Only Connect: A Cultural History of Broadcasting in the United States » (3rd Edition)

Michele Hilmes is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she has taught the history of broadcasting course for more than a decade. She served as the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies for eight years. Hilmes is the author or editor of several books on broadcasting history in addition to ONLY CONNECT, including RADIO VOICES: AMERICAN BROADCASTING 1922-1952 (1997); THE RADIO READER: ESSAYS IN THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF RADIO (2001, ed. with Jason Loviglio), and THE TELEVISION HISTORY BOOK (2003), as well as numerous journal and anthology articles. She is frequently invited to give presentations on U.S. cultural history, both at home and around the world.

This textbook presents a cultural history of television and radio broadcasting in the United States. Each chapter begins with an overview of the social tensions of the period and includes an in-depth case study regarding a particular issue, event, or influential figure in broadcasting. Topics include, for example, the development of commercial radio networks, radio coverage of WWII, violence on television, the Telecommunications act of 1996, deregulation, and Internet audio.

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1. Making History.
2. Before Broadcasting.
3. Broadcasting Begins, 1919 to 1926.
4. The Network Age, 1926 to 1940.
5. Radio for Everyone, 1926 to 1940.
6. War at Home and Abroad, 1940 to 1945.
7. At Last Television, 1934 to 1955.
8. The Domesticated Medium, 1955 to 1965 176.
9. The Classic Network System, 1965 to 1975.
10. Rising Discontent, 1975 to 1985.
11. The Big Change, 1985 to 1995.
12. Entering the Digital Era, 1995-2005.
13. Convergence Culture in the New Millennium, 2005-2010.
14. Conclusion: TV after TV.