Racism In RCA

RCA, the Radio Corporation of America, was formed in October 1919 by major radio interests, General Electric, Westinghouse, the United Fruit Company (UFC), and AT&T, to pool patents and research, and to coordinate radio development. Its formation received congressional support due to its ability to keep radio control in US hands in the face of foreign competitors like Marconi and after Congress denied the Navy of control of radio in the 1918 Congressional Radio Hearings which also excluded amateurs. Through the alliance of these corporations, RCA was a vertically integrated company with each corporation playing a distinct role. AT&T functioned as the manufacturer of radio transmitters and telephony, General Electric and Westinghouse manufactured …show more content…
However, despite claims that this form of aural racism is innocent and inadvertent, upon hearing the aural representations of the black race in Amos n’ Andy it is obvious that this racism is neither benign, nor accidental. For example, in “The Presidential Election” which aired in 1928, the show employs much more than minor linguistic and dialect based difference to represent the black race to reinforce cultural ideals defined in the visual domain. The show goes beyond simple racial distinction, it ventures into racial denigration by employing unsophisticated dialect, such as the use of “I is…”, mispronunciation, such as “vice viza” in place of vice versa, and misuse of words such as redress, to suggest a racial distinction through the expression of a lack of education and ignorance. The show furthers their belittlement of the black race by suggesting that the portrayal of political ignorance, exemplified in the belief that Hoover was trapped in a literal cabinet, and false confidence in their knowledge, in this case their political knowledge, also indicates