Swingin' on the Ether Waves ― A Chronological History of African-Americans in Radio and Television Broadcasting, 1925-1955

This ambitious two-volume reference is a chronological account of African-American contributions to broadcasting in the US from 1924-1955. The material is presented in an inclusive, non-interpretive format, with a descriptive narrative of each era under consideration at the beginning of each chapter followed by a chronology of the broadcasts from the period. The listings comprise an exhaustive compilation of original material, quoted in full, for each date listed. B&w photos are interspersed throughout. Author Sampson, a retired engineer who writes and consults on the historical contributions of African Americans to the entertainment industry, explains in his introduction that the material did not fit into a thematic or topical format, hence the chronological arrangement. Still, some sort of thematic access would have been useful; the included index contains names only (no subjects). Annotation c2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Henry T. Sampson is a researcher and author of five books on the historical contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, including That's Enough Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960 (SCP, 1998) and Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films, 2nd Ed. (SCP, 1995). He is a contributing author to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, as well as author of "African-Americans in Animated Cartoons," a CD-ROM Project at the University of Indiana.