Listen In
How Radio Changed the Home
Published on 6. February 2025
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-85124-631-1 (ISBN)
Description
Radio today can feel like a faithful old companion, but its early history was sensational. Between 1922 and 1939, British life was transformed by what was known as the 'Radio Craze'.
This narrative history shows what the arrival of radio meant at a personal level through the voices and experiences of individuals as they adopted the then radical form of communication technology, invested in their first-ever gadgets and tuned in by their own firesides to outside voices and music, SOS calls, the Pips, the News, sport, royalty and innovative radiogenic comedy. It traces how radio affected family life, exploring whether it shifted dynamics between children and adults and between women and men, as well as its impact on class and a wider sense of nationhood.
Generously illustrated and drawing on contemporary journalism, fiction, diaries, cartoons and a remarkable cache of unpublished first-person testimonies discovered in the archives of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Listen In is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking stories. It comes at a timely moment when traditional linear radio is shifting in response to podcasting, and the entire experience of how we consume audio is once again undergoing transformation.
This narrative history shows what the arrival of radio meant at a personal level through the voices and experiences of individuals as they adopted the then radical form of communication technology, invested in their first-ever gadgets and tuned in by their own firesides to outside voices and music, SOS calls, the Pips, the News, sport, royalty and innovative radiogenic comedy. It traces how radio affected family life, exploring whether it shifted dynamics between children and adults and between women and men, as well as its impact on class and a wider sense of nationhood.
Generously illustrated and drawing on contemporary journalism, fiction, diaries, cartoons and a remarkable cache of unpublished first-person testimonies discovered in the archives of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Listen In is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking stories. It comes at a timely moment when traditional linear radio is shifting in response to podcasting, and the entire experience of how we consume audio is once again undergoing transformation.
Reviews / Votes
Beaty Rubens' hugely enjoyable book shows us why the medium of radio cast such a spell over those who suddenly found they could travel the world without leaving home. She weaves a compelling story of the radical changes the wireless brought to the way people lived. -- Rory Cellan-Jones For all of us who love radio and feel it is the essential companion in our lives, this book is a delightful and insightful read. It's both informative and entertaining as it takes the reader on a journey behind the scenes of a medium we have come to take for granted in its scope and ability. Lord Reith would be proud! -- Fi Glover The author's engrossing narrative is supported by a rich archival resource mined in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. It ranges from journalism, diaries and fiction to original testimony and is illustrated with magazine covers, cartoons, cigarette cards and contemporary photographs; scholarly it most certainly is, but wonderfully readable. -- Timothy Mowl * Books * In her joyous, richly illustrated book about the early years of radio from the listeners' point of view, the BBC radio producer Beaty Rubens takes us inside the British home... For anyone curious about how British families lived in the first half of the 20th century, the book is full of gems. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Magic of Early Radio Days *Beaty Rubens's study of the impact of early radio broadcasts in Britain is full of fascinating and often poignant detail. -- Jude Rogers * The Wonder of the Wireless Revolution * 'Listen In' held my attention throughout. I loved the extracts from listeners' letters...Filled with excellently reproduced images...this book is highly recommended. -- Rosemary Colins [This] is a fascinating and attractive book, enriched with a multitude of photos and cartoons. -- Fiona Hook '...this enjoyable narrative...takes us up to World War II' -- Steven Poole * Bookshelf *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Illustrations
75 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 238 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
884 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85124-631-1 (9781851246311)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Beaty Rubens was a BBC Radio producer for thirty-five years and is now a freelance producer, presenter and writer.
Content
PROLOGUE
1. What Is Home Without a Radio?
2. Are You Ready
3. What Are the Wild Waves Saying?
4. Daventry Calling
5. Building Jerusalem
6. The "Flapper" Election
7. Only Voices Out of the Air
8. We Are the Ovaltineys
9. There's a Woman in Hull Not Singing
10. The Home Service
EPILOGUE
1. What Is Home Without a Radio?
2. Are You Ready
3. What Are the Wild Waves Saying?
4. Daventry Calling
5. Building Jerusalem
6. The "Flapper" Election
7. Only Voices Out of the Air
8. We Are the Ovaltineys
9. There's a Woman in Hull Not Singing
10. The Home Service
EPILOGUE