eBook - PDF
Science on the Air
Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
Science on the Air
Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television
About this book
Mr. Wizard's World. Bill Nye the Science Guy. NPR's Science Friday. These popular television and radio programs broadcast science into the homes of millions of viewers and listeners. But these modern series owe much of their success to the pioneering efforts of early-twentieth-century science shows like Adventures in Science and "Our Friend the Atom." Science on the Air is the fascinating history of the evolution of popular science in the first decades of the broadcasting era.
Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette transports readers to the early days of radio, when the new medium allowed innovative and optimistic scientists the opportunity to broadcast serious and dignified presentations over the airwaves. But the exponential growth of listenership in the 1920s, from thousands to millions, and the networks' recognition that each listener represented a potential consumer, turned science on the radio into an opportunity to entertain, not just educate.
Science on the Air chronicles the efforts of science popularizers, from 1923 until the mid-1950s, as they negotiated topic, content, and tone in order to gain precious time on the air. Offering a new perspective on the collision between science's idealistic and elitist view of public communication and the unbending economics of broadcasting, LaFollette rewrites the history of the public reception of science in the twentieth century and the role that scientists and their institutions have played in both encouraging and inhibiting popularization. By looking at the broadcasting of the past, Science on the Air raises issues of concern to all those who seek to cultivate a scientifically literate society today.
Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette transports readers to the early days of radio, when the new medium allowed innovative and optimistic scientists the opportunity to broadcast serious and dignified presentations over the airwaves. But the exponential growth of listenership in the 1920s, from thousands to millions, and the networks' recognition that each listener represented a potential consumer, turned science on the radio into an opportunity to entertain, not just educate.
Science on the Air chronicles the efforts of science popularizers, from 1923 until the mid-1950s, as they negotiated topic, content, and tone in order to gain precious time on the air. Offering a new perspective on the collision between science's idealistic and elitist view of public communication and the unbending economics of broadcasting, LaFollette rewrites the history of the public reception of science in the twentieth century and the role that scientists and their institutions have played in both encouraging and inhibiting popularization. By looking at the broadcasting of the past, Science on the Air raises issues of concern to all those who seek to cultivate a scientifically literate society today.
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Yes, you can access Science on the Air by Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Technology & Engineering & North American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Prologue
- 1 Tuxedos and Microphones
- 2 The Radio Nature League
- 3 Syndicating Science
- 4 Cooperative Ventures
- 5 Shifting Ground
- 6 A Twist of the Dial
- 7 Facts and Fictionalizations
- 8 Adventuring with Scientists
- 9 Broadcasting the Voice of the Atom
- 10 Illusions of Actuality
- Epilogue: Entertaining Lessons
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Index