Although both radio and television are geared more to entertaining than to informing, they have become increasingly concerned with the news. Certain radio stations are devoted entirely to news and opinion, with spot announcements, editorials, and in-depth reports.

There is no national radio station in the United States, but every large city has dozens of independent stations, which range from twenty four hours a day news to rock and classical music.

The first commercial radio station took to the airwaves in 1920. At the beginning of 1922 there were 30 stations in operation; by the following year, more than 500. The creation of the first two multi-station networks, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in 1926 and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) the following year, turned broadcasting into a coherent medium. In 1930 more than 12 million US families had radios; 20 years later 40 million families — nearly 92 per cent of the American people — were avid listeners.

The earliest entertainers performed free, grateful for the publicity; the manufacturers of radio equipment paid for most programming. Then the idea of financing programs with advertising began to emerge and soon proved profitable beyond the wildest dreams: by 1929 the Ford Motor Company was paying $1000 a minute for prime time (the popular evening hours), and the price was climbing.

For better or for worse, Americans in every corner of the continent are simultaneously laughing at the same jokes, listening to the same news, cheering the same teams, and dancing to the same music. Radio also affected the economy by introducing new products to millions of potential customers. President Roosevelt mastered the medium and used his "fireside chats" to help restore the nation's confidence in its own future.

The National Broadcasting Company started experimental television broadcasts in New York