ABSTRACT
Radio marked a paradigm shift in mass communications toward collective synchronized engagement. Radio allowed users to engage in real time with news and entertainment—including local, national, and global conversations—without delay, without special skills, and, as an audio-only medium, while engaging in other activities. Unlike theatrical film or recorded music, radio users could not control the order or the pace of the content; they—along with everyone else—were subjected to the content decisions of the broadcaster, ensuring that all users experience the content at the same time in an identical format. Chapter 4 discusses how radio drastically affected Americans’ relationship with communication technology by providing a wide variety of content—including news, entertainment, advertising, and companionship—for multiple members of the family. Technologically, radio is the receiver that converts radio waves into consumable content, thus allowing geographically disparate audiences to engage with the same audio content simultaneously. In this chapter, I describe the psychology of audio persuasion, technological trust, and communicating in real time to establish how Americans developed a psychological reliance on an omniscient source of information, which is foundational for understanding the multipurpose adoption of 21st century media like smartphones and social media.
