radios and the tubes to power them—in 1942, and receiver repair and sharing blossomed. Industry-trained personnel flocked to military service.

Radio programs reflected the war, especially the growing number of network and local station newscasts. Listeners sought breaking news from radio rather than newspapers. Americans heard Edward R. Murrow and other network reporters from European and Pacific fighting fronts, thanks to the use of short-wave transmission and recordings of broadcasts. A federal Office of Censorship eliminated radio weather forecasts and man-on-the-street radio interviews (the latter might be used for secret messages), but otherwise radio networks and stations operated under a voluntary code of censorship. A federal Office of War Information, under the direction of former radio commentator Elmer Davis, was the chief government source of military news, although President Franklin D. Roosevelt remained by far the most effective single communicator.

Radio strongly promoted wartime patriotism in its entertainment programs as well. Radio dramas featured war-related stories and people; even comedy shows helped to further the nation's wartime aims. Variety and music programs, such as those of the comedian Bob Hope and the Glen Miller Band, were broadcast live from military camps filled with thousands of soldiers or sailors. Radio's stars and its reporters helped to tie the country together, especially in the difficult early months of wartime losses. Some of radio's finest writing came from Norman Corwin and others celebrating the war's end.

During World War II radio proved to be a powerful tool in the United States, as in other countries, to promote patriotism, to raise morale among civilians and soldiers, and for propaganda. Radio showed the influence of mass communications in mobilizing the nation and shaping public opinion, a role now largely played by television.

bibliography

Barnouw, Erik. "Crusade." In The Golden Web: A History of Broadcasting in the United States, 1933–1953. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.

Cloud, Stanley, and Olson, Lynne. The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Dryer, Sherman H., ed. Radio in Wartime. New York: Greenberg, 1942.

Kirby, Edward M., and Harris, Jack W. Star-Spangled Radio. Chicago: Ziff-Davis, 1948.

Sterling, Christopher H., and Kittross, John M. "Radio Goes to War (1941–1945)." In Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting, 3d edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.

Christopher H. Sterling

See also:Journalism, World War I; Journalism, World War II; Propaganda, War.