After 1918, radio broadcasting was an important example of the wide range of technological developments which greatly influenced British society. Previously, very little detailed attention has been devoted to the social consequences of the enormous increase in listening to broadcast programmes which occured before 1939. This analysis commences with an investigation of the growth, distribution and structure of the radio audience. It also establishes the main economic and technical influences on the pattern of transmission and reception. The response of the audience to the medium is displayed by reference to the comments and activities of listeners' pressure groups, whilst the views of a rival medium - the national press - are collected by means of a content analysis. The work of inter-war social surveyors is used to place broadcasting in the context of other important social changes which were occuring. The reaction of the BBC is analysed to discover the evolution in the relationship between the two sides of the microphone, whilst an examination of BBC listener research material provides detailed evidence on audience tastes and habits. Finally, three localities are examined to expose the important facets of grassroots behaviour and verify other findings. Throughout the period, the dominance of economic and technological influences on broadcasters and listeners alike is very clear, particularly in the context of an emerging consumer society. Some of the changes in social behaviour attributable to broadcasting were predictable, some unexpected: others depended on the circumstances of listeners and there were many variations in the rate and extent of these changes. Some themes stand out: broadcasting brought immediacy to the reporting of national issues, creating a greater sense of national identity and involvement. Listening also changed the pattern of leisure activity, modified the structure of the family and helped to create a more knowledgeable population.

Mae'r astudiaeth hon yn dadansoddi a dehongli hanes sefydlu Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C) fel sianel newydd yn nhirlun darlledu Cymru gan drafod, mewn manylder, gyfnod prawf y sianel rhwng 1981-1985. Mae'r astudiaeth yn archwilio paham yr oedd dirfawr angen sianel ar wahan ar gyfer rhaglenni teledu Cymraeg ac yn trafod sut aeth trigolion Cymru ati i'w hennill trwy ddulliau cyfansoddiadol ac anghyfansoddiadol. Prif ffocws y traethawd yw dadansoddi'r hyn a gafwyd yn dilyn yr ymgyrch hirhoedlog i sefydlu S4C, gan holi a sefydlwyd sianel a feddai ar y rhinweddau a ddeisyfwyd gan yr ymgyrchwyr. Mae'r astudiaeth yn ystyried y sialensiau a wynebwyd gan yr Awdurdod newydd, a chan swyddogion a staff y sianel wrth iddynt gynllunio a chyflwyno gwasanaeth teledu Cymraeg cynhwysfawr, y polisi'au a ffurfiwyd ganddynt a'r cydberthynasau a saemiwyd gyda'r BBC, HTV, Channel 4 a'r cynhyrchwyr annibynnol. Mae'r traethawd hefyd yn pwyso a mesur ymateb y gynulleidfa i'r gwasanaeth a'r rhaglenni ac yn ystyried sut yr aeth y Swyddfa Gartref ati i adolygu'r sianel ar ddiwedd ei chyfnod prawf ym 1985. Trwy gyfrwng ddadansoddiad manwl o gofnodion y sefydliadau darlledu ym Mhrydain, erthyglau o'r wasg a chyfweliadau gyda nifer o'r unigolion fu'n allweddol i fenter S4C, darlunnir sut y llwyddodd y sianel i newid tirlun darlledu Cymru yn llwyr. Bu'r partneriaethau unigryw a ffurfiwyd rhwng y sianel a'i chynhyrchwyr annibynnol a'r darlledwyr eraill yn fodd o gyflwyno bwrlwm newydd i'r diwydiant darlledu a'r arlwy cyfrwng Cymraeg, bywiogrwydd a fu'n allweddol i Iwyddiant y sianel gyda'i chynulleidfa yn ystod y cyfnod prawf Amlinellir hefyd sut y llwyddodd swyddogion y sianel weithredu strategaeth a wreiddiodd y sianel yn ddwfn yn ffyniant economaidd Cymru gan ei gwneud yn anodd os nad yn amhosibl ei diddymu wedi tair blynedd o arbrawf.

Radio’s first fifteen years were filled with experiment and innovation, as well as conflicting visions of what broadcasting’s role in society ought to be. But while there was an ongoing debate about radio’s mission (should it be mainly educational or mainly entertaining?), radio’s impact on daily life was undeniable. To cite a few examples, radio was the first mass medium to provide access to current events as they were happening. It allowed people of all races and social classes to hear great orators, newsmakers, and entertainers. Radio not only brought hit songs and famous singers directly into the listener’s home; it also created a new form of intimacy based on imagination -- although the listeners generally had never met the men and women they heard on the air, they felt close to these people and imagined what they must really be like. Radio was a medium that enhanced the importance of the human voice-- vii politicians, preachers, and performers were now judged by their ability to communicate with the “invisible audience.” My dissertation employs a media ecology perspective to examine how the arrival and growth of radio altered a media environment that, until 1920, was dominated by the printed word. Neil Postman, a seminal figure in Media Ecology, wrote that this field of inquiry “looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value.” Radio certainly exemplified that description: it not only affected popular culture and public opinion; it affected the other media with which it competed. My research utilizes one of those competing media-- print journalism. Using content and discourse analysis of articles in thirty-three newspapers and sixteen magazines of the 1920s and early 1930s, I examine how print and radio interacted and affected each other. My dissertation also analyzes the differing perceptions about radio as expressed in print by fans, reporters, and such interest groups as clergy or educators. And finally, my research explores some of the critiques of the programs, and compares the reactions of the critics at the mainstream press with those who worked for the ethnic press.