Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio

by Tom Lewis

The story of the invention of radio focuses on scientist Lee de Forest, brilliant recluse Edwin Armstrong, and RCA mogul David Sarnoff, who turned a basement discovery into a worldwide communications revolution

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Technology, Biography, Business, Music

421 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I liked the writing style and the conversational tone. The biographical information is excellent and Tom Lewis portrays the main characters vividly and realistically, showing their strengths and flaws. This book is certainly not a hagiography to the inventors of the radio. I liked the interplay of science, politics and history, finding the book hard to put down. The book is mostly fast-paced but at times though, I thought that there was lack of clarity, especially when discussing the patent wars with all the dates, judges, and lawyers. Overall, this book is well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Cornell University Press for the advance reader copy.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am particularly fond of the history of the United States in the early twentieth century and that is the time period of Tom Lewis's "Empire of the Air". In fact the word "radio" was coined in 1910 to invoke the notion of electromagnetic waves radiating from a transmission tower. Being completely ignorant of how exactly voices and music come out of my home radio or car stereo it was fascinating to read about Marconi's experiments in Italy in the 1890's, Lee DeForest's 1906 invention of the "audion" tube to detect radio waves, Armstrong's 1913 invention of the regenerative circuit that created a feed back loop strong enough to allow human voices or music to be embedded in carrier waves, and Armstrong's 1933 invention of FM radio to end the problem of heavy naturally occurring static in AM radio broadcasts from atmospheric phenomenon.

Edwin Howard Armstrong is the flawed hero of this book, doggedly doing basic scientific research to unlock the mysteries of the "ether". David Sarnoff and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) are not portrayed as villains in Lewis's book, but it would be easy to make that mental leap due to the deeply unethical way that company treated Armstrong and other independent inventors of the 1920s and 1930s. (Google "Philo T. Farnsworth" who invented something called "television") I was not sad when I read how GE bought RCA in 1986 and then promptly dismembered that corporate giant.

I was very moved when I read about Armstrong's suicide on January 31, 1954 due to being driven into bankruptcy by a bitter legal battle with RCA over the patents to FM radio and FM broadcasting. I will never quite look at the AM and FM buttons on my car stereo the same way again.

All and all an excellent book for those interested in this topic.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good (if wordy) look at three men who really founded and furthered the radio industry:

Lee De Forest---always striving for fame, petty, and a lackluster inventor who accidentally discovered the audion based on another's invention.

Howard Armstrong---True engineer and the real inventor behind not only long-distance, reasonable AM but FM radio too, and many techniques which are still used today. Very tragic story as he ended up spending a huge amount of his energy and time fighting men and corporations who stole his inventions and then drove him bankrupt trying to fight them in court.

David Sarnoff---A very gifted and prophetic individual who was the impetus behind commercial radio and television and was fully convinced of his own genius. Extremely egotistical and willing to hurt anyone to obtain his goals.

I don't know that I would call any of these exemplary men, but I enjoyed finding more about them. The author did an excellent job capturing most of the pertinent technical details regarding the electronics, and also did a good job covering each of the three men in detail. I also appreciated his covering each of the three men's faith (or lack). It was interesting to see where they came from and their progression (or degression).

[J. Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A warm introduction to the history of radio and broadcasting? Why bother? It's the beginning of the digital age.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at a used bookstore a few months back. I love visiting used bookstores, as I never know what I’ll come across. This book leaped out at me, for it involved history and radio.

The book spans the roughly 60 years as radio began as a little understood technology that was Morse code only to what we experience today with FM & TV. It focuses on three men: de Forest, Armstrong, and Sarnoff. The author walks through how the RCA corporation came to dominate radio & TV from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. He also dives into the court cases around patents that eventually destroyed Armstrong.

All three men knew each other. de Forest was a PhD who had an enormous ego (the author uses de Forest’s own notebooks to illustrate this point). Armstrong was the inventor that made radio work & strove to continually improve it, leading to FM. Sarnoff was self-made, coming up from nothing to eventually lead RCA. de Forest despised Armstrong, as Armstrong was the more knowledgeable & never resting on his laurels. Sarnoff & Armstrong were good friends for 20 years until Sarnoff started to put the company before friendship.

By focusing on the three men and RCA, we are able to watch how the world went from Marconi based wireless to FM based broadcasting. From barely hearing a Morse ‘S’ in the static from England to voice transmissions to space. Armstrong made the great leaps possible due to his unwavering devotion to the painstaking research. He delighted in making the impossible real.

