The radio is the greatest invention on earth. The radio was discovered in 1904 by an Italian inventor named Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy in 1874

Mass media
“In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi, a twenty-year-old, self-educated Italian engineer, read Hertz’s work and set about trying to make wireless technology practical. Marconi understood that developing a way to send high-speed messages over great distances would transform communication, the military and commercial shipping. Although revolutionary, the telephone and the telegraph were limited by their dependence on wires. Marconi improved on Hertz’s experiments in a number of important ways. First, to the spark-gap transmitter he attached a Morse telegraph key, which could send out dot-dash signals. The electrical impulses traveled into a Morse inker, the machine that telegraphs operators used to record the dots and dashes onto narrow strips of paper. Second, Marconi discovered that grounding --- connecting the transmitter and receiver to the earth --- greatly increased the distance over which he could send signals. (J. Pavlik, S. McIntosh, 2013)”
Lasting until the 1930’s after World War II, radio was at its highest peak during the golden ages. During the time, radio was the most reliable source of information and news. Historic events that were present during the age of radio were World War II and The Great Depression. Society remained in the housing for majority of these events but the source of entertainment was various shows that were broadcasted on the radio. Great shows such as: Amos and Andy, the Shadow, The Long Ranger, etc. were popular during the time. However, the most monumental show that made history was The War of the Worlds.
The national broadcast of The War of the Worlds became the highest rated radio broadcast in history. The original broadcast aired on Sunday, October 30, 1938 grossing over a million listeners across the country. When listeners heard Martians were heading to earth, the nation panicked due to the broadcast and the imagery given in the broadcast. The listeners understanding were the Martians were monstrous and undetainable.
During World War II, the radio was an important component of communication and entertainment. Since the television wasn’t invented, society used the radio as a form of entertainment. Families would gather around the round the radio and listen to the various shows that would air. As for the soldiers, they used the radio for entertainment and communication. In the field, soldiers used walkie-talkies to communication during battle.
“Radio in this golden age was not the portable medium it would later become, however. Prior to transistors and solid-state integrated circuits, most radio sets required large glass tubes housed in heavy wooden pieces of furniture. Like television today, the radio commanded a central position in the most American living rooms in the 1930s and 1940s. At the time, only a handful of stations operated in most large radio markets, and popular stations were affiliated with either CBS or one of the two NBC networks. Many large stations employed their own in-house orchestras and aired live music daily.