MEDS 282 - History of Radio

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as FILM 282) This course analyzes the cultural, technological, and industrial history of American radio with a particular focus on the medium’s history of narrative and storytelling. Too often ignored as an aspect of American media culture, American radio has a long, varied, and significant history from the its creation to the current state of terrestrial, satellite, and internet radio. Topics include the invention and early uses of radio, its development into a commercial mass medium; the creation of network radio; the shift in focus from narrative to music; the rise of FM; the development of college, underground, independent, and public radio; the popularity of conservative talk radio; media consolidation; and the development of both satellite and internet radio as popular alternatives. By studying these historical developments, we assess the ways in which technological, industrial, and cultural influences have been reflected in radio programming and how this programming affected culture more generally. “Listenings” may include Amos ‘n’ Andy, The Jack Benny Show, War of the Worlds, Roy Rogers, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, The Goldbergs, The Guiding Light, London After Dark, A Prairie Home Companion, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, This American Life, The Black Guy Who Tips Podcast, Comedy Bang Bang, and Serial, among others. This course is designed to feed in to ‘b’ semester’s Film course, Producing Audio Narratives. Mr. Scepanski.

Prerequisite: open to sophomores and above with permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.