Empire of the Air

Follow the pioneers of radio whose genius and rivalry wove unexpected and tragic stories.

For fifty years radio dominated the airwaves and the American consciousness as the first “mass medium.” Empire of the Air examines the lives of three remarkable men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity combined in unexpected and often tragic ways.

FromKen BurnsKen Burns

Funding Provided by: General Motors Corporation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting;PBS; the National Endowment for the Humanities