The tragedy is how RCA went from promoting technical advancement to desiring only profits. AM to FM is a case in point. Sarnoff knew it was superior, as it was impervious to noise & had greater fidelity. But it threatened their AM stations, so the public wasn’t allowed to have the latest technological marvel. RCA tied Armstrong up in litigation, while using FM as the audio portion of their TV solution. RCA was so powerful they had the FCC push the broadcast band of FM beyond what was then possible, in the bands we know of today. It was their way of pushing out the date when FM would begin to roll out. The resulting trials ate at Armstrong so much he committed suicide. A true genius driven made by the greed of a corporation, one run by his former friend Sarnoff.

RCA eventually fell apart once Sarnoff handed the reins to his son. My impression of RCA was the RCA Victor label of classical music as found on CD’s in the 1980’s along with the reputation of subpar gear.

It is a wonderful book focused on a fascinating time, when radio changed the world.

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This narrative history isn't primarily technical nor is it a study of all the corporations spawned by the new medium, which is what I expected. It's part group biography (Marconi, DeForest, Steinmetz, Armstrong and Sarnoff among others), part technical history but mostly a history of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Through RCA's rise, Lewis analyzes radio's impact on the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, the world. It's often quite interesting, but the first half lacks focus. Mr. Lewis' description of the widely dispersed nature of the radio revolution reminded me of the TV series Connections, which is a compliment, but it creates a lot of threads you need to follow and that makes it a demanding reading experience. The second half is better as Lewis settles down to tell the story of RCA. The best aspect of this book is how well it conveys the economic turmoil that surrounded the rise of commercial radio. An industry grew up around the tremendous potential of radio, but its childhood was messy, bankruptcy-heavy and fraught with scams and technical dead ends. Unless you really like radio and history, this book will try your patience as it details all the twists and turns of the story, but there's an awful lot of information here. Sarnoff and RCA are a great story, and I agree with Mr. Lewis that it could not be told in isolation, but he cast his literary net a bit too wide and pulled in a lot of detail, much of which is just background noise unrelated to the core saga: the rise and fall of de Forest and Armstrong, and the triumph of RCA. This is another book I admired more than I enjoyed, but learning isn't all fun, and there is no doubt about the validity of Mr. Lewis' thesis: no one today can imagine a world without the technology that radio spawned. Recommended with reservations to those interested in the history of technology.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Cornell University Press for an advanced copy of this history title.

Every invention has its dreamers and its schemers, the person who did the wondering, the thinking and the work, and the person who sees dollar signs in these inventions. Tom Lewis in Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio writes about the early days of radio covering the first half of the twentieth century.

The book is very readable, with numerous interesting facts and research showing on every page. Mr. Lewis focuses on three men in particular, two inventors who helped guide radio into being a viable project and one businessman who made it a profitable industry. Sides are taken, patent wars are fought, money ruins relationships, more money is made and government agencies are created to guide this new business of radio.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. Mr. Lewis has a real knack and gift for taking statements written in technobabble and make them clear and understandable. That is not an easy thing. I learned quite a lot while reading this, and enjoyed reading this book even more.

[Mike Parkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written and exceptionally well-researched history of the birth of the radio industry, focused on biographies of two inventors (Lee De Forest, Major Armstrong) and one businessman (David Sarnoff), long-time head of RCA. This book covers almost exactly the same ground as the more recent and much shorter “The Network” by Scott Wooley, but with much additional detail. One area where “Empire of the Air” is superior is in its description of the major inventions of Major Armstrong that made radio what it is - the regenerative circuit, the superheterodyne, and FM radio. Other than this aspect, after reading both books, I gained an appreciation of how “The Network” covered almost all of the important developments while omitting some of the unnecessary details that are in this book. “The Network” is also a bit sharper in its look at the regulatory capture of the FCC. But both books are highly recommended as overviews of the beginnings of radio.

[1.1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute delight that explores the lives of three key figures in the development of radio as we know it. One is somewhat of a stumbling but extremely driven pseudo-huckster, one is a hardware wizard, and the last becomes a titan of industry.

The three decades between 1905 and 1935 form the core of this book, beginning with De Forest, then introducing Armstrong, then Sarnoff. When they are all introduced, the author charts the progress of radio as an art, science, and industry through the lives of all three.

I found it extremely readable and interesting, a proper historical overview that benefits greatly from deep research, wide purview, and a very interesting topic. I think the chronology was a little confused at points, but I found this book excellent throughout and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in history, specifically technological history.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eminently readable, fascinating profile of three of the men who brought radio (and television) to the world. Lee De Forest's (inventor of the audion) sparks of ingenuity were far outshone by his inflated sense of himself. Edwin Howard Armstrong, inventor of FM and a true genius, fell victim to his own principles, which were not always well-founded. David Sarnoff, the head of RCA, rose to untold heights in a new industry on business smarts and a quest for power -- and contributed in no small way to Armstrong's destruction.

