In the early days of radio, there were opportunities for women as singers, musicians, actors, and hosts of women's interest shows, but few chances to do much more. Vaughan deLeith, the "Original Radio Girl," was one of the first women to break into radio and pave the way for others to follow. From 1920 to 1936, deLeith received three million pieces of fan mail, published more than 200 songs, made more than 300 phonograph records and Edison cylinders, and sang 15,000 songs on the air. The women who worked in and on radio from the 20s through the 50s are given their due in this comprehensive work. Readers will find Kate Smith, the Andrews Sisters, the Carter Sisters, Wilma Lee Cooper, Kitty Wells, Gracie Allen, and Minnie Pearl, among many, many others. There are nine extended entries: the pioneers, Mary Garden and Chicago radio, singers, country musicians, comediennes, husband-and-wife talk shows, women in daytime serials (soap operas), family values, and gender discrimination.

This encyclopedic work comprehensively covers the performers and programming on American radio from its inception to its golden age. Extensively researched over the course of more than twenty years, this new work is the definitive source for scholars of communication, social and cultural history and the popular arts, as well as devoted fans of radio history. The encyclopedia includes entries for programs, announcers, orchestras, musicians, vocalists, comedians, vocal groups, readers, whistlers, musical saw soloists, ministers, sports commentators, reviewers (of books, plays and movies), celebrities, and other personnel broadcasting over American radio from the 1920s to the 1960s. Additional entries cover commercial radio, educational broadcasting, firsts in radio history, opera on radio, religious broadcasting, sports broadcasting, women in radio, border radio, children's programs, comedy on radio, crime shows and mysteries, daytime dramatic serials, and disk jockeys, among other topics.

In the early days of radio, there were employment opportunities for women as singers, musicians, actors, and hosts of women's interest shows, but few opportunities for them to do much more, not to mention host their own music or comedy programs. Vaughan deLeith, the "Original Radio Girl," was one of the first women to break into radio and pave the way for others to follow. It is estimated than from 1920 to 1936, deLeith received three million pieces of fan mail, wrote more than 200 published songs, made more than 300 phonograph records and Edison cylinders, and sang 15,000 songs on the air. The women who worked in and on radio in its four greatest decades are given their due in this comprehensive work. Readers will find Bertha Brainard, Judith Waller, Jessica Dragonette, Kate Smith, the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Carter Sisters, Wilma Lee Cooper, Kitty Wells, Gracie Allen, and Minnie Pearl, among many, many other women who were on the radio. Nine extended entries cover pioneers, Mary Garden and Chicago radio, singers, country musicians, comediennes, husband-and-wife talk shows, women in daytime serials (soap operas), family values, and gender discrimination facing women in radio.

The Biographical Encyclopedia of American Radio presents the very best biographies of the internationally acclaimed three-volume Encyclopedia of Radio in a single volume. It includes more than 200 biographical entries on the most important and influential American radio personalities, writers, producers, directors, newscasters, and network executives. With 23 new biographies and updated entries throughout, this volume covers key figures from radio’s past and present including Glenn Beck, Jessie Blayton, Fred Friendly, Arthur Godfrey, Bob Hope, Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Ryan Seacrest, Laura Schlesinger, Red Skelton, Nina Totenberg, Walter Winchell, and many more. Scholarly but accessible, this encyclopedia provides an unrivaled guide to the voices behind radio for students and general readers alike.

The period from 1925 to 1960 was the heyday of the American Radio Soap Opera. In addition to being part of popular culture, the soap opera had important commercial aspects as well that were not only related to their production, but also to the desperate need to sell products or perish. Both sides of this story are traced in this comprehensive compendium. The dictionary section, made up of more than 500 cross-referenced entries, provides brief vignettes of the more popular and also less well-known 'soaps,' among them Back Stage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Pepper Young's Family and The Guiding Light. Other entries evoke those who brought these programs to life: the actors, announcers, scriptwriters, networks, and even the sponsors. Nor are the basic themes, the stock characters and the gimmick, forgotten. The book's introduction defines the soap opera, examines the span of the radio serial, reviews its origins and its demise, and focuses on the character types that made up its denizens. The chronology outlines the period and the bibliography offers further reading. Together, these elements make a comprehensive reference work that researchers will find invaluable long into the future.

The period from 1925 to 1960 was the heyday of the American Radio Soap Opera. In addition to being part of popular culture, the soap opera had important commercial aspects as well that were not only related to their production, but also to the desperate need to sell products or perish. Both sides of this story are traced in this comprehensive compendium. The dictionary section, made up of more than 500 cross-referenced entries, provides brief vignettes of the more popular and also less well-known 'soaps,' among them Back Stage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Pepper Young's Family and The Guiding Light. Other entries evoke those who brought these programs to life: the actors, announcers, scriptwriters, networks, and even the sponsors. Nor are the basic themes, the stock characters and the gimmick, forgotten. The book's introduction defines the soap opera, examines the span of the radio serial, reviews its origins and its demise, and focuses on the character types that made up its denizens. The chronology outlines the period and the bibliography offers further reading. Together, these elements make a comprehensive reference work that researchers will find invaluable long into the future.

The Handbook of Communication History addresses central ideas, social practices, and media of communication as they have developed across time, cultures, and world geographical regions. It attends to both the varieties of communication in world history and the historical investigation of those forms in communication and media studies. The Handbook editors view communication as encompassing patterns, processes, and performances of social interaction, symbolic production, material exchange, institutional formation, social praxis, and discourse. As such, the history of communication cuts across social, cultural, intellectual, political, technological, institutional, and economic history. The volume examines the history of communication history; the history of ideas of communication; the history of communication media; and the history of the field of communication. Readers will explore the history of the object under consideration (relevant practices, media, and ideas), review its manifestations in different regions and cultures (comparative dimensions), and orient toward current thinking and historical research on the topic (current state of the field). As a whole, the volume gathers disparate strands of communication history into one volume, offering an accessible and panoramic view of the development of communication over time and geographical places, and providing a catalyst to further work in communication history.