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Host Jack Barry and two contestants on the game show "21."

Think Presidential Debates Are Dull? Thank 1950s TV Game Shows

The only debate arrangement that everyone could agree to 60 years ago remains in place today – the game show format.
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How Local TV Made “Bad” Movies a Thing

Weekly shows on local TV stations helped make the ironic viewing of bad movies into a national pastime.
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Hate in the Air

Newly released recordings of 'Citizens’ Council Radio Forum' show white supremacy’s evolution through the civil rights era.

A Social—and Personal—History of Silence

Its meaning can change over time, and over the course of a life.

What War of the Worlds Did

The uncanny realism of Orson Welles’s radio play crystallised a fear of communication technology that haunts us today.

The Long, Strange History of the Presidential Text Alert

The presidential text that hits your phone Wednesday will be the first, but it's part of a decades-long lineage of government alerts.
President Richard Nixon prepares to go on television May 23, 1970 in the Oval Office.

Trump is Not the First GOP President to Try to Make the Media ‘Fair’

Conservatives love rules about political balance — when they’re in charge.

A Conservative Activist’s Quest to Preserve all Network News Broadcasts

Convinced of rampant bias on the evening news, Paul Simpson founded the Vanderbilt Television News Archive.

Explaining the 'Mystery' of Numbers Stations

The stations' broadcasts have been attributed to aliens and Cold War relics, but they actually are coded intelligence messages.

It Didn’t Start with Facebook: Surveillance and the Commercial Media

The era of audience exploitation began in earnest thanks in large part to the experiments of Dr. Frank Stanton in the 1930s.

When the Revolution Was Televised

MLK was a master television producer, but the networks had a narrow view of what the black struggle for equality could look like.

Cold War Propaganda: The Truth Belonged to No One Country

During the Cold War, US propagandists worked to provide a counterweight to Communist media, but truth eluded them all.
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Before Net Neutrality, There Was Radio Regulation

How today's media landscape was shaped by a 1920s decision to privilege corporate broadcasters over noncommercial ones.

How to Measure Ghosts: Arthur C. Nielsen and the Invention of Big Data

How audience measurement became central to the creative and commercial development of television.
President Richard Nixon prepares to go on television May 23, 1970 in the Oval Office.
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When It Comes to Harassing the Media, Trump is No Nixon

Trump challenges the press. Nixon changed it.

The Core Concepts of American Public Broadcasting Turn 50

An analysis of the Carnegie Commission's 1967 report shows that public broadcasting has always been a politically fraught issue.

Saving Historic Radio Before It’s Too Late

A first of its kind Library of Congress project aims to identify, catalogue, and preserve America’s broadcast history. 

The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic

Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio program did not touch off nationwide hysteria. Why does the legend persist?
Harris on a tv screen.

TV Still Runs Politics

Just about every major development in the current presidential campaign started as a television event.
2024 Republican presidential debate on Fox News.
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How Cable News Upended American Politics

Cable TV's backers sold the technology as a boon to democracy, but embraced a business model that chased niche audiences.
A family listening to radio in the 1930s.
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Today's Media Landscape Took Root a Century Ago

Decisions made now could shape the next 100 years.
Colorful abstract art

The Writers’ Strike Opens Old Wounds

The deep roots of the latest WGA strike.
Security guards separate guests on an episode of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ titled ‘I am pregnant by my half-brother.’

Jerry Springer and the History of That [Bleeping] Bleep Sound

As ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ climbed the ratings ladder, the censorship bleep became a star of the show.

How Lloyd Morrisett Built Sesame Street, From the Foundation Up

Sesame Street's most famous origin story centers on a 1966 dinner party. But the program was actually the culmination of a career that began much earlier.
Map of Phillips Radio by Walter Eckhard (1935).

The Spirit of Radio

Explore some new and old radio maps in our collection, and learn a bit about the history of radio communications.
UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. and USC forward Isaiah Mobley during an NCAA game March 5 in Los Angeles.
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History Explains Why It Makes Sense for USC and UCLA to Join the Big Ten

It's the resurrection of an old dream.
Emilio Delgado in 2021.

Emilio Delgado, ‘Luis’ for 44 Years on ‘Sesame Street,’ Dies at 81

On "Sesame Street," Delgado was able to build a character who challenged stereotypes. Luis was a business owner, a neighbor, and later a husband and father.
Professional wrestling ring surrounded by audience.

“You Know It’s Fake, Right?” Fandom and the Idea of Legitimacy in Professional Wrestling

Promoters and performers in pro wrestling began increasingly prizing entertainment value over maintaining the appearance of legitimate contests.
Screen frame from the television program Home Improvement, depicting parents chastising their teenage son.

In the ‘90s the U.S. Government Paid TV Networks to Weave “Anti-Drug” Messaging Into Their Plot Lines

These storylines portrayed those addicted to drugs and alcohol as lunatics whose only cure can come from punitive measures, abstinence, and “tough love.”
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Epistemic Crises, Then And Now: The 1965 Carnegie Commission As Model Philanthropic Intervention

How the commission that led to the creation of the U.S.’s public television and radio systems can serve as a model for countering disinformation today.

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