Connecting America – The Radio at Home:
Radio signaled a major shift in how Americans communicated. Once radios became widespread and affordable, they connected people in ways never before possible. By the 1920s, a few decades after Marconi’s first broadcast, half of urban families owned a radio. More than six million stations had been built. The numbers increased rapidly — by 1940, families were listening to their radios for more than four hours each day.
Radio quickly became a way for American families to stay connected and receive news. This was particularly useful for Americans living in rural areas, which, during the radio’s Golden Age, was about half of the country’s population… [more]