Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
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of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
Director: Ken Burns
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Jason Robards as Narrator (voice) |
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Red Barber as Self - Radio Announcer |
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Erik Barnouw as Self - Historian |
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Ken Bilby as Self - Biographer of David Sarnoff |
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Norman Corwin as Self - Writer |
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Susan Douglas as Self - Historian |
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Frank Günther as Self - Engineer |
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Jeanne Hammond as Self - Niece of Edwin H. Armstrong |
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Loren Jones as Self - Engineer |
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Garrison Keillor as Self - Writer |
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Helen Kelley as Self - Radio Broadcaster |
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Robert Morris as Self - Engineer |
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Dana Raymond as Self - Friend of Edwin H. Armstrong |
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Gertrude Tyne as Self - Engineer |
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Fred Allen as Self - Predicts Demise of Radio (archive footage) |
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Gene Autry as Self - Sings (archive sound) |
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John Barrymore as Hamlet (archive sound) |
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Winston Churchill as Self - Finest Hour Speech (archive sound) |
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Charles J. Correll as Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage) |
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Lee De Forest as Self - Objects to Quality of Radio Programming (archive footage) |
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Ralph Edwards as Self - Host of 'This Is Your Life' (archive footage) |
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Dwight D. Eisenhower as Self - Announces Landing in Normandy (archive footage) |
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Eugenia Farrar as Self (with Lee De Forest) (archive footage) |
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Freeman F. Gosden as Self - Prepares for Amos 'n' Andy Broadcast (archive footage) |
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Guglielmo Marconi as Self - Visits Sarnoff at RCA (archive footage) |
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Marie Mosquini as Self - with Lee De Forest (archive footage) |
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Nelson Rockefeller as Self - Eulogizes Sarnoff (archive footage) |
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Franklin D. Roosevelt as Self - Makes Broadcast About Banking Reform (archive footage) |
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David Sarnoff as Self - with Marconi at RCA (archive footage) |
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Frank Sinatra as Self - Serenades Sarnoff (archive footage) |
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Arturo Toscanini as Self - Conducts NBC Symphony (archive footage) |
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Harry S. Truman as Self - Announces Bombing of Hiroshima (archive sound) |
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Bob Warren as Self - This is Your Life Announcer (archive footage) |
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Orson Welles as Self - Professor in War of the Worlds Broadcast (archive sound) |
| Directing | Ken Burns | Director |
| Production | Ken Burns | Producer |
| Production | Morgan Wesson | Producer |
| Production | Tom Lewis | Producer |
| Writing | Geoffrey C. Ward | Writer |
| Editing | Paul Barnes | Editor |
| Editing | Yaffa Lerea | Associate Editor |
| Writing | Tom Lewis | Author |
| Production | Camilla Rockwell | Associate Producer |
| Production | Susanna Steisel | Associate Producer |
| Sound | Morgan Wesson | Sound |
| Sound | Alan Barker | Sound |
| Editing | Morgan Wesson | Archival Footage Research |
| Sound | Yaffa Lerea | Sound Editor |
| Sound | Paul Barnes | Sound Editor |
| Sound | Lee Dichter | Sound Re-Recording Mixer |
| Production | Dalton Delan | Executive In Charge Of Production |
| Production | Ken Burns | Executive Producer |
| Sound | Ken Burns | Music Director |
| Camera | Allen Moore | Director of Photography |
| Camera | Buddy Squires | Director of Photography |
| Camera | Ken Burns | Director of Photography |
