The Radio, Jazz Music, and the EMERGENCE of a national culture
Louis Armstrong, a famous jazz musician playing the trumpet.
The Ray Miller Orchestra, a popular jazz group during the 20s.
An American national culture began to form in the early 1920s as a result of increased free time and communication. Since Americans gained free time from the implementation of labor laws, this meant a new culture would have to emerge to take up the time previously filled by working. Subsequently, Americans began to improve technology and develop new styles of music. One of the most popular forms of music that was formed in the 1920s was jazz. Jazz was easy to listen to, digestible, and most importantly, danceable. Jazz music was also one of the first musical genres to overtake American culture nationwide. This mass appeal was largely due to the development of the radio. “Most radio historians assert that radio broadcasting began in 1920 with the historic broadcast of KDKA… The public, was overcome by a radio craze after the initial broadcast,” (Radio in the 1920s) The radio spread jazz to the general public. Moreover, the radio allowed Americans to receive news faster and more efficiently than a newspaper could. This new technology revolutionized America with ideas and influences from all across America travelling faster and reaching wider audiences than ever before allowing for the rapid development of a national culture. Prior to the invention of the radio, communication was much too slow to allow for a cohesive national culture.