Listen in - by Beaty Rubens Hardcover

About the Book

"Listen In explores the sensational early history of radio from the perspective of listeners through previously unpublished testimonies. Packed with touching stories and anecdotes, illustrations and cartoons, it traces how radio transformed family life. Radio today can feel like a faithful old companion, but its early history was sensational. Between 1922 and 1939, British life was transformed by what was known as the 'Radio Craze'. This narrative history shows what the arrival of radio meant at a personal level through the voices and experiences of individuals as they adopted the then radical form of communication technology, invested in their first-ever gadgets and tuned in by their own firesides to outside voices and music, SOS calls, the Pips, the News, sport, royalty and innovative radiogenic comedy. It traces how radio affected family life, exploring whether it shifted dynamics between children and adults and between women and men, as well as its impact on class and a wider sense of nationhood. Generously illustrated and drawing on contemporary journalism, fiction, diaries, cartoons and a remarkable cache of unpublished first-person testimonies discovered in the archives of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Listen In is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking stories.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"--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

Intimate stories that offer entertaining perspectives on what it was like to engage with radio when it was new.

Radio, today, can feel like a faithful old companion, but its early history was sensational. Between 1922 and 1939, British life was transformed by what was known as the Radio Craze. Listen In expresses what the radio's arrival signified at a personal level. This narrative history recounts the perspective of listeners who adopted the then radical form of communication technology, invested in their first-ever gadgets, and tuned in by their firesides to outside voices, music, SOS calls, the Pips, news, sports, royalty, and innovative radiogenic comedy. Listen In also traces how radio affected family life by exploring whether it altered dynamics between children and adults, changed relationships between women and men, as well as affected class and a wider sense of nationhood.

Packed with touching stories and anecdotes, Listen In comes at a timely moment when traditional linear radio is shifting, and the experience of how people consume audio is once again transforming.

Review Quotes

"Throughout this enjoyable narrative, which takes us up to the outbreak of World War II, we hear strange reverberations across the ages...Rubens, who was a BBC Radio producer for more than 35 years, also invites us to think about the act of listening today and the dissipation of a coherent audience engendered by on-demand consumption experiences such as podcasts."-- "The Wall Street Journal"

"In her joyous, richly illustrated book about the early years of radio from the listeners' point of view, the BBC radio producer Beaty Rubens takes us inside the British home. The period covers wireless's inception in 1896, with the exciting Electrophone (its advertisement showed 'Pulpit - politics - drama - general news - opera' all going into a Victorian housewife's ear via headphones), to the mass audiences of 1939."-- "The Spectator"

"Stuffed with insights, quotes, and anecdotes, from Bristol locals reminiscing about their first encounters with the radio to profiles of famous early BBC presenters...Anglophiles and BBC regulars will find it worth tuning in."-- "Publisher's Weekly"

"Rubens's research, including her discovery of unpublished personal testimonies in the Bodleian Library archives, gives new insight into radio's early days. [Listen In] is illustrated with contemporary journalism, fiction, cartoons, and diaries, and offers readers a window into the lives of those who first embraced the technology in their homes."-- "Oxford Mail"

About the Author

Beaty Rubens was a BBC Radio producer for thirty-five years and is now a freelance producer, presenter, and writer.