Backdrop image for movie Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)

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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.

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  • History

Top billed cast

  • Photo of Jason RobardsJason RobardsNarrator (voice)
  • Photo of Red BarberRed BarberSelf - Radio Announcer
  • Photo of Erik BarnouwErik BarnouwSelf - Historian
  • Photo of Ken BilbyKen BilbySelf - Biographer of David Sarnoff
  • Photo of Norman CorwinNorman CorwinSelf - Writer
  • Photo of Susan DouglasSusan DouglasSelf - Historian
  • Photo of Frank GüntherFrank GüntherSelf - Engineer
  • Photo of Jeanne HammondJeanne HammondSelf - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong
  • Photo of Loren JonesLoren JonesSelf - Engineer
  • Photo of Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorSelf - Writer

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