David Sarnoff: The Father Of Radio And The Media In The World

As radio established itself as a primary source for information, it simultaneously grew to be the most popular entertainment medium in the country. Everyone on the home front gathered around the radio in his or her living room to listen to the music and programming offered. Radio served as a crucial element in boosting morale and improving the attitudes of the American public in times of war and chaos. As the war developed, there was an increasing demand for escapist entertainment.

The man that envisioned a device like this was David Sarnoff. David Sarnoff was known as the father of entertainment broadcasting. He was the president of the Radio Corporation of America. He wrote to his superior, Edward J. Nally at the American division of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, “‘I have in mind a plan of development which would make radio a household utility in the same sense as the piano or phonograph. The receiver can be designed in the form of a simple music box and arranged for several wavelengths’” (Hilliard & Keith, 2001, p. 17). Back then in the early 1900s, Sarnoff claimed, and accurately predicted radio’s role as an entertainment device.

Though he confidently stated early on what radio’s potential power would be in the future, his prediction became true in the 1930s; radio evolved

He had experience in the Armed Forces Radio station in Greece but then was transferred to Vietnam. He broadcasted live to the American community in South Vietnam. Prior to Cronauer’s arrival, radio broadcasting followed a stricter set of rules and regulations. Many felt the traditional style of radio was hard to listen to. They believed that it lacked the capability to boost morale within the American community in Vietnam. The traditional style did not enhance troops’ attitudes. Instead, radio was mainly perceived solely as a source of only particular information. (Zernich,