Other Projects in the Works

Sounds of Change: FM Broadcasting in AmericaUniversity of North Carolina Press , 2008
(with Michael C. Keith, Boston College)

This is the first overall history FM radio from its experimental beginnings in the 1930s to the dominant radio medium of the early 21st century.  

The eight chapters begin withthe difficult early years of American FM radio from the pioneering work done by Edwin Howard Armstrong to the initial euphoria about the new radio system, to the difficult decline of the 1950s when it appeared FM might disappear entirely in a world awash with television and plenty of AM radio service. Then the story changes for the better---starting in the late 1950s, FM begins a dramatic turnaround to become the fastest-growing segment of the broadcasting businss. The study is based substantially on primary and contemporary materials. A concluding chapter places FM in the context of various theories of innovation and technical development.  

Appendices provide a technical comparison of AM and FM (and the newer digital services), summary historical statistics, and maps demonstrating FM's national coverage. The book includes tables, diagrams, notes, a bibliography and index.

Encyclopedia of Journalism
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2009 ( 6 vols.)

This reference work, for which I serve as general editor, will cover the people, companies, publications and broadcasts, and the changing technology of nws and journalism around the world. Projected at four volumes of alphabetical entries, one of key documents, and one combining an annotated bibliography and a number of indexes to the whole work, it will emphasize the American scene but include coverage of most regions of the world. While including history, the project aims to provide a detailed snapshot of the current status of print and electronic journalism.

For more information, please see the project website.

Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio
New York: Taylor & Francis/Routledge, 2009 (1 vol.)

Drawn substantially from my award-winning Encyclopedia of Radio (3 vols, Routledge, 2003), this volume of about 700 pages will update many entries and add about a dozen or so new ones to reflect changes in the past five years. As with the parent set of books, it will range over history, the radio business, economic issues, programs, audience research, and policy. Edited with the assistance of Dr Gail Love of Cal State-Fullerton, it will not include biographical entries, which will be found in...

A Biographical Dictionary of Radio
New York: Taylor & Francis/Routledge, 2010 (1 vol.)

also drawn largely from the 2003 project, this will run about 350 pages and will include all the biographical entries, plus about a dozen new ones. Where useful, existing entries will be updated. This is also being edited with Dr. Gail Love.