The Postwar Revolt Against U.S. Radio, 1945-1949.

It is difficult to overstate the vehemence with which broad sectors of the U.S. public aimed their disgust toward media in the 1940s. With a well-established cultural and intellectual critique as a backdrop, the mid 1940s saw the beginnings of a popular revolt against broadcast media. Widespread condemnation of "excessive commercialism" in American broadcasting was evidenced by a broad canvas of press coverage and large numbers of Americans writing letters to the FCC. The following analysis catalogs the various groups, campaigns, and strategies that constituted the beginnings of a full-fledged media reform movement in the postwar 1940s. Though disparate, these groups' media reform efforts demonstrate that such unrest can not be characterized as merely the grumblings of a few malcontents composed of the usual suspects. Rather, these groups varied in demographics and ideology, yet were remarkably similar in many of their core critiques, and often coalesced around common goals. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]