The hum of the radio is an invisible undercurrent of the last century, wielded by systems of power and factions of resistance alike. It is equal parts technological innovation, monopoly capitalism, ideological mouthpiece, leisure entertainment, revolution and status quo. Though the technology has significantly shifted over a century of wireless broadcasting, the radio and its digital brethren can be interpreted as an invisible index for racial identity throughout the modern and postmodern eras, from the refrain of the minstrel tradition in shows like Amos n’ Andy to the deconstruction of racial ideology on shows like Code Switch.
In the following project, I will outline a historical narrative tracking the technological development of radio broadcasting alongside the history of public images of Blackness in American society. The narrative will be broken up into three parts: (1) beginning with a century of minstrelsy that starts with T.D. Rice’s “Jump Jim Crow” in 1828 and is bookended with the 1928 debut of the most popular radio show of all time, Amos n’ Andy; (2) then tracing the technological development of radio, the colorblind liberalism of network broadcasting and the significance of Black-oriented radio in relation to the Civil Rights Movement; (3) and finally ending with a look at the impacts of digital technology on radio and its political implications. The timeline and visualization below serve as a visual key to the following narrative. Though the technology has significantly shifted over a century of wireless broadcasting, the radio and its digital brethren can be interpreted as an invisible index for racial identity throughout the modern and postmodern eras, from the refrain of the minstrel tradition in shows like Amos n’ Andy to the deconstruction of racial ideology on shows like Code Switch.
Credits
Ben Montoya