[Andrew Alkema · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very tough book to evaluate. I enjoyed it a lot, especially towards the end, but through much of the middle it was not overly gripping. It is also a sad story, so some of it can be frustrating to read (which really isn't a knock against the book so much as human beings). Overall I think this is a fantastic history of the three men most involved in the creation of modern radio, and would recommend it heartily if that's what you're looking for.

[Dan Rozanski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was well written and very informative. So much on litigation though and I find that quite boring compared to the personal history of the inventors and developers and history of the technology....that part was great. However, the author can not be held responsible because there was so much litigation that went with the development of radio (so unfortunate for most involved).

[Melvis The Robot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers a fascinating period and subject matter, but I feel spends too much time over the various patent trials involved in the creation of radio and television broadcasting. This could be because I personally these sorts of legal disputes boring, and I feel the space would have been better spent examining the broad social impact of these technologies.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good narrative on the birth of radio in the US told through the biography of three men and the rise/reign of RCA. I had trouble getting into the topic but it's a well-told story regardless. I got very bored with some of the exhaustive treatment of patent cases - but patent theft was core to the story of the rise of big business in this era so it is understandable.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great boo on early radio

[VileBill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done . . .

. . . parallel biographies of Armstrong, Sarnoff, and de Forest, and their lives and times during the Age of Radio and the advent of television.

[Steve Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since radio is my field of endeavor, it's a wonder I never was aware of this book. And I have to say I learned some things I didn't know. For instance, Guglielmo Marconi didn't invent radio, he invented a crude method of wireless telegraph that freed the transmission of dots and dashes from the limitation of telephone lines. This was valuable during wartime and aided in ship to shore communications. An inventor named Lee DeForest took Marconi's invention further by developing a vacuum tube that improved sound quality and reception reliability. Another inventor, Edwin Howard Armstrong, improved on DeForest's vacuum tube by adding a third element and a coil, thereby creating an amplifier/transmitter system that opened the door to greater use of the technology. But radio was still thought of as a point-to-point, person-to-person medium until a rising staff member of the RCA Corporation named David Sarnoff outlined a one-to-many vision in which a variety of programs - educational, cultural, entertainment - could be delivered broadly to listeners over radio waves. RCA would profit by being in the business of manufacturing radio receivers. Like any new technology there were fits and starts and squabbles over patents and lawsuits that dragged on for decades. DeForest and Armstrong fought each other in court for years. Meanwhile Sarnoff, having risen through the RCA ranks to become president and eventually chairman, was laser focused on introducing television at the 1939 World's Fair. Introduce it he did, but plans for a launch were interrupted by World War II and it was not until a decade later that television, pushed by Sarnoff, entered the marketplace. By the early 1960s, Sarnoff's final grand vision - color television - took its place in American homes. If you're at all enthralled with the history of the 1970s computer revolution and the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, you'll enjoy contrasting that history with the drama and machinations of an equally, if not more momentous, technological era, the Radio Age.

[Mike Balsom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In today’s day and age, with high speed internet and wi-fi everywhere and cell phone service across the globe, it’s easy to forget how revolutionary radio was at the turn of the 20th century. Empire of the Air is a fascinating look at three of the main pioneers who were instrumental in bringing wireless sound to the world. Lee de Forest, Henry Armstrong and David Sarnoff were the American inventors and innovators who ushered in the radio era. Through two world wars and a post-war boom radio, and then television, changed our world, bringing people across the globe together. Lewis looks at the triumphs and the challenges of three men whose names are now largely forgotten, but who were every bit as important as the Edisons and the Bells whose names are recognized by all.

[JZ Temple · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and well paced history of radio, focusing on the development of the "Empires" such as the big radio networks and also the development of improvements such as FM. As the title implies, it's more about the people and stays away from dry technical discussions. The author provides interesting character studies and conveys the story very well, especially considering the breath of the subject.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. We have all heard of most of the people who appear in this book (Marconi, Edison, Tesla, Sarnoff). This book brings it all together. No matter how much you may already know about the pioneers of radio and television, there is so much more in this book.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meaty and enthralling account of radio pioneers Lee de Forest, Edwin H. Armstrong, and David Sarnoff. Exactly the kind of deep dive into a subject that I like, and very well written. Armstrong’s ultimately tragic story is a strong reminder not to spend your life in patent litigation.

[Steve Comstock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I love this time period, and I love reading about Tesla and Marconi. This is a great overview of the early twentieth century radio culture.

[Frank Palardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is interesting, there was a television version too.