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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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
October 1, 1991
Florentine Films
34 people
Jason Robards
Narrator (voice)
Acting
Red Barber
Self - Radio Announcer
Acting
Erik Barnouw
Self - Historian
Writing
Ken Bilby
Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff
Acting
Norman Corwin
Self - Writer
Writing
Susan Douglas
Self - Historian
Acting
Frank Günther
Self - Engineer
Acting
Jeanne Hammond
Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong
Acting
Loren Jones
Self - Engineer
Acting
Garrison Keillor
Self - Writer
Acting
Helen Kelley
Self - Radio Broadcaster
Acting
Robert Morris
Self - Engineer
Acting
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