Educational and Cultural Programs

The original developers of the radio had the idea that it would be used in a educational and cultural manner, particularly as a means to culturally ‘uplift’ the mass population. During the late 1930s radio offered not only entertainment programs but also broadcast informative and public service programs. In addition to this is provided some programming for a high culture audience, however it was primarily a commercial medium.(1) This table shows a few of the different programs on in January 1939 which were aimed at cultural and religious uplift.

There was a surprisingly considerable amount of classical music available on the various networks. The classical music that was performed by orchestras on the radio was the first chance that some Americans got to listen to something other than that which was popular in their region. The radio provided a new variety of music, which might previously have only been heard in the cities, to the rural areas. Symphony Orchestras, for example, the NBC Symphony, Opera, and religious choirs, for example the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, were all available on the radio.

There were series of educational lectures aimed at adults, and various discussion shows, which included audience participation. For example the NBC program "America's Town Meeting of the Air" which started in 1935 and allowed the studio audience to discuss the issues of the day (2)

There were also various religious programs available, particularly on Sundays, these were from a variety of faiths, and were of a number of different types from "evangelical fervor to theological discussion"(3)