On the Air in the Beehive State

Broadcasting - first with radio, then with television - arrived and evolved amidst an expanding mass of government regulations, policy expectations, and the social process surrounding the phenomena of discovery and innovation. And, like in every other state, broadcasting in Utah did not emerge haphazardly or isolated from the development of the technology that would first bring radio and then television to homes in every section of the State. Utah broadcasting was borne of and then thrived upon the work of the pioneers who created and operated the State's first ten radio stations, three television stations and a cable company that at one time was the largest in the country. This book is the story of those pioneers who dedicated themselves to building a broadcasting industry market structure that perseveres more than a century later. Some even started while they were in high school or college. This book is based on more than 100 oral histories collected from that pioneering generation of broadcasting entrepreneurs, engineers, program directors, marketing whizzes and star talent. The story that emerges otherwise would have been lost in the chronicles of Utah history.