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Rating: 
Summary: Wrong Audience!
Review: Looking for a fun read that will give you a quick introduction into the chaotic early days of radio with lots of examples of early attempts at getting commercials right, as I was when I ordered this book? Then this is definitely NOT the book for you. Want an academic read loaded with footnotes about the philosophy of the commercialization of radio and its consequences, which I didn't? Maybe this is for you. That's because this book is aimed at the wrong market. The catchy title and front cover design imply the book is for readers like me. The text is definitely meant to be read by scholars already familiar with the period and topic. I had expected to be entertained with the story of the origins of such programs as "Amos 'n' Andy". Instead I got mentions of it on four pages and only one paragraph that deals with it in any way.Still, she did get me interested in the problem of how do you finance broadcasts that are necessary for the early radio manufacturers to continue selling their receivers when the listeners can listen for free (hence the two stars, not one). But although she goes into a long discussion about the advantages of 'indirect' advertising as apposed to 'direct' advertising, she doesn't give a single example of either, but merely gives references to academic books I'll never read! If this book had been properly packaged as the academic thesis that it is, I wouldn't have bought it. But maybe a lot of scholars in the field who didn't, would have.
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