Invited on the Air: Public Librarians at the Beginning of Broadcast Radio

ABSTRACT During the radio craze of 1922, broadcasting stations proliferated across the country. Although run by a variety of institutions and organizations, all of these stations faced the challenge of filling their broadcast schedules with content. Among the first voices to be heard, mixed among the musicians, entertainers, and civic leaders, were public librarians. What led these early stations to seek out librarians? By examining contemporary newspaper accounts and library records, this study seeks to establish a context for and a chronology of the earliest connections between public librarians and radio broadcast stations.