Radio History

Hired by the Tibetan government, Royal Air Force veteran Robert W. Ford put together a radio communications network for a nation that had up to this time relied on messages carried by foot over the highest mountains on the globe. More important, his radio connected the secluded nation to the outside world. When, in October, 1950, the Communist Chinese army began its march to subjugate Tibet, Ford risked his life by staying behind to send out reports over his radio to let the world know.

The chilling first novel by filmmaker, composer, and graphic novelist Leopoldo Gout, performed by actor Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us; Narcos; Game of Thrones) “Ghost Radio reminded me of early Stephen King. The story sticks with you long after you’ve finished the final page.” —James...

Brought to you by Penguin. Explore how music has changed our world through 50 pieces across classical, folk and world traditions with BBC presenter Tom Service, in this official Radio 3 compendium. Music transports us and defines us. As a form of expression, it has been passed down through oral...

In this essay originally aired in the 1950s, baseball legend Jackie Robinson reflects on fighting imperfection to create a better world in "Free Minds and Hearts at Work", his contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features Americans...

Poet Joy Harjo reflects on the importance of maintaining her ancestors' connection to the sun, in "Talking with the Sun,"* her contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features Americans, from the famous to the unknown, completing the...

Professor of psychiatry Kay Redfield Jamison describes the power of intense emotions and temperaments in "The Benefits of Restlessness and Jagged Edges", her contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features Americans, from the famous...

Professor and attorney Michael Mullane says that we are all protected by and accountable to the law, in "The Rule of Law," his contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features Americans, from the famous to the unknown, completing the...

In this essay originally aired in the 1950s, Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas encourages a return to the faith of his father's generation in "My Father’s Evening Star"*, his contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that...

Ted Gup reflects on the value of confusion in "In Praise of the 'Wobblies'", his contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features Americans, from the famous to the unknown, completing the thought that begins with the series title. The...

Animal expert Temple Grandin describes the benefits of the concrete thinking that accompanies her autism, in "Seeing in Beautiful, Precise Pictures," her contribution to NPR’s This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features Americans, from the famous to...

In this essay originally aired in the 1950s, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein expresses his belief in the potential of people to create change, in "The Mountain Disappears," his contribution to NPR's This I Believe series. This I Believe is a National Public Radio program that features...

A one-of-a kind survey of rap and hip hop history from 1973 to today by Chuck D, arguably the most influential rapper in the world. In the more than 40 years since the days of DJ Kool Herc and "Rapper's Delight," hip hop and rap have become a billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon. Yet there is no...

2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, a seminal text that remains the most widely published and influential book in the English language. Once described as 'the noblest monument of English prose', it has been recognised for centuries as both a religious and a literary classic...

David Reynolds’ major BBC Radio 4 series explores the origins of contemporary USA from its beginnings to the present day This epic narrative tells America’s story through the voices of those who lived it - presidents and farmers, mothers and children, settlers and soldiers, slaves and...

The Radio Right tells the story of the 1960s far right, who were frustrated by what they perceived to be liberal bias in the national media, particularly the media's sycophantic relationship with the John F. Kennedy administration. By the early 1960s, millions of Americans listened each week to conservative broadcasters, the most prominent of which were clergy or lay broadcasters from across the religious spectrum, including Carl McIntire, Billy James Hargis, and Clarence Manion.

Cold War Radio is a fascinating look at how the United States waged the Cold War through the international broadcasting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Mark G. Pomar takes listeners inside the two radio stations to show how the broadcasts were conceived and the impact they had on international broadcasting, United States-Soviet relations, Russian history, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Based on a true story, a gripping historical novel about a German immigrant who becomes embroiled in a Nazi spy ring operating in New York City in the early days of World War II. At the end of the 1930s, Europe is engulfed in war. Though America is far from the fighting, the streets of New York...

Freedom of speech. It is our most cherished privilege as Americans, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution since 1791. But our current presidential administration threatens to sharply curtail or silence altogether the freedom of expression that distinguishes America from the...

While not dead, radio's familiarity has made it seem a bit mundane, but people shouldn’t think of it that way. In fact, the airwaves have always been a place of mystery, a battleground of competing ideologies, and a source of anonymous voices. Radio has been used to support war efforts, topple governments, communicate secretly, and even attempt to communicate with the dead. These strange stories will make this familiar medium seem a bit less familiar and far more interesting.

The series weaves together more than 50 first-person interviews with an unprecedented collection of archival sound: a rare recording of the 1964 trial that resulted in Mandela's life sentence; a visit between Mandela and his family secretly taped by a prison guard; marching songs of guerilla soldiers; government propaganda films; and pirate radio broadcasts from the African National Congress (ANC).