Essay On Rural America

In the very recent past rural, agricultural America felt like it was an altogether a different country. Even as recent as the 1980’s many areas that are distant from the cities did not have even the most basic inventions of the 20th century American culture, such as the TV networks, access to cable, satellite and internet. If you were to drive through these areas a generation ago, it would feel like a trip to different nation in a different time. People living in these areas were exposed to broadcast media far less than the people from the urban areas, and people from rural areas did not really take part in the shared culture. But due to the radio the situation completely changed. The Radio connected rural America to urban America in this culture …show more content…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned one bandwidth to one station and then gave permitted these stations to amplify their signal strength which easily reached far and beyond. Due to the far reaching signals of these stations it was easily available to be tuned in the rural areas as well. There was significant drop seen in the prices of the radio ($136 in 1929 to $47 in 1932) and at the same time the batteries had improved so it was easier to run the radios for longer time. The improvement in batteries helped a lot with the growth of the radio in the urban areas as most of these areas did not have access to electricity. Famous show such as the NBC’s National Barn Dance was very popular amongst the rural people, this way rural farmers found programs of their liking. Introduction to ads like the Alka Seltzer exposed the rural people to the urban consumer culture and encouraged to invest in this culture. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s effective use of the radio to reach to the people helped the rural people keep in touch with and get exposed to the mainstream religious and political