Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
01/10/1991
2h



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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
Cast


Jason Robards
Narrator (voice)
Red Barber
Self - Radio Announcer
Erik Barnouw
Self - Historian
Ken Bilby
Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff
Norman Corwin
Self - Writer


Susan Douglas
Self - Historian
Frank Günther
Self - Engineer
Jeanne Hammond
Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong
Loren Jones
Self - Engineer


Garrison Keillor
Self - Writer
Helen Kelley
Self - Radio Broadcaster
Robert Morris
Self - Engineer
Dana Raymond
Self - Friend of Edwin H. Armstrong
Gertrude Tyne
Self - Engineer


Fred Allen
Self - Predicts Demise of Radio (archive footage)


Gene Autry
Self - Sings (archive sound)


John Barrymore
Hamlet (archive sound)


Winston Churchill
Self - Finest Hour Speech (archive sound)


Charles J. Correll
Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage)


Lee De Forest
Self - Objects to Quality of Radio Programming (archive footage)


Ralph Edwards
Self - Host of 'This Is Your Life' (archive footage)


Dwight D. Eisenhower
Self - Announces Landing in Normandy (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)


Marie Mosquini
Self - with Lee De Forest (archive footage)


Nelson Rockefeller
Self - Eulogizes Sarnoff (archive footage)


Franklin D. Roosevelt
Self - Makes Broadcast About Banking Reform (archive footage)
David Sarnoff
Self - with Marconi at RCA (archive footage)


Frank Sinatra
Self - Serenades Sarnoff (archive footage)


Arturo Toscanini
Self - Conducts NBC Symphony (archive footage)


Harry S. Truman
Self - Announces Bombing of Hiroshima (archive sound)
Bob Warren
Self - This is Your Life Announcer (archive footage)


Orson Welles
Self - Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (archive sound)
Recommended

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
Oct 25, 2019

The Captains
Jul 22, 2011

I Am Heath Ledger
Apr 23, 2017

Seduced and Abandoned
May 20, 2013

John Candy: I Like Me
Sep 04, 2025

The Class of ‘92
Dec 01, 2013

The Untold History Of The United States
Nov 12, 2012

Elstree 1976
Oct 09, 2015

For the Love of Spock
Sep 09, 2016

Looking for Richard
Oct 11, 1996

Whitney
Jul 05, 2018

Sidney
Sep 10, 2022

Howard
Apr 22, 2018

That's Entertainment!
Jun 21, 1974

Why We Fight: Prelude to War
May 27, 1942

The Wrecking Crew
Mar 11, 2008

Naqoyqatsi
Sep 02, 2002
Recommended