Radio and the Public Imagination

Catalog description

Radio is an essential component in understanding the shape and texture of contemporary American culture and identity. This course explores the medium of radio, its history and its influence in shaping the ways Americans have imagined themselves through the 20th century and into the 21st century. The course also explores listening and the distinctiveness of radio as a medium of mass communication; the role of radio in creating belief in national identity; the creation of radio audiences; the emergence of broadcast journalism; sports and talk radio as cultural practices; the music industry, commercialism, and corporate influence in radio; and, finally, the persistence of radio despite the emergence of TV and computers. Prerequisite(s): declared COM major/minor with A COM 265X, and majors must have completed a statistics/logic course (A COM 275 or A MAT 108 or A SOC 221 or R CRJ 281 or A PSY 210 or A PHI 210).