Radio Research

       Radios became increasingly popular during the 1930s after a surge of income and innovation. According to American Radio Works, at least fifty percent of urban households owned a radio in the 1930s. Radio was meant to unite rural and urban lives in a form of communication that could be broadcast nationally. Soap operas, baseball games, and comedy shows were aired on the radio and would draw in families and individuals of all ages. Comedians like Fred Allen and Jack Benny were popularized by the radio. According to PBS, the soap opera "Our Gal Sunday" was popular for women to listen to because they could relate and sympathize with the main characters in the program. Radio shows and programs were much like today's TV programs, but without the motion picture part. Actors and characters dealt with the same problems on radio programs during the 1930s that they do now on TV shows during the 21st century. Some of the most popular programs on the radio, like the news, gave families the most up to date information on the hour. The news popularized the want to be connected among a larger community, and the need for social media in emergency or entertainment. Musical performers and dance orchestras could always be heard on the radio, and attracted all audiences. According to Radio Shows in the 1930’s, radios were widely used for programs with drama and scandal, so to grab the listener's attention. Big stars, news programs, soap opera and dramatic pauses all came from the popularizing of the radio, and have helped create the very basis of our social media and Netflix driven minds today. Radio programming during the 1930s started a new age of connectivity and fantasy in technology.