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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.

Cast (34)CrewGenresDetailsReleasesMediaAwards

Jason Robards

Narrator (voice)

R

Red Barber

Self - Radio Announcer

E

Erik Barnouw

Self - Historian

K

Ken Bilby

Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff

N

Norman Corwin

Self - Writer

Susan Douglas

Self - Historian

F

Frank Günther

Self - Engineer

J

Jeanne Hammond

Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong

L

Loren Jones

Self - Engineer

Garrison Keillor

Self - Writer

H

Helen Kelley

Self - Radio Broadcaster

R

Robert Morris

Self - Engineer

D

Dana Raymond

Self - Friend of Edwin H. Armstrong

G

Gertrude Tyne

Self - Engineer

Fred Allen

Self - Predicts Demise of Radio (archive footage)

Gene Autry

Self - Sings (archive sound)

John Barrymore

Hamlet (archive sound)

Winston Churchill

Self - Finest Hour Speech (archive sound)

Charles J. Correll

Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)

Lee De Forest

Self - Objects to Quality of Radio Programming (archive footage)

Ralph Edwards

Self - Host of 'This Is Your Life' (archive footage)

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Self - Announces Landing in Normandy (archive footage)

E

Eugenia Farrar

Self (with Lee De Forest) (archive footage)

Freeman F. Gosden

Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)

G

Guglielmo Marconi

Self - Visits Sarnoff at RCA (archive footage)

Marie Mosquini

Self - with Lee De Forest (archive footage)

Nelson Rockefeller

Self - Eulogizes Sarnoff (archive footage)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Self - Makes Broadcast About Banking Reform (archive footage)

D

David Sarnoff

Self - with Marconi at RCA (archive footage)

Frank Sinatra

Self - Serenades Sarnoff (archive footage)

Arturo Toscanini

Self - Conducts NBC Symphony (archive footage)

Harry S. Truman

Self - Announces Bombing of Hiroshima (archive sound)

B

Bob Warren

Self - This is Your Life Announcer (archive footage)

Orson Welles

Self - Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (archive sound)

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