About the Book

Who were the pioneers who first thought of radio as an art form, who debated how to write and perform for radio, who discussed radio's social and political dimensions? Spanning from 1924 to 1938, this anthology brings together long-forgotten texts on sound, listening and writing by radio enthusiasts, journalists, actors, radio producers and literary authors who conceptualised the new radio aesthetic between the two world wars and reflected on radio's future, as a medium requiring the invention of a new literature, new modes of performance and new ways of listening. The texts included here, drawn from British, French, German and Italian radio cultures, are representative of important pan-European debates about radio's potential at a critical moment in its history. Together, they shed light on ideas that shaped not only the emergence of radio drama, sound art and reportage, but radio as we know it today.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Note on the Selection, Translation and Presentation of Texts Introduction Part One: Radio as Technology, Radio as Art 1.1 Hilda Matheson, from Broadcasting 1.2 Walter Ruttmann, New Compositional Modes for Sound Film and Radio. Programme for an Art of Acoustic Photography 1.3 Paul Deharme, from For a Radiophonic Art 1.4 Pierre Keszler, Is There Such a Thing as a Radiophonic Art? 1.5 Paul Dermée, Will We Have a Radiophonic Art? 1.6 Suzanne Malard, Radio, An Autonomous Art 1.7 Pierre Schaeffer, The Problem Central to Radio Broadcasting 1.8 Enzo Ferrieri, Radio as Creative Force 1.9 From Radio Investigation: F. T. Marinetti, A Futurist Radio; Ottorino Respighi, Radio and Art; Eugenio Colorni, Radio’s Artistic Possibilities; Lucio D’Ambra, Life, Poetry, Radio Part Two: Behind the Microphone 2.1 Anon., On Emotion and Life Before the Microphone 2.2 Paul Dermée, Microphone Rudiments for Radio Actors 2.3 France Darget, How to Act in Front of the Microphone 2.4 Anon., The Speaker’s Qualities 2.5 Sheila Borrett, Scene – and Unseen! 2.6 Mabel Constanduros, My First Broadcast 2.7 Victor Margueritte, Facing the Microphone 2.8 Walter Benjamin, On Time to the Minute 2.9 Egon Erwin Kisch, Woe Betide the One Who Sees 2.10 Florence Milnes, A Day in the Life of the BBC Librarian Part Three: The Art of Listening 3.1 Fernand Divoire, The Zone of the Storms 3.2 Fernand Divoire, The Don Juan of the Air Waves 3.3 Guido Sommi Picenardi, Murmurs from the Ether 3.4 Rose Macaulay, The Arm-Chair Millennium 3.5 Fritz Zoreff, Radio Drama and the Inner Vision 3.6 Enrico Rocca, from A Geography of the Invisible 3.7 Rolf Gunold, The Seventh Sense 3.8 Ella Fitzgerald, Wireless and Women 3.9 Camilla, The Woman Listener 3.10 Ernst Hardt, The Echo of the Listeners’ Needs 3.11 Annette Kolb, from Book of Complaints 3.12 Carlos Larronde, Radio Drama3.13 Anton Kuh, Fear of Radio 3.14 Colette, An Interview About the Wireless Part Four: Radio Genres 4.1 Hans Flesch, The Future Shape of Radio Programming 4.2 Hermynia Zur Mühlen, Radio Programmes for Women 4.3 Alfred Döblin, Literature and Radio 4.4 Barbara Burnham, Adaptations 4.5 Anon., The Broadcasting of Poetry 4.6 Kurt Weill, On the ‘Musical Radio Play’ 4.7 Paul Dermée, The Broadcasting of Silence 4.8 Alex Virot, Reflections on Radio-Reportage 4.9 Hermann Kasack, Micro-Reportage 4.10 Olive Shapley, Night Romance of the Roads 4.11 B.E.N., Feature Programmes 4.12 Laurence Gilliam, ‘Actualities’ and ‘Features’ 4.13 Charles Siepmann, Talks 4.14 Desmond MacCarthy, The Art of Broadcasting Talks 4.15 André Saudemont, The Radio Interview 4.16 Henry Lytton, The Mystery of Radio Humour 4.17 Grace Wyndham Goldie, Listening to Comedy 4.18 Robert Desnos, ‘The Key to Dreams’ on the Poste Parisien Part Five: A Theatre for the Ear 5.1 George Bernard Shaw, The Drama and the Microphone 5.2 Augustin Habaru, We Must Discover the Radio 5.3 René Christauflour, Will Radio Create ‘Superhearing,’ as Cinema Created ‘Superimposition’? 5.4 R. E. Jeffrey, Wireless Drama 5.5 Rolf Gunold, Routes to Acoustic Drama 5.6 Gabriel Germinet, from Radio Drama: A New Mode of Artistic Expression 5.7 Lance Sieveking, from The Stuff of Radio 5.8 Tristan Bernard, For the Invisible Blind Public 5.9 Hans Kyser, How Do We Create Radio Plays and a Dramatic Literature for Radio? 5.10 Alida and Pierre Calel, A Conception of Radio Drama 5.11 Tyrone Guthrie, Introduction to Squirrel’s Cage and Two Other Microphone Plays 5.12 Marc Denis, An Essay on Radio Drama 5.13 Lugné-Poë, Radio Drama’s Marvellous Resources 5.14 Georges Colin, In the Service of Radio Drama 5.15 Madeleine Montvoisin, On the Possibilities and Exigencies of Radio Drama 5.16 Carlos Larronde, The Poetry of Space 5.17 Carlos Larronde, A Lesson in Attempting a Radio Play 5.18 Grace Wyndham Goldie, Let Us Be Thrilled 5.19 Leopold Jessner, Radio and Theatre 5.20 Ernst Hardt, Drama Part Six: Radio Politics and Radio Frontiers 6.1 Suzanne Cilly, Women and Radio 6.2 Yvane Arthaud, Women’s Voice in the World 6.3 Egon Erwin Kisch, Radio Reporter from Red Square: ‘The Moscow Microphone Never Lies!’ 6.4 Alfons Paquet, Radio and the State 6.5 Kurt Tucholsky, Free Radio! Free Film! 6.6 Kurt Tucholsky, Radio Censorship 6.7 René Schickele, A Pan-Europe of Radio Stations 6.8 Louis Le Crestois, Radio and Peace 6.9 Gabriel Germinet, Radiophonic Art in the Service of Moral Disarmament 6.10 Paul Vaillant-Couturier, Radio and Peace6.11 Ernst Toller, International Radio Select Bibliography