Table of Contents

List of Maps, Illustrations, Figures, and Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Abbreviations
Part I: Making the Medium, 1895-1940
1. The Radio Age: The Growth of Radio Broadcasting, 1895–1940
2. Radio Advertising and Networks
3. Regulatory Models and the Radio Act of 1927
4. The Federal Radio Commission, 1927–1934
5. A New Deal for Radio? The Communications Act of 1934
6. The Federal Communications Commission and Radio, 1934–1940
Part II: Radio and the Business of Politics, 1920-1940
7. The Sellers: Stations, Networks, and Political Broadcasting
8. The Buyers: National Parties, Candidates, and Radio
9. The Product: Radio Politics and Campaigning
10. The Consumer: Radio, Audiences, and Voters
Part III: Radio and Citizenship, 1920–1940
11. Radio and the Problem of Citizenship
12. Radio at the Margins: Broadcasting and the Limits of Citizenship
13. Radio and the Politics of Good Taste
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Douglas B. Craig is a reader in history at the Australian National University. He is the author of After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920-1934.

Reviews

An impressively researched and useful study... Craig subtly winds his interpretive, critical thread of the unfulfilled promise of radio as an engine of a more expansive democracy into a larger narrative about the institutional and ideological sway of commercial radio interests. -- Brett Gary Journal of American History Douglas Craig's main goal was to write a political history of radio broadcasting in the United States before World War II; however, he has also succeeded in producing the best general study yet published on the development of radio broadcasting during this crucial period when key institutional and social patterns were established. -- Hugh R. Slotten Technology and Culture Fireside Politics is the most complete study so far of the interactions between broadcasting and the U.S. political system during the 'golden age' of radio... Likely to become a leading reference in continuing discussions over communication history, technology, and democracy. -- Stephen Ponder H-Pol, H-Net Reviews A fascinating study making good use of archival material as well as prior research. CBQ