ABSTRACT
If there is such a thing as an enlightened public, in the mid-twentieth century it was informed more by sound than by light. Television was not established, and radio was a paternalist voice in the life of the West. This was the golden age of sound radio, and it could reach 50 to 60 million people in countries such as the UK, France and Germany, and even more in the USA. In 1969, Americans owned 268 million radios (Schafer [1977] 1994: 91).
