LEADER 04775nam 2200769 a 450 001 9910781623103321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-283-21156-4 010 $a9786613211569 010 $a0-8122-0176-0 024 7 $a10.9783/9780812201765 035 $a(CKB)2550000000051186 035 $a(OCoLC)608406176 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10492037 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000533919 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11339473 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000533919 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10492782 035 $a(PQKB)10491680 035 $a(OCoLC)607605876 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse8308 035 $a(DE-B1597)449030 035 $a(OCoLC)1013964245 035 $a(OCoLC)1037981433 035 $a(OCoLC)1042029758 035 $a(OCoLC)1046609877 035 $a(OCoLC)1047013985 035 $a(OCoLC)1049659085 035 $a(OCoLC)1054880875 035 $a(OCoLC)979778662 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780812201765 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3441580 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10492037 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL321156 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3441580 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000051186 100 $a20041202d2005 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aAmerican Babel$b[electronic resource] $erogue radio broadcasters of the jazz age /$fClifford J. Doerksen 210 $aPhiladelphia $cUniversity of Pennsylvania Press$dc2005 215 $a1 online resource (170 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-8122-3871-0 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [129]-147) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tPreface --$tPrelude --$tChapter 1 The Education of Frank Bannister --$tChapter 2 Serving the Masses, Not the Classes It --$tChapter 3 Brows High and Fevered --$tChapter 4 ''Exit the Jonas Hayseed of 1880'' --$tChapter 5 That Doggone Radio Man --$tChapter 6 Wilbur Can Beat the Devil --$tChapter 7 The Dawn of the Golden Age --$tNotes --$tIndex 330 $aWhen American radio broadcasting began in the early 1920's there was a consensus among middle-class opinion makers that the airwaves must never be used for advertising. Even the national advertising industry agreed that the miraculous new medium was destined for higher cultural purposes. And yet, within a decade American broadcasting had become commercialized and has remained so ever since. Much recent scholarship treats this unsought commercialization as a coup, imposed from above by mercenary corporations indifferent to higher public ideals. Such research has focused primarily on metropolitan stations operated by the likes of AT&T, Westinghouse, and General Electric. In American Babel, Clifford J. Doerksen provides a colorful alternative social history centered on an overlooked class of pioneer broadcaster-the independent radio stations. Doerksen reveals that these "little" stations often commanded large and loyal working-class audiences who did not share the middle-class aversion to broadcast advertising. In urban settings, the independent stations broadcast jazz and burlesque entertainment and plugged popular songs for Tin Pan Alley publishers. In the countryside, independent stations known as "farmer stations" broadcast "hillbilly music" and old-time religion. All were unabashed in their promotional practices and paved the way toward commercialization with their innovations in programming, on-air style, advertising methods, and direct appeal to target audiences. Corporate broadcasters, who aspired to cultural gentility, were initially hostile to the populist style of the independents but ultimately followed suit in the 1930s.Drawing on a rich array of archives and contemporary print sources, each chapter of American Babel looks at a particular station and the personalities behind the microphone. Doerksen presents this group of independents as an intensely colorful, perpetually interesting lot and weaves their stories into an expansive social and cultural narrative to explain more fully the rise of the commercial network system of the 1930's. 606 $aRadio broadcasting$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aRadio broadcasters$zUnited States$vBiography 610 $aAmerican History. 610 $aAmerican Studies. 610 $aFilm Studies. 610 $aMedia Studies. 615 0$aRadio broadcasting$xHistory. 615 0$aRadio broadcasters 676 $a384.54/0973/09042 700 $aDoerksen$b Clifford John$f1963-$01577766 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910781623103321 996 $aAmerican Babel$93856624 997 $aUNINA