14 - Rural Radio: “We Are Seldom Lonely Anymore”

Summary

Radio had a dramatic impact on rural life. The United States was a rural nation when radio broadcasting began. In 1920, 49 percent of Americans lived in rural areas; in 1940, 43 percent were still living in rural areas. Before radio, few rural people had daily contact with the “outside world.” Most had no telephone or newspaper. News mostly came from neighbors and mail. They did not have daily weather forecasts that would enable them to prepare their crops and animals for a frost or storms. They sold their crops with no knowledge of current prices on commodities markets, the prices at which the buyer could sell them. In bad weather they were often isolated even from their neighbors. Paved roads were rare; dirt roads turned into muddy quagmires whenever it rained. Snow made them impassable. Often farmers could not get to town for weeks, sometimes not even to their own mailbox.

Radio changed that. It would bring timely weather and market reports, news and entertainment. Far more than city dwellers, rural people were most grateful. In numerous letters to stations, entertainers and magazines and in conversations with agriculture agents and radio dealers, they expressed the value of the information and the great relief to isolation and loneliness.