Radio’s Waves of History: Media Activism and National Radio Network Historiography in the United States

Abstract

The publication of U.S. radio network history began less than five years after the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) inaugurated national service. This descriptive analysis of U.S. radio network historiography periodizes the emergence of four waves of radio network history between 1930 and 2020, and illustrates how social, political, and regulatory activism influenced the emergence of new perspectives on the developmental period of the U.S. network radio. Examining evolutions in radio network historiography reveals the continued applicability and relevance of radio history to contemporary debates concerning media activism and the applicability of historical inquiry in media controversies in the United States.