Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
113 mins
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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
Red Barber
Self - Radio Announcer
Ken Bilby
Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff
Norman Corwin
Self - Writer
Frank Günther
Self - Engineer
Jeanne Hammond
Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong
Loren Jones
Self - Engineer
Helen Kelley
Self - Radio Broadcaster
Robert Morris
Self - Engineer
Dana Raymond
Self - Friend of Edwin H. Armstrong
Gertrude Tyne
Self - Engineer
Charles J. Correll
Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)
Eugenia Farrar
Self (with Lee De Forest) (archive footage)
Freeman F. Gosden
Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)
Guglielmo Marconi
Self - Visits Sarnoff at RCA (archive footage)
David Sarnoff
Self - with Marconi at RCA (archive footage)
Bob Warren
Self - This is Your Life Announcer (archive footage)
Morgan Wesson
Producer
Tom Lewis
Producer
Geoffrey C. Ward
Writer
Paul Barnes
Editor
Yaffa Lerea
Associate Editor
Tom Lewis
Author
Camilla Rockwell
Associate Producer
Susanna Steisel
Associate Producer
Morgan Wesson
Sound
Alan Barker
Sound
Morgan Wesson
Archival Footage Research
Yaffa Lerea
Sound Editor
Paul Barnes
Sound Editor
Lee Dichter
Sound Re-Recording Mixer
Dalton Delan
Executive In Charge Of Production
Allen Moore
Director of Photography
