Listening In: Radio And The American Imagination Paperback – February 25, 2004

I agree with the cover blurb: “Douglas’s wonderful book offers a sophisticated history of radio listening.” Susan Douglas immerses us into the ever changing culture created by American broadcasting from the 1920s though the Depression, the war (II), and then through the 1990s. (I came late to reading this book.) Old enough to remember the war (II) period, I was surprised but delighted at the degree to which she evokes the nostalgia of sitting with family around the big radio in the living room, listening to the lineup of weekly programs. Her writing is rich, the analysis sharp and in parts, notably her chapter on old radio comedy, outright funny. I wish she had included the children’s shows that I listened to after school or on Saturday morning – Grand Central Station, Hop Harrigan, Adventure’s Club, which exercised a child’s imagination in a way that images from television never could. Douglas ends on a sad note, regretting the musical blandness of corporate radio, but hopeful for a new wave of vitality, as happened repeatedly before.

I love radios and radio. I have always loved radio, so much so, in fact, that I have taken it upon myself to learn how to repair and restore old tube radios for the unique sound that they posses. I bought Susan J. Douglas's book "Listening In . . . " because of the preponderance of good reviews. I'll admit to only having gotten as far as page 9, when I came accross a startlingly inaccurate statement. She writes "The press and most cultural observers ignore radio, except when Stern pushes his own rather relaxed limits of tastefulness too far,or when conservative talk show hosts instruct their listeners on the best method for gunning down federal officials." This is just 2 sentences after mentioning Rush Limbaugh specifically. Now regardless of your political bent, this is just flat out inaccurate. I have listened to Rush Limbaugh for over 3 years on an almost daily basis and he has never, not even hinted at gunning down anyone, government or otherwise. Rush Limbaugh has the largest radio audience at present and possibly ever. He has more listeners on a daily basis than almost any national news show, including the televised news shows on ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN. So she has her facts wrong on arguably the most popular radio show in history. Now we're talking about facts here, not politics. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Jeff Beck and Mark Levin, the 4 most listened to shows on talk radio, probably in radio history, never talk about gunning down anyone, period. It's not about politics. It's about facts. You don't have to like these people. You just have to be able to admit to the facts. The Rush Limbaugh Show has something like 10+ times the average daily listeners when compared to any news show on CNN, NBC or CBS. She is apparently writing a tomme about the psychology of radio listening without ever having listened to the most popular radio shows ever and is ignorant of the published ratings. I have to question that. Where did she get that notion from, I wonder? Let's hope it was Amy Goodman on Pacifica, at least that's the radio. What other facts does she get wrong in this book? Well, on to page 10. Let's hope she can pull this one out. I'll give her the 2nd star for hope and the book was only about $13.

I'm a long-time, Philadelphia record collector, collecting 1950s rhythm 'n' blues music - vocal groups and single artists. While knowledgeable about radio disc jockeys, my knowledge is weak regarding radio history. Traipsing through Amazon.com, I stumbled upon and bought Listening In: Radio and the Imagination (University of Minnesota Press, 2004 edition). My specific interests were Chapter Nine "The Kids Take Over: Transistors, DJs and Rock 'n' Roll" and Chapter 4 "Tuning in to Jazz." As of this review, I have not read the remaining 10 chapters nor the text's conclusions.Dr. Douglas, in one complete, 16 word sentence, provided the reader with 6 unique pieces of factually wrong information. Let us forensically dissect the following sentence. Dr. Douglas wrote, "Chicago's WVON - "Voice of the Negro" - became, in 1947, the nation's first black owned radio station..." (page 234).Factual Error #1. The year was wrong. The first black owned radio station came into existence in 1949, not 1947, and was owned by Jesse Blayton, Sr.Factual Error #2. The state was wrong. The first black owned radio station was located in Georgia. Not Illinois.Factual Error #3. The city was wrong. The city was Atlanta. Not Chicago.Factual Error #4. The radio call letters were wrong. The first black owned radio station's call letters were WERD-AM. Not WVON.Factual Error #5 Radio station call letters WVON did not exist anywhere in 1947. WVON debuted April 1, 1963Factual Error #6 WVON was never black owned. The original owners of WVON were Leonard and Phil Chess, owners of Chess Records. The Chess brothers were white. WVON began as WHFC in 1926. WHFC became WVON when the Chess brothers bought WHFC and changed the call letters. Who and what were Dr. Douglas' sources for this amazing, treasure trove of mis-information? Publishers Weekly favorably wrote, "...Douglas delivers a carefully researched and well-documented look at the medium and the people who listened..." I think not.

I liked the book because it reprised my childhood memories in a sense. However, the slant was away from the subjects that matteredthe most to me personally, mainly on the entertainment side other than comedy. Namely the adventure dramas, the scary shows, the crime dramas, children's programs, etc. Of course the emphasis of the book MUST be the important issues such as the politics, coverage of W II and the rest. The adult radio world of the period was something that I did not experience, myself, but I wanted to learn about what was going one. It is an education.