Radio: from regional audiences to a national audience

Sinatra and Crosby wrote little or nothing; nobody called that “inauthentic.” That was the job map.

Around 1900 the U.S. was more regional. News traveled slowly; local folk, country, and blues dialects stayed audible—Chicago vs Memphis vs St. Louis blues, for example. Radio compressed distance into a national entertainment culture. Marconi’s 1895 demos led through military and maritime use; the Titanic’s wireless traffic (David Sarnoff among the operators in New York) advertised real-time reach. By the 1920s stations clustered around cities; by the late 1920s networks (NBC, CBS) wired affiliates so one show could air coast to coast. Nighttime “super stations” raised power and covered hundreds of miles. Shared playlists shrank regional taste gaps.

Programming mixed soaps (*Guiding Light*), sitcoms (*Amos ’n’ Andy*—wildly popular then, indefensible now), adventure (*Lone Ranger*, *Superman*), variety (Crosby), and lots of music. Publishers’ best promo was getting a song on the air so listeners bought sheet music. Film also built national audiences (*The Wizard of Oz*), but dedicated title songs were debated—publishers wanted catalog that outlived a movie’s run.

After WWII Sarnoff poured RCA R&D into television. As attention moved to TV, leftover radio plant and slots would be reused—especially by local R&B and country formats, later in this chapter.