Listen In
Beaty Rubens
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From the publisher
Foreword by James Naughtie
Join the journey of Listen In as we uncover the sensational early days of radio through never-before-heard testimonies from listeners. With heart-warming tales, humorous illustrations, and witty cartoons, witness how radio revolutionised family life.
Beaty Rubens’ hugely enjoyable book shows us why the medium of radio cast such a spell over those who suddenly found they could travel the world without leaving home. She weaves a compelling story of the radical changes the wireless brought to the way people lived. – Rory Cellan-Jones
Radio today evokes feelings of familiarity and comfort, background noise to ease the silence. Its early history, however, was far more exciting. Between 1922 and 1939, British life was transformed by what was known as the ‘Radio Craze’.
Listen In explores the impact of radio on a personal level through the experiences of those who were there before and during its circulation into the home. The then-radical form of technology revolutionised life within the private sphere, whereby families could tune into outside voices and music, SOS calls, the Pips, the News, sport, royalty and innovative radiogenic comedy.
Generously illustrated and drawing on contemporary journalism, fiction, diaries, cartoons and a remarkable cache of unpublished first-person testimonies discovered in the archives of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Listen In is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking stories. It comes at a timely moment when traditional linear radio is shifting in response to podcasting, and the entire experience of how we consume audio is once again undergoing transformation.