American Babel: Rogue Radio Broadcasters of the Jazz Age

When American radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s 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 mercena...