Radio on: A Listener's Diary

by Sarah Vowell

Book Overview

There are approximately 502 million radios in America. For this savvy, far-reaching diary, celebrated journalist and author Sarah Vowell turned hers on and listened--closely, critically, creatively--for an entire year.

As a series of impressions and reflections regarding contemporary American culture, and as an extended meditation on both our media and our society, this keenly focused book is as insightful as it is refreshing.

Throughout...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312183011
• ISBN13: 9780312183011
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Up to her usual standards

Once again, Sarah Vowell delivers the rare combination of definitive research and ironic insights, and I am impatient for her next piece.

Love!

When this book was written, I was in my Junior year in high school, unfortunately I didn't read it until later in life. Reading it though took me wayyyy back to those days and myself as a teenager listening to the radio. I grew up in Chicago, so most of the "journaling" was very reminiscent of those days because most of her entries are while she was living in the Windy City. If you're a big radio fan like I am, then you'll really love this book. If you're not or can't handle her opinions, then don't read it, or just read it and say you didn't!

YOU PROBABLY WON'T LIKE THIS BOOK IF...

...you don't listen to NPR, and radio isn't a central part of your life. I probably got more out of this book than some people, because I listened to some of the stations referenced in it (KITS in SF, for example). Sarah Vowell's critiques of modern American culture and of radio are DEAD ON. Like I said, some of the jokes in there are pretty specific to NPR listeners (like her comment about Talk of the Nation), but a lot of it is just growing up Generation X in America. If you're a Gen X NPR listener, this is worth every penny.

Dead-on cultural critic

People seem to be put off that Sarah Vowell is willing to put herself out there and nail some of the sacred cows of radio, especially public radio. But her critical powers and observations are astute and powerful. Her narrative voice is unusually fresh. I could listen to her babble on about anything.

rock and roll ethos

What makes Sarah Vowell special is a belief in music. Not just alternative, or punk, or whatever label you want to slap on her, but an all out mad fantasy that you can hear something and it will make you different. A song that can "cut you in half," as she says. When I hear the title of radio on, I hear "Roadrunner," and jonathan richman shouting triumphantly "c'mon modern lovers..." and then they *all* get into the chant. It's all night stop'n'shops and hedonism and searching, and above all it's chaos and confusion. She knows that she'll never find the perfect station, but it's the thirst for meaning in static filled broadband melee that drives the book, and captures the reader. Her detractors should remember that in Rock And Roll, it's not whether you're right or wrong, but how you feel.