Incidentally, among radio commercials’ most militant foes, as might be anticipated, were a couple of media quarters that were introduced in the previous chapter—magazines and newspapers. Meeting in annual session in April 1933, for example, the American Newspaper Publishers Association resolved that radio logs were advertising and should be published only if paid for. The self-serving opposition of the print media was purportedly out of a fundamental concern for the listeners themselves: the audience, said they, had few alternatives but to hear the promotional messages with which they were routinely inundated. The print media’s concern for the public’s welfare was far too munificent, of course, and could be dismissed by any perceptive intellectual. Furthermore, sponsors themselves wouldn’t take long to realize that the major benefit of radio advertising over ink was just that—the aural medium could deliver an infinite captive audience

That premise underscores one of radio’s most compelling reasons to exist.

Moreover, during this period advertising began to stress the ability of goods to meet emotional needs and—more to the point—took pains to create needs where none previously had been perceived.

At the turn of the century, manufacturers had primarily relied upon local distribution to accomplish the bulk of their trading. Newer production methods and automation improved America’s ability to create more and better wares and to do so faster. By the twenties, consumer spending—fueled partially by increased availability of individual credit—paced a by and large prosperous economy as middle class purchasers sought automobiles, radios, household appliances and channeled their funds into leisure-time activities. These were luxuries they had never had access to en masse. With some assurance, it was indeed a heady epoch.

America was a land of changing landscapes as it entered the third decade of the twentieth century. Up until the 1920 census the nation had been predominantly rural. That watershed foreshadowed some hefty shifts. A postwar industrial explosion pointed the country in new directions, turning the economy from its weighty dependency upon agriculture to pervasive lifestyle changes influenced by education, electrification and manufacturing. For the first time, more than a million students practically doubled enrollment in schools of higher education. Sports, vaudeville, recreation and amusement parks, movies, circuses and other spare-time distractions vied for the discretionary hours of the populace.

Although different socioeconomic backgrounds are represented, we acknowledge the lack of racial diversity as a shortcoming of our research; we actively attempted to recruit women of color to participate, but these efforts failed. Although our informants’ experiences cannot be generalized to reflect those of all girls who came of age during that era, their recollections provide snapshots revealing a diversity of girlhood experiences. (Refer to Appendix A for demographic descriptions of each participant.)

Marketers began targeting high school-aged girls in the 1920s, increasing the practice in the 1930s and 1940s (Schrum, 2004). For example, Seventeen magazine, founded in 1944, sold out its first issue of 400,000 within 6 days (Schrum, 2004). Its print run increased to 530,000 within 6 months (Savage, 2007); its circulation exceeded 1 million by early 1947 and 2.5 million by mid-1949 (Schrum, 2004). From the early 1940s through the mid-1950s, ‘‘girl-centered entertainment properties,’’ such as novels, comic books, films, radio programs, live theater, and television programs, ‘‘saturated American popular culture’’ (Kearney, 2004, p. 270).

This changed in the early decades of the twentieth century, a time of institutionalization of public education, the beginnings of child/adolescent study/psychology, the institution of child protective legislation, the designation of parents (particularly   Mazzarella et al./GIRLHOODS IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO 119  mothers) as responsible for molding innocent youth, and a growing youth-oriented commercial leisure culture (Wartella & Mazzarella, 1990)

Cultural constructions of childhood and adolescence in the U.S. have evolved significantly over the past century and a half. Before the turn of the twentieth century, children were considered and treated as miniature adults who, in all but upper-class families, attended school for but a handful of years (Aries, 1962). They did not experience what we today in the U.S. consider to be ‘‘childhood’’: a carefree time of learning and little responsibility. In the early years of urbanization and industrialization, for example, many city children labored long hours in factories, often fending for themselves in ‘‘the urban stews’’

Memory and storytelling can provide valuable tools for feminist media scholars aiming to better understand girls’ interactions with popular media from a historical perspective. Memory provides a powerful and sometimes mysterious means of binding oneself to a sense of time, place, purpose, and community, and when shared, it can explain lived experiences in a way that studying official documents cannot. Girls’ stories are particularly important because they have been absent from most official recorded history and archived documents, and until recently, from much scholarship (Gilligan, 1982; McRobbie, 1991). This absence presents a challenge to scholars who seek to understand girlhoods and girls’ lives in the past.

