There’s at least one in your house. Another one in your car. You can access it on your laptop. And you probably have one in your mobile phone too.
The common radio has survived the ticking hands of time long after detractors predicted its death, and is claimed to be the most pervasive medium in Australia, being immediate, intimate and inexpensive.
If you are after a comprehensive, full-scale compilation of everything there is to know about Australian commercial radio, tune in to Changing Stations, the latest release by leading media historian Bridget Griffen-Foley.
Changing Stations is the first book of its kind, and traces the history of Australian commercial radio from its birth in 1923 to the advent of digital broadcasting in August last year.
It’s filled with the names of Australian radio icons like Norman Banks, Grace Gibson, Bob Dwyer and Alan Jones, as well as numerous anecdotes, statistics, photos, cartoons and advertisements.
Broadcaster Gary O’Callaghan MBE says: “Changing Stations is so well compiled and researched… The book tells not just the anecdotal history of broadcasting, but the amazing and complex politics of the industry, even in its infancy.
“This book is a must. I read the whole tome in one go. It was just too good to put down – even to eat.”
No mean feat when you consider the book is 421 pages long (this does not include the three appendixes and accompanying notes) and as thick as a Harry Potter novel.
Changing Stations by Bridget Griffen-Foley, UNSW Press, RRP $44.95
Review by Eliza Sum
