Let’s continue on A Century of Radio in Museum of Broadcast Communications of Chicago. Radio is probably the first time that you get the sense of untransformed and ongoing reality, without requiring presence at the exact location and time. Meanwhile, it is passive, making it more acceptable by the masses.
…a new mass audience forming that was “more inclusive, more rural, more domestic, whatever you think of its taste more broadly American.”
Surveys find people, on average, listen to more than four hours daily.
When a new media becomes mass media, you will have to accept how everyone ends up being on it. Still remember the amateur side of radio operators? It took only two decades in the 20th century from everything amateur to this:
A GOP memo reads, “Broadcasting requires a new type of sentence. …Speeches must be short.”
U.S. President Roosevelt at the time of 1930’ definitely took advantage of it. His public speaking through radio as a Fireside Chat, while being a broadcast, sounds intimate. It was a signature of his time.
This radio magic does not really go away today, if you listen to podcasts and music streaming. Technology advanced so much that we get choices to consume media one-on-one beyond mass broadcasting. This intimacy is actually tailored to everyone today, rather than seemingly close to you but ending up being the same copy that everyone listens to. Please enjoy.