Shawn VanCour. Making Radio: Early Radio Production and the Rise of Modern Sound Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. ix + 240 pp. $74.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-19049-711-8.
Radio studies are having somewhat of a resurgence in printed scholarship. From case studies of early radio dramas to the role of podcasting in modern life, most recent examinations of radio examine specific works and the cultural role that radio (in its various forms) plays in American life in the twentieth century. But, for the most part, existing published studies of early radio do not focus on the technical aspects of radio production, and for this reason, Shawn VanCour’s book, Making Radio: Early Radio Production and the Rise of Modern Sound Culture, is a welcome addition to radio studies. Making Radio provides a production-oriented approach to pre-network sound aesthetics by considering how these aesthetics helped to shape and solidify a consistent radio sound. In this book, VanCour outlines the stylistic norms and aesthetics that were established in pre-network era radio broadcasting as well as parallel sonic styles and practices in film, music, and, later, television. His study differs from other works on radio in that the analysis does not focus on individual texts such as radio dramas but rather on sound and their uses, though he does examine individual dramas and broadcasts to support his claims. ...
While existing studies of early radio focus on the golden age of the 1930s and 1940s, few studies spend extensive time on the genre’s inception or elements of production. For this reason, this book fills a lacuna in the radio studies literature. Each chapter moves from macro-level to micro-level considerations of general production pratices and individual studio operations. ...
The second chapter, “Making Radio Genres,” discusses the issue of genre and the creation of radio genres. ... Through a cultural and pragmatic approach to broadcasting history, the chapter discusses the ways in which the subdued concert hall’s sonic aesthetic found its way into radio broadcasting practices, allowing radio to achieve some sense of restraint. This aesthetic would also find its way into the record industry.
The third chapter, “Making Radio Music,” focuses on the role and creation of sound in broadcasting music live. It lays out the different types of production techniques used in the broadcast of radio, differentiating the performance style and procedures from those used in talk radio. The chapter outlines the main sonic principles that broadcasters would adopt in radio broadcasting: acoustic plasticity, sonic parsimony, and sonic restraint. Each of these principles had an affiliated technique and sound that would increase intelligibility during a broadcast. This is an especially important topic. Unlike other authors, VanCour acknowledges the differences in music and talk radio. These considerations helped shape the record industry and its own sonic style. ...
In the end, VanCour concludes that radio eventually focused on the concept of naturalness, in speech and sound, which helped all genres thrive. It was radio’s original focus on artificiality that demanded this reorientation. To this end, VanCour’s reproduction of primary source documents, including letters and cartoons, help establish a cultural context in radio production in the United States. Making Radio is not an exhaustive history of pre-network radio broadcasting, but it does not need to be. VanCour only covers the most important and wide-ranging changes, practices, and norms. He thereby offers a welcome and necessary addition to the field of radio studies.
Reba Wissner. Journal of Musicological Research 38, 1 (2019), 108–110.
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