Cincinnati Radio (Images of America)

Like radio listeners in many other cities its size, Greater Cincinnatians have kept their ears tuned to their local radio stations for music, news, and entertainment for nearly a century. However, unlike those cities, Cincinnati enjoyed several unique broadcast stories ranging from some of the earliest forays into radio dramatics to the country’s first 500,000-watt superpower radio station. The listeners were treated to several up-and-coming celebrities like Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Andy Williams, and “Fats” Waller; the rise of three major communications corporations; and ultimately, an amazing array of nationally broadcast network shows and talents that, for a brief period, placed the city’s broadcasters behind only New York and Chicago in terms of importance. With rare and often unpublished images, Cincinnati Radio attempts to capture the first 50 years of that golden era of Cincinnati radio broadcasting in both word and picture.