ABSTRACT
A communication style reminiscent of Cold War-era McCarthyism has resurfaced in the digital era. Around the world, a post-1989 group of authoritarian demagogues, including a former President of the United States, has circulated disinformation via the latest technological platforms to inflame populist passions and to undermine confidence in democracy. While social media is a key infrastructure supporting the authoritarian, anti-democratic communication style, historians note that post-World War II right-leaning radio broadcasting occupies an antecedent and revealing history of the mobilization of reactionary political sentiment in US political culture. Less appreciated, however, are the deeper and far longer legacies of struggle elemental to the rise and development of US radio broadcasting from its earliest incarnation. This chapter selectively reviews historiography of US radio to illuminate the partisan features, skirmishes, and outcomes of clashes between conservative and progressive elements associated with the shaping of a perennially relevant medium to both American culture and politics as well as global communication.
