Radio Programming Through the Ages

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Radio Programming Through the Ages
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Amos and Andy

• Show began on WMAQ in Chicago, 1928
• Longest running radio program in broadcast
  history
• Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll
• Two white actors portraying Amos Jones and Andy
  Brown
• Mimicked negro dialect
• Eventually moved to television, CBS 1951
• Cancelled in 1953 after growing civil rights
  protest

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Amos and Andy
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Processing Questions

• 1. Describe what you hear how do these men
  sound?
• 2. Who do you think their audience would be and
  how do you think they reacted to these
  broadcasts?
• 3. They did not survive the switch to
  television, do you agree with their cancellation?
  Why or why not?

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War of the Worlds

• Aired October 30, 1938
• Orson Welles and gang executed greatest hoax in
  broadcast history
• Radio news alerts announced the arrival of
  Martians
• People freaked out because
• Radio credible source of news
• Created mass hysteria as the story unfolded
  through a series of broadcast interruptions
• Aftermath included people fleeing from their
  homes and calling on the police by the dozens

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Processing Questions

• 1. Describe what you heard. Would you believe
  this if you did not know the history behind it?
• 2. What is going on in the world during this
  time period and how would it impact the reception
  of this broadcast
• 3. What elements of this broadcast made it so
  successful?
• 4. What type of hoax would cause mass hysteria
  in our times?

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Abbott and Costello Whos on First?

• Originated in the form of live performances even
  at burlesque shows, 1936
• A and C joined the Kate Smith Show on radio and
  performed this sketch for the first time on radio
  in 1938
• Led to more radio work and their own radio show
  from 1942-1947
• A gold record of this recording from A and C is
  on display in Cooperstown

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Processing Questions

• 1. What is your reaction to this clip?
• 2. Why would so many people adore this sketch so
  much in the United States?

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Fireside Chats

• FDR first president to have conversations
  with the American people through their radios
• Fireside chats served as a medium to address
  major economic issues as well as ease the nerves
  of the American people by promoting and
  explaining his programs
• Served as a turning point for the office of the
  presidency

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Processing Questions

• 1. Why did fireside chats serve as a turning
  point for the presidency?
• 2. Discuss the tone in FDRs voice
• 3. What is our equivalent of fireside chats
  these days?