Radio broadcasting technology has been with us for just over 100 years. Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi is widely credited with developing the prototype of modern radio. He filed for a patent on the technology in Britain in 1896. An indication of its effectiveness lies in the fact that the US Navy soon picked it up so that their vessels could communicate 'point-to-point.' By 1915, other inventors had sufficiently tweaked the technology to enable the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission. Sources indicate, though, that it wasn't until 1920 that broadcasters began to find their ways to people's ears via radio receivers on a large scale. By the late 1920s the Dodge Victory Hour was commanding an audience in the 10s of millions in the United States, and 'the New York Times declared "All America Used As a Radio Studio,"' as famous personalities scattered across the country delivered content simultaneously for the same show.
The effect of large-scale radio broadcasting was revolutionary. People with access to radios could listen to news almost as it was being made. Cultural programs, radio theatre, music and advertising all became deliverable to the masses via radio broadcasting. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the medium to deliver his message on a weekly basis, a tradition that still exists today. People would huddle around the wireless to find reassurance in the warmth of FDR's so called “fireside chats.” These broadcasts would serve as sustenance to a populace burdened by the spectre of the Great Depression and, later, World War Two.
The effect of large-scale radio broadcasting was revolutionary. People with access to radios could listen to news almost as it was being made. Cultural programs, radio theatre, music and advertising all became deliverable to the masses via radio broadcasting. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the medium to deliver his message on a weekly basis, a tradition that still exists today. People would huddle around the wireless to find reassurance in the warmth of FDR's so called “fireside chats.” These broadcasts would serve as sustenance to a populace burdened by the spectre of the Great Depression and, later, World War Two.