First Family of the Air: Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt on the Radio

FAIN: TD-50609-13

Minnesota Public Radio (St. Paul, MN 55101-2217)
Stephen Smith (Project Director: January 2013 to April 2015)

Development of a one-hour radio program and a companion website exploring Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's extensive use of radio to communicate to the American public in the 1930s and 1940s.

American Public Media's documentary unit, American RadioWorks (ARW), is requesting a grant of $33,700 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a one-hour national radio documentary and companion website called "First Family of the Air," an engaging and original look at the extraordinary broadcasting careers of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, their profound impact on the electorate's relationship with the chief executive, and their shaping of the role of modern mass media in American politics. The project includes development of a related multimedia lecture series and pilots of those events in Hyde Park, NY; Washington, DC; and Saint Paul, MN. The goal is to provide audiences with a rich understanding of radio's crucial but often overlooked place in America's cultural and media history.