Don't Touch That Dial

by J. Fred MacDonald

A history of radio and its most famous shows and performers provides insights into twentieth-century popular culture and illuminates the important role of broadcasting in American life

Genres: Nonfiction

412 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1979

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is mostly concerned with how different radio genres evolved over time, such as comedy programs, the detective and western genres, soap operas, and news broadcasts. This follows a long introductory chapter about what happened behind the scenes. If combined with the books by Erik Barnouw, you would have a nearly complete history of US, but Barnouw is much better on the behind the scenes than MacDonald and Barnouw does not really do the evolution of genres.

There are problems, however, that keep MacDonald's book from being better. He does not address the suspense/horror or the adventure genres, so the story are incomplete. He ends with an excellent chapter on African-American people in broadcasting, but it reads as if it is from a different book, for it does not really follow much of what came before. It ought to be a chapter in a different book on different ethnicities on US radio, for MacDonald has little to say about Asian, Native American, or Latino characters, and they surely deserve the same treatment.

This book may be faulted for what it fails to do, but most of what it does is done very well.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed for thesis

"While he had earned the nickname 'Silent Cal' for his less than loquacious style in public, Coolidge found early radio flattering to his flat, soft voice and effective in reaching a maximized audience with a minimum of effort." p. 7-8.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was for one of my history classes. While I really don't remember it distinctly, my notes would suggest I liked it.