Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
Synopsis
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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
Release Date: 1991-10-01
Runtime: 113 minutes
Director: Ken Burns
Top Cast
- Jason Robards as Narrator (voice)
- Red Barber as Self - Radio Announcer
- Erik Barnouw as Self - Historian
- Ken Bilby as Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff
- Norman Corwin as Self - Writer
- Susan Douglas as Self - Historian
- Frank Günther as Self - Engineer
- Jeanne Hammond as Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong
- Loren Jones as Self - Engineer
- Garrison Keillor as Self - Writer
Soundtrack
Original Music Composer(s): N/A
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