Still, there is circumstantial and direct evidence to suggest that the key change was the loosening, under the influence of public prac­tices with the telephone, of the telegraph tradition's hold on the tele­phone industry.

Advertising tactics, as noted earlier, moved toward "softer" themes, with greater emphasis on emotional appeals and on pleasurable rather than practi­ cal uses of the product.

Salesmen actually seemed to rely more on pointing out the emergency uses of the telephone-an appeal es­pecially telling to parents of young children-and suggesting that job offers might come via the telephone.

Then, in the late 1920s, Bell System leaders-prodded perhaps by the embarrassment that, for the first time, more American fami­lies owned automobiles, gas service, and electrical appliances than subscribed to telephones-pressed a more aggressive strategy. They built up a full-fledged sales force. And they sought to market the tele­ phone as a "comfort and convenience"-that is, as more than a prac­tical device-drawing somewhat on the psychological, sensualist themes in automobile advertising. They focused not only on upgrad­ing the service of current subscribers but also on reaching those car owners and electricity users who lacked telephones. And the social character of the telephone was to be a key ingredient in the new sales strategies

From roughly 1900 to World War I, Bell's publicity agency adver­tised uses of the telephone by planting newspaper "stories" on tele­ phones in farm life, in the church, in hotels, and the like.17 The national advertisements, beginning around 1910, addressed mostly businessmen. They stressed that the telephone was impressive to cus­tomers and saved time, both at work and at home, and often noted the telephone's convenience for planning and for keeping in touch with the office during vacations

a society’s attitude toward risk taking for people in various positions within the social structure; geographical environment; prior technology, or level of development; religion; war; demography; and politics. The level and kind of inventive efforts are circumscribed by cultural values and norms.

New words were introduced into the English language.

More recently, fax and computer technology have been used to aid in medical diagnosis and treatment. Both technologies can make a patient’s medical history instantly available, as well as allow for comprehensive consultation through shared databases and communication networks.

Computer, beeper, cell phone, and fax technology are further expanding the scope, the ability, the necessity of instantaneous communication to the point where there is often no clear distinction between work time and leisure time.

The tempo of American life was changed by telegraphy. Instantaneous communication meant there was less time for decisionmaking. Responses had to be more immediate. The pressure of time was “on”. Americans, always aware of time, became even more conscious of concepts such as “saving time”, having no time”, “running out of time” and being “up with the times”.

The telephone and the phonograph, which already have done what seems to be almost miraculous work, may in time be made the means of conveying a message directly from the telegraph instrument to the person to whom it is addressed. But, until this is accomplished, we must acknowledge our dependence on the messenger-boys and fairly recognize them as person of business.

The present manager of the messenger service in the Western Union building was formerly a messenger boy,

The work is healthy, because of the constant exercise which the boys are required to take; and it is noticed that boys who, when hired, are puny and delicate, often become rugged and gain in flesh in a few months. The pay is larger than boys obtain in many other kinds of employment, and they are under a sort of discipline which makes them methodical and tends to correct many bad habits.

The boys, too, are drilled at the school in regard to a great many particulars of discipline and service.

For each message which a boy delivers, he receives two and a half cents, and for each answer that he brings back to be forwarded from the office, he receives three cents. This explains why a telegraph-boy is always ready to wait for an answer. The amount of money which a boy can earn in a day thus depends, it will be seen on his own activity.

Biography and military history appeal in part because of the tales they contain.

Sometimes fairly recent history will suffice to explain a major development, but often we need to look further back to identify the causes ofchange.

Stories well done are stories that reveal how people and societies have actually functioned, and they prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places.

Some history depends on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or intellectual challenge

Professional historians teach at various levels, work in museums and media centers, do historical research for businesses or public agencies, or participate in the growing number of historical consultancies.

A study of history is essential for good citizenship.