Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
• October 1st, 1991 • 1h 53min
Documentary, History
Overview
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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
Untitled KROQ Documentary
Released on:
Documentary
The history and enduring legacy of one of the world's biggest and most influential radio stations.
Baseball, Dennis & The French
Released on: 2011-05-04
Documentary
Baseball, Dennis & the French tells the true story of Paul Croshaw, longtime liberal activist and co...
Jakob the Liar
Released on: 1999-09-16
Comedy, Drama, History
In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caug...
CFNY: The Spirit of Radio
Released on: 2026-01-05
Documentary
In 1976, CFNY launched in a small suburban house just north of Toronto and went on to become one of ...
Service public
Released on: 2022-11-23
Documentary
Salhia Brakhlia has filmed the set and behind the scenes of Franceinfo's breakfast show during a yea...
Sex and Broadcasting
Released on: 2014-11-15
Documentary, Music
SEX AND BROADCASTING is a feature length documentary about New Jersey's WFMU, the world's strangest ...
Restrepo
Released on: 2010-06-25
War, Documentary
Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army loca...
Antoine de Caunes : la vie rêvée d'un enfant du rock
Released on: 2025-11-25
Documentary
Documentary on Antoine de Caunes, a French television presenter, comedian, actor, journalist, writer...
Pirates of the Airwaves
Released on: 2014-07-27
Documentary, Drama, TV Movie
In 1966 a group of determined young men defied the New Zealand government and launched a pirate radi...
Glorious 39
Released on: 2009-11-20
War, Drama, History, Thriller
A mysterious tale set around a traditional British family on the eve of World War Two. Oblivious to ...
Prize Whores
Released on: 2002-03-20
Documentary
"It's like Hands on a Hardbody meets Trekkies!" See what happens when Austin DJ & first time filmmak...
Yellow Caesar
Released on: 1941-05-24
Documentary
Using edited archive footage, mockery is made of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini.
End of the World
Released on: 2015-04-26
Documentary, Drama
The Mayan doomsday prophecy looms over a dark night in Poland. A late-night radio host takes in call...
Carbone 14, le film
Released on: 1983-05-11
Documentary
Supernana, David Grossexe, Simone Cuisse d'Acier, Jean-Yves Lafesse occupy during three nights of su...
Heritage Minutes: Marconi
Released on: 1993-04-30
Drama, History
Inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signals in Newfoundland and is aw...
The King's Speech
Released on: 2010-11-26
Drama, History
The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabet...
A Mediocre Documentary with Tom And Dan
Released on: 2018-05-03
Documentary, Comedy
'A Mediocre Time' with Tom and Dan' was becoming a hit podcast...until big radio made them shut it d...
A Message to the Stars
Released on: 2021-10-23
Documentary
For more than 50 years, we’ve been unsuccessfully searching for any evidence of intelligent extrater...
The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs
Released on: 2017-09-29
Documentary
Rapper Rodney P. presents the story of Britain's second wave of pirate radio DJs. In the 1980s a new...