As World War II drew to a close and radio news was popularized through
overseas broadcasting, journalists and dramatists began to build upon
the unprecedented success of war reporting on the radio by creating
audio documentaries. Focusing particularly on the work of radio
luminaries such as Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, Norman Corwin, and
Erik Barnouw, Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public
Interest traces this crucial phase in American radio history,
significant not only for its timing immediately before television, but
also because it bridges the gap between the end of the World Wars and
the beginning of the Cold War. Matthew C. Ehrlich closely examines the
production of audio documentaries disseminated by major American
commercial broadcast networks CBS, NBC, and ABC from 1945 to 1951. Audio
documentary programs educated Americans about juvenile delinquency,
slums, race relations, venereal disease, atomic energy, arms control,
and other issues of public interest, but they typically stopped short of
calling for radical change. Drawing on rare recordings and scripts,
Ehrlich traces a crucial phase in the evolution of news documentary, as
docudramas featuring actors were supplanted by reality-based programs
that took advantage of new recording technology. Paralleling that shift
from drama to realism was a shift in liberal thought from dreams of
world peace to uneasy adjustments to a cold war mentality. Influenced by
corporate competition and government regulations, radio programming
reflected shifts in a range of political thought that included pacifism,
liberalism, and McCarthyism. In showing how programming highlighted
contradictions within journalism and documentary, Radio Utopia reveals
radio's response to the political, economic, and cultural upheaval of
the post-war era.
