Crack of the Bat

A History of Baseball on the Radio

Inbunden, Engelska, 2015

539 kr

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The crack of the bat on the radio is ingrained in the American mind as baseball takes center stage each summer. Radio has brought the sounds of baseball into homes for almost one hundred years, helping baseball emerge from the 1919 Black Sox scandal into the glorious World Series of the 1920s. The medium gave fans around the country aural access to the first All-Star Game, Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech, and Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World.” Red Barber, Vin Scully, Harry Caray, Ernie Harwell, Bob Uecker, and dozens of other beloved announcers helped cement the love affair between radio and the national pastime. Crack of the Bat takes readers from the 1920s to the present, examining the role of baseball in the development of the radio industry and the complex coevolution of their relationship. James R. Walker provides a balanced, nuanced, and carefully documented look at radio and baseball over the past century, focusing on the interaction between team owners, local and national media, and government and business interests, with extensive coverage of the television and Internet ages, when baseball on the radio had to make critical adjustments to stay viable. Despite cable television’s ubiquity, live video streaming, and social media, radio remains an important medium through which fans engage with their teams. The evolving relationship between baseball and radio intersects with topics as varied as the twenty-year battle among owners to control radio, the development of sports as a valuable media product, and the impact of competing technologies on the broadcast medium. Amid these changes, the familiar sounds of the ball hitting the glove and the satisfying crack of the bat stay the same.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2015-05-01
Mått152 x 229 x 30 mm
Vikt653 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor344
FörlagUniversity of Nebraska Press
MedarbetareHughes,Pat
ISBN9780803245006

Tillhör följande kategorier

Socialhistoria och kulturhistoria inom Historia och arkeologi
Radio / podcasts inom Kultur
Bollsport inom Sport, fritid och hobby

ForewordAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: A Game in Words and SoundPart I. The Formative Years, 1920–361. Early World Series Coverage2. The Local Game Begins3. Inventing a New Craft4. The Baseball-Radio War5. The World Series Triggers a National Obsession6. Advertisers Expand Baseball CoveragePart II. The Age of Acceptance, 1937–607. Re-Creating Baseball8. Baseball Reluctantly Embraces Radio9. An Explosion in National CoveragePart III. The Television Years, 1961–Present10. Radio in the Age of Television11. The Modern Baseball Announcer12. Baseball Broadcasts in the Digital EraEpilogueAppendix: Number of Team Radio Stations by Year, 1936–2001NotesIndex

"Crack of the Bat will give you insight into the nostalgic power of baseball on the radio, and make you realize what you missed."-Hunter M. Hampton, Sport in American History "[Crack of the Bat is] a valuable resource for sport and media scholars alike that should encourage more work on sports radio's woefully under examined history."-Travis Vogan, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television "Informed by the literature on the subject and the beneficiary of deep research in archival sources and oral histories, this book is based on sound scholarship, engages the general reader's interest, and will enlighten scholars in their study of the symbiotic relationship between radio and baseball."-John E. Miller, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society "Well researched, and equally well written and footnoted, Crack of the Bat is not only a welcome addition to electronic media research but would make an excellent addition to a history of sports in the media classroom."-Roger Heinrich, American Journalism "Crack of the Bat deserves to be on the reading list for courses in broadcast history and mass communication history."-Dave Ogden, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator "Once upon a time you had to go to a ballpark to experience a ball game. Today most of us enjoy baseball across several media, and almost always alone. A game on radio—or via television or Internet or news account—is not as good as being part of the crowd at the ballpark, but what is? This book. James Walker traces the history of baseball on the radio with unmatched love and erudition."—John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball and author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden