What do you say we put on a record?
February 21, 2010 5:52 PM

Looking for articles and essays concerning the early days of the phonograph and radio--especially the cultural impact.

Curious about the major cultural shifts in the early days of music and sound recording, radio, and other advancements that affected society. How did the the idea of "Honey, could you put on that favorite phonograph of ours?" take hold? Also would like information on the phenomenon of radio, and public broadcasting.

Does anyone know of great articles, resources, or essays on this subject?

Any related areas of the early days of recorded sound is encouraged, for it seems I have opened up a can of worms regarding my interests.
posted by captainsohler to Media & Arts (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television might be up your alley. Check with your local library to see if they have digital access to back issues, as this is one of those really expensive academic journals that virtually nobody pays for as an individual.
posted by arco at 6:03 PM on February 21, 2010


Various resources I use in my History of Broadcasting class:

Susan Smulyan, Selling Radio: The Commercialization of American Broadcasting, 1920-1934
(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).

Michele Hilmes & Jason Loviglio (Eds.) Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio, Routledge, 2001.

Susan Douglas, Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination, Times Books, 1999.

Empire of the Air is the best (only?) documentary on radio history.

For recorded music, see David Morton, Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America, Rutgers University Press, 1999.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 6:15 PM on February 21, 2010




Great question. It's such a fascinating topic. Here are some books and articles:

Capturing Sound by Mark Katz
A Spiral Way: how the phonograph changed ethnography by Erika Brady
Gramophone, film, typewriter by Friedrich Kittler
The Audible Past: cultural origins of sound reproduction by Jonathan Sterne
Echo and Reverb: Fabricating space in popular music recording, 1900-1960 by Peter Doyle
Genre in Popular Music by Fabian Holt
Race Music: Bo Chatman, "Corrine, Corrina," and the Excluded Middle by Chris Waterman in Music and the Racial Imagination edited by Radano and Bohlman.
Mimesis and Alterity: a particular history of the senses by Michael Taussig, especially chapter 14 The Talking Machine, and chapter 15, His Master's Voice.
posted by umbú at 6:24 PM on February 21, 2010


One more comes to mind:

Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong by Joseph Lanza
posted by umbú at 11:35 AM on February 22, 2010


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