Preface. Part 1. The Phenomenon of Broadcasting 1.The Birth Of Radio 2. The BBC: From Private Company To National Institution 3. Keeping The Sabbath, Waging A War And Building A Pyramid 4. The Golden Age Of Radio And The Rise Of Television 5. Television: The First Years Of Competition Chapter 6. Pilkington And After 7. The Rise And Fall Of Radio 8. Television And Its Social Effects 9. A Growth Of Sights And Sounds Part 2. The Rise Of The Active Audience 10. Cables, Dishes And Deregulation 11. And Now The Nineties Part 3 From Broadcasting To Multimedia Bibliography Index

Andrew Crisell is Professor of Broadcasting Studies at the University of Sunderland. He is the author of Understanding Radio, also published by Routledge.

An Introductory History of British Broadcasting is a concise and accessible history of British radio and television. It begins with the birth of radio at the beginning of the twentieth century and discusses key moments in media history, from the first wireless broadcast in 1920 through to recent developments in digital broadcasting and the internet.
Distinguishing broadcasting from other kinds of mass media, and evaluating the way in which audiences have experienced the medium, Andrew Crisell considers the nature and evolution of broadcasting, the growth of broadcasting institutions and the relation of broadcasting to a wider political and social context. This fully updated and expanded second edition includes:
*the latest developments in digital broadcasting and the internet
*broadcasting in a multimedia era and its prospects for the future
*the concept of public service broadcasting and its changing role in an era of interactivity, multiple channels and pay per view
*an evaluation of recent political pressures on the BBC and ITV duopoly
*a timeline of key broadcasting events and annotated advice on further reading.