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Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)

ALL 10/01/1991 (en) Documentary, History 113 Min
  • Release
    10/01/1991
  • Production
    Florentine Films
  • Rotten tomato
    74%
  • Original title
    Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
  • Original language
    en
  • Production Cost
  • 0.00
    -

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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.

  1. Ken Burns

    Director

  2. Story

  3. Paul Barnes

    Editor



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  1. Jason Robards

    Narrator (voice)

  2. Red Barber

    Self - Radio Announcer

  3. Erik Barnouw

    Self - Historian

  4. Ken Bilby

    Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff

  5. Norman Corwin

    Self - Writer

  6. Susan Douglas

    Self - Historian

  7. Frank Günther

    Self - Engineer

  8. Jeanne Hammond

    Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong

  9. Loren Jones

    Self - Engineer

  10. Garrison Keillor

    Self - Writer

  11. Helen Kelley

    Self - Radio Broadcaster

  12. Robert Morris

    Self - Engineer

  13. Dana Raymond

    Self - Friend of Edwin H. Armstrong

  14. Gertrude Tyne

    Self - Engineer

  15. Fred Allen

    Self - Predicts Demise of Radio (archive footage)

  16. Gene Autry

    Self - Sings (archive sound)

  17. John Barrymore

    Hamlet (archive sound)

  18. Winston Churchill

    Self - Finest Hour Speech (archive sound)

  19. Charles J. Correll

    Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)

  20. Lee De Forest

    Self - Objects to Quality of Radio Programming (archive footage)

  21. Ralph Edwards

    Self - Host of 'This Is Your Life' (archive footage)

  22. Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Self - Announces Landing in Normandy (archive footage)

  23. Eugenia Farrar

    Self (with Lee De Forest) (archive footage)

  24. Freeman F. Gosden

    Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)

  25. Guglielmo Marconi

    Self - Visits Sarnoff at RCA (archive footage)

  26. Marie Mosquini

    Self - with Lee De Forest (archive footage)

  27. Nelson Rockefeller

    Self - Eulogizes Sarnoff (archive footage)

  28. Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Self - Makes Broadcast About Banking Reform (archive footage)

  29. David Sarnoff

    Self - with Marconi at RCA (archive footage)

  30. Frank Sinatra

    Self - Serenades Sarnoff (archive footage)

  31. Arturo Toscanini

    Self - Conducts NBC Symphony (archive footage)

  32. Harry S. Truman

    Self - Announces Bombing of Hiroshima (archive sound)

  33. Bob Warren

    Self - This is Your Life Announcer (archive footage)

  34. Orson Welles

    Self - Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (archive sound)

Full Cast & Crew

Casts : 34 , Crews : 22

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Keyword

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) 113 Min

ALL 10/01/1991 (en)
Documentary, History
  • Release 10/01/1991
  • Production
    Florentine Films
  • Original title Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
  • en
  • Revenue0.00

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.

  1. Ken Burns

    Director

  2. Story

  3. Paul Barnes

    Editor

  4. Ken Burns, Morgan Wesson, Tom Lewis

    Producer



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