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Public Radio and Television in America
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Public Radio and Television in America
A Political History


April 1996 | 352 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
"Ralph Engelman's history of the growth of public radio and television in America is timely, compelling, and instructive. Very useful for citizens who take seriously the need for public use of the public airwaves, which we need to remember, the people own but do not control." --Ralph Nader, Director, The Center for the Study of Responsive Law "There is no cynicism or stridency in Ralph Engelman's definitive history of public broadcasting's failure to fulfill its promise, only documentation of the immense problems endemic to government and corporate sponsored mass media. For models of hope, this volume acknowledges the civic discourse that has thrived in the margins of public broadcasting--in the independent community and in the homespun programming of the public access movement." --Dee Dee Halleck, Cofounder, Paper Tiger Television & Deep Dish TV "Public Radio and Television in America by Ralph Engelman effectively navigates the complex, controversial, and often maddening history of public broadcasting as a political and cultural force. Always more important than its audience size in America, public broadcasting's promise and problems, as well as its heroes and villains, are treated effectively and well in this solid and critical analysis. The book is compact, yet sufficiently substantive and blessedly well written and well documented." --Everette E. Dennis, Executive Director, Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, editor, Media Studies Journal "Ralph Engelman's Public Radio and Television in America is a chilling description of how noncommercial broadcasting is the tragic victim of conservative corporate politics that have spent most of this century trying to cripple and kill it." --Ben H. Bagdikian, former Dean, Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California,

 
Introduction
The Politics of Public Radio and Television

 
 
PART ONE: PROLOGUE, 1914-1945
 
The Public Origins of American Broadcasting
 
The Defeat of the Broadcast Reform Movement of the 1930s
 
PART TWO: PUBLIC RADIO
 
Pacifica Radio
The Vision of Lewis K Hill

 
 
The Spread of Community Radio and Pacifica's Institutional Crisis
 
National Public Radio
The Vision of William H Siemering

 
 
Public Radio
From Supplemental to Primary Service

 
 
PART THREE: PUBLIC TELEVISION
 
The Foundation Years
 
The Government Years
 
The Corporate Years
 
PART FOUR: COMMUNITY TELEVISION
 
Public Access
The Vision of George Stoney

 
 
The Struggle over the Future of Community TV
 
PART FIVE: CONCLUSION
 
The Mystification of the Public Sphere in the History of American Broadcasting
 
The Attack of the Right and the Future of Public Radio and Television

This book is an essential read for anyone wishing to conduct comparative studies into the contemporary UK and US public radio systems. It gives a clear overview and is an easy read making it ideal for students.

Mrs Siobhan Stevenson
Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City University
April 26, 2011

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