The average American listens to the radio three hours a day. In light of recent technological developments such as internet radio, some argue that the medium is facing a crisis, while others claim we are at the dawn of a new radio revolution. The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio is an essential single-volume reference guide to this vital and evolving medium. It brings together the best and most important entries from the three-volume Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio, edited by Christopher Sterling.

Comprised of more than 300 entries spanning the invention of radio to the Internet, The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio addresses personalities, music genres, regulations, technology, programming and stations, the "golden age" of radio and other topics relating to radio broadcasting throughout its history. The entries are updated throughout and the volume includes nine new entries on topics ranging from podcasting to the decline of radio. The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio include suggestions for further reading as complements to most of the articles, biographical details for all person-entries, production credits for programs, and a comprehensive index.

Contents

Introduction to the Concise Edition

Editor’s Introduction

Acknowledgments

General Bibliography: A Radio Reference Shelf

Advisers and Contributors

Alphabetical List of Entires

The Encyclopedia Entries A-Z

Notes on Contributors

Author Bio

Christopher H. Sterling has served on the George Washington University media and public affairs faculty since 1982, and has authored or edited more than 25 books on media and telecommunication topics, including the original Encyclopedia of Radio (2004), and, with Michael Keith, Sounds of Change: A History of FM Broadcasting in America (2008). He edited the six-volume Encyclopedia of Journalism (2009). For Routledge, he edited six volumes of historical articles, The Rise of Amerio (2007), and co-authored the standard Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting (2003). He edits Communication Booknotes Quarterly and was the third editor of the quarterly Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. His research centers on the history and policy of American electronic media and telecommunications.

Cary O’Dell is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is the boards’ assistant for the film and recorded sound division of the Library of Congress facility in Culpeper, VA. He is the former archives director for the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago and a former project archivist for the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland. O’Dell authored Women Pioneers in Television: Biographies of Fifteen Industry Leaders (1997) and Virginia Marmaduke: A Journey in Print from Carbondale to Chicago (2001).