Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio

Oct 1, 1991

1h 53m

★ 7.5

Overview

For 50 years radio dominated the airwaves and the American consciousness as the first “mass medium.” In Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Ken Burns examines the lives of three extraordinary men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success, and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity interacted in tragic ways. This is the story of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Florentine Films

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Jason Robards

Self - Radio Announcer

Red Barber

Self - Historian

Erik Barnouw

Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff

Ken Bilby

Self - Writer

Norman Corwin

Self - Historian

Susan Douglas

Self - Engineer

Frank Günther

Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong

Jeanne Hammond

Self - Engineer

Loren Jones

Self - Writer

Garrison Keillor

Self - Radio Broadcaster

Helen Kelley

Self - Engineer

Robert Morris

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