[78-L] It's not only Ken Burns who get it wrong, or what is the obsession with Dave Brubeck?

[Michael Biel]

Mentioning Tesla or Hertz, who were 19th century theorists on the
electrical background of what makes transmission possible, in a program
solely about those who built the EMPIRE -- read: business -- of
BROADCASTING, makes as much sense as mentioning the ancients who
developed paint in a documentary about Van Gough and other painters. 
The documentary, and the book it was based on, centers on the three
persons who were linked together personally -- deForest, Armstrong, and
Sarnoff.  Since Tesla nor Hertz were personally linked with all three,
why fuzz up the focus of the purpose of the program by bringing up
extraneous elements?  Hertz showed you could send a spark across a room.
 Tesla centered mostly on distribution of raw electrical power.  So? 
Did they build the BUSINESS of AUDIO BROADCASTING??  Not at all.  

By the way, radios used to have huge glowing dials.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com    


-------- Original Message --------

From: agp <agp2176 at verizon.net>


One Ken Burn's docu-thing that got on my nerves was Empire of The 
Air: The Men Who Made Radio. The lack of any mention of Nikolai Tesla 
or Heinrich Hertz was bad enough. The reminiscence of some of the 
contributors was enough to make my skin crawl. Particularly grating 
was the commentary by Garrison Keillor where he spoke in overblown 
terms and tone of voice of the radio having this "huge glowing dial". 
Of course not being a fan of GK at all, this only made him seem more 
like a buffoon in my eyes

T