Broadcasting Collection

Radio Broadcast Magazine

The history of American broadcasting is the story of the emergence and transformation of the two most important mass communication mediums of the 20th century -- radio and television. The magazine Radio Broadcasting chronicles radio's early adoption by hobbyists and the debates about how the medium should be organized and regulated. Citizen groups believed radio served a vital public service and should remain outside of commercial interests. Electronics corporations, on the other hand, saw the potential to harness the radio medium toward profitable ends. The business interests ultimately won, and American radio became a medium of publicly owned airwaves that were, in fact, controlled by advertising-supported corporations. This same ownership and regulatory model was later applied to television.

Radio Age presented the point of view of the most important corporation in the broadcasting landscape, RCA (Radio Corporation of America), which both manufactured receivers and controlled the NBC network. Radio Age emphasized the new products and research RCA was bringing to market. Television, in particular, received considerable coverage.

Extensive Runs

Broadcasting (1931-1963)

The Phonogram (Ed. Virginia H. McRae, North American Phonograph Company, 1891-93)

The Phonogram (Ed. Herbert A. Shattuck, National Phonograph Company, 1900-02)

Edison Phonograph Monthly (1903-1916)

Heinl Radio Business Letter (1930-1950)

National Association of Broadcasters Reports (1931-1948)

National Association of Educational Broadcasters Newsletter (1930-1967)

National Association of Educational Broadcasters Washington Report (1960-1965)

NBC Transmitter (1935-1947)

Phonograph Monthly Review (1926-1932)

Radio Age (1922-1927)

Radio Age: Research, Manufacturing, Communications, Broadcasting, Television (1942-1957)

  • Description: Radio Age was published by RCA - the Radio Corporation of America - to promote current and future technological developments and major programming events on NBC. Despite the title's reference to radio, the emphasis throughout is on the future promise of television. Digitized by the Prelinger Library.

  • Oct 1942-Jul 1945. Vol 2-4 | Read | Download |
  • Oct 1945-Jul 1948. Vol 5-7 | Read | Download |
  • Oct 1948-Jul 1950. Vol 8-9 | Read | Download |
  • Oct 1950-Oct 1952. Vol 10-11 | Read | Download |
  • Jan 1953-Oct 1954. Vol 12-13 | Read | Download |
  • Jan 1955-Oct 1957. Vol 14-16 | Read | Download |

The Radio Annual (1938-1948)

The Radio Annual and Television Year Book (1949-1964)

Radio Broadcast (1922-1930)

Radio Digest (1923-1933)

Radio Mirror (1934-1963)

Radio Today (1935-1939)/Radio and Television Today (1940-1941)

The Record Changer (1943-1957)

Sponsor (1946-1964)

Swing (1945-1953)

  • Description: The official magazine of Kansas City's WHB radio station, SWING printed far more than the station's schedule (which, as the title SWING suggested, relied heavily on music). From 1945 to 1953, SWING offered readers something eclectic every month -- profiles of entertainers on one page, discussions of citizenship in the postwar world on the next, with write-ups of nightlife offerings in KC, Chicago, and New York mixed in. WHB spent decades lobbying the FCC for clear channel status; the magazine's ambitious scope may have been part of the station's attempt to legitimate itself. But it was SWING'S first editor, Jetta Carleton, who later wrote a celebrated novel, that gave the magazine its distinctive style. -- Eric Hoyt, 2015
  • 1945 | Read | Download |
  • 1946 | Read | Download |
  • 1947 | Read | Download |
  • 1948 | Read | Download |
  • 1949 | Read | Download |
  • 1950 | Read | Download |
  • 1951 | Read | Download |
  • 1952 | Read | Download |
  • 1953 | Read | Download |

Talking Machine World (1906-1928)

Television Digest with AM-FM Reports/Electronics (later Weekly Television Digest) (1945-63)

TV Forecast (1948-1953)

TV Guide (1953-)

Select Holdings

AFRA Antics (1940-1950)

Best Broadcasts of 1938-39 (1939)

Best Broadcasts of 1939-40 (1940)

Cylinder Lists: Columbia Brown Wax, Columbia XP, Columbia 20th Century, and Indestructible (Index to Columbia Cylinders, 1896-1908, by Tim Gracyk, 2000)

Don McNeill's Breakfast Club (1942, 1944, 1952)

Education by Radio (1932-1937)

NBC Chimes (1947-1956)

The Phonoscope (1896)

Radio Album: Life Stories and Portraits of the Radio Stars (1932)

Radio Announcers (1933)

Radio Daily (1937-38, 1949)

Radio Dial (1931)

The Radio Dealer (1922-1923)

Radio Review (1935-36)

Radio Revue (1929)

Radio Stars (1933-1938)

Radio Varieties (1940)

Radio Who's Who (1947)

Television Programming Catalogues (1957)

  • Movies from A.A.P.: Programs of Quality from Quality Studios (1957) | Read | Download |

Variety Radio Directory (1937-1941)

Victor Records Catalog (1914)

What's On the Air (1929-1931)

Who's Who on the Air? (1932)

WLS Family Album (1932)

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