Rudel, Anthony J. frey50

Hello, everybody! : the dawn of American radio / Anthony Rudel. - 1st ed. - Orlando : Harcourt, c2008. - 399 p. ; 24 cm.

When amateur enthusiasts began sending fuzzy signals from their garages and rooftops, radio broadcasting was born. Sensing the medium's potential, snake-oil salesmen and preachers took to the air, at once setting early standards for radio programming and making bedlam of the airwaves. Into the chaos stepped a young secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover, whose passion for organization guided the technology's growth. When a charismatic bandleader named Rudy Vallee created the first on-air variety show and America elected its first true radio president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, radio had arrived. Rudel tells the story of the boisterous years when radio took its place in the nation's living room and forever changed American politics, journalism, and entertainment.--From publisher description.

9780151012756 (hbk.) 015101275X

2008005629


Radio broadcasting--History--United States--20th century.

384.5409730904 Rud 9