"By putting people in touch with each other electromagnetically, radio creates a set of overlapping communities of the air," writes Susan Squier, professor of English and women's studies at Penn State, in the introduction to "Communities of the Air: Radio Century, Radio Culture" (2003, Duke University Press), which she edited. The work contains essays that present an overview of the history and impact of radio. It aims to convey the significance of radio as a major technological and cultural catalyst in 20th century society that affected everything from science-fiction tales of aliens taking over the earth to wireless technology laws that were passed to insure the transmission of distress signals such as those sent by the sinking S.S.Titanic.
For the full story by Liliana M. Naydan in the May 2004 issue of Research/Penn State, visit http://www.rps.psu.edu/0405/radio.html