ABSTRACT
It was the early 1920s, nighttime, and around thecountry, especially in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, American boys and men (and, to a much lesser extent, women and girls) connected themselves umbilically by headphones to small black boxes powered by sets of batteries. They led the way in a cultural revolution: the turn to listening in the 1920s. Painstakingly moving a thin wire known as the cat whisker around a hunk of crystal, they heard a blend of talk, music, and static as their heads became filled with the voices and sounds of nearby and far-off places. Others, usually those with more money, had sets with tuning dials-five of them-all of which had to be perfectly calibrated to reel in particular stations. This was an exploration, and as such it was thrilling and often maddeningly frustrating.
