The Influence of Radio on American Culture and Popular Music Essay

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A significant influence on the mainstream popular-music industry was the advancement of radio and television technologies. The rise of a national audience was one of the remarkable changes in popular music during the first half of the twentieth century (Covach and Flory 39). Essentially, radio technology was invented at the end of the nineteenth century and was initially used for military purposes and communication with navy ships. Nonetheless, early radio had a critical impact on American culture, particularly the history of popular music. Listeners “within range of a regional radio station” were able to hear music that would otherwise be unreachable to them for the first time (Covach and Flory 39). Additionally, Covach and Flory state that in 1928, NBC used AT&T telephone lines to connect sixty-nine stations across the country for its first coast-to-coast broadcast in 1928 (40). Hence, once NBC launched its national radio network from coast to coast, regional borders in popular culture began to blur.

The way specific pop genres became national while others preserved their regional identities is crucial in popular music history. To a large extent, the popularity can be related to network programming: mainstream pop music by performers such as “Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, the big bands, and later Frank Sinatra” was frequently heard on network radio, while country and western and rhythm and blues were not (Covach and Flory 40). Therefore, network radio aided in forming a national audience, but by the late 1940s, that audience was shifting away from radio and toward the newest technological miracle, namely television. Covach and Flory emphasize that under the guidance of David Sarnoff, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) has been a vital actor in the development of radio since its inception (40). Consequently, Sarnoff was a rising radio executive who led RCA in creating the NBC networks in the 1920s and 1930s. The shift of local and regional radio stations in reaction to the early age of television was significant in developing countries and western rhythm and blues (Covach and Flory 43). The migration of networks and audiences to television had a fundamental part in early rock and roll evolution.

Work Cited

Covach, John R., and Andrew Flory. What’s That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History. 5th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2018.

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