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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.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
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...
Untitled KROQ Documentary
Released on:
Documentary
The history and enduring legacy of one of the world's biggest and most influential radio stations.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Ballad of an Unsung Hero
Released on: 1983-09-16
Documentary
Using rare historical footage, vintage musical recordings, and interviews with 88-year-old Pedro J. ...
Annie Nightingale: Bird on the Wireless
Released on: 2011-06-03
Documentary, Music
Radio 1's longest-serving broadcaster Annie Nightingale takes us on a counter-cultural journey throu...
The Voice That Rocked America: The Dick Biondi Story
Released on: 2023-05-21
Documentary
THE VOICE THAT ROCKED AMERICA is an one-hour documentary about Top 40 radio personality Dick Biondi....
Yellow Caesar
Released on: 1941-05-24
Documentary
Using edited archive footage, mockery is made of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini.
Airplay: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio
Released on: 2008-09-26
Documentary, Music, History
The 50 year struggle between rock pioneers and powerful business/government interests for the soul o...
Radio Unnameable
Released on: 2012-09-19
Documentary
The story of legendary New York City disc jockey Bob Fass who pioneered free expression on the airwa...
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...