This book makes a valuable addition to every old time radio lover's library. It's a monumental contribution to OTR history, particularly in the history of the huge part black artists played in all aspects of OTR from its inception until its sunset days in the 60's. Mr. Ellett and his assistants, contributors and researchers have done an outstanding job in creating an invaluable resource on this subject.

Every known OTR performance by a black artist is referenced in this book, along with the name of the show, the episode they appeared on or were involved in producing, and the date it was aired, when known; including some otherwise very obscure and little or unknown appearances. The detail is incredible. While first and foremost, the talent of these artists is immense, and their body of work extremely important; we cannot help but quickly realize the devastation and havoc wreaked by the rampant racism and Jim Crow laws that kept them from achieving anywhere near what may have been. The circumstances they worked under and the treatment they received is absolutely gutwrenching to read about. The manner in which they overcame this to the best of their ability was heroic.

I found the book to be fascinating and gleaned so much information from it. It was of especial interest to me as I have been a long time OTR fan and am creator and former Admin of a social media fan group for Jack Benny, whose members include Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's daughter Evangela Anderson from whom we heard many personal anecdotes about her father. ( )

Certainly a great addition to any home library. From time to time wonderful to pick up and read through. Very enjoyable and very detailed. A wealth of information. ( )

This book is a fine addition to the history of broadcasting as well as the history of African Americans. Ellett is commmended for his reseach. ( )

My first thought on seeing Ryan Ellett’s Encyclopedia of black radio in the United States, 1921-1955, was about how slim it was. Then I remembered that Websters first dictionary (1806 edition) had only about seven thousand words. Like the early Webster this book deals with an unexamined subject. England had dictionaries but none that focused on the American language. There are several encyclopedias covering “Old Time Radio” but they fail to examine African-American shows, their casts, and their writers . Of course “Amos & Andy”, “Buhella” and Eddie Anderson are covered in the “Old Time Radio” references. However those shows had white casts and writers. Buhella’s voice, for most of “her” time on the air was that of a white man. Eddie Anderson was of course African-American and and a major presence on “Old Time Radio”. If, somehow, you don’t know his work, you need to do yourself a favor and become familiar with it.

The bibliography in John Dunning’s “On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio” lists ten pages of archives, log books, magazines, both those devoted to radio and ones with regular radio columns in additions to pages of books by and about the celebrities and their shows. Ellett did not have the luxury of so many preassembled sources, has has had to dig through individual newspapers looking for advertisements, announcements, and program schedules. Ellett built this encyclopedia from scratch, from what historians call “primary sources”.

The book does contain many entries like this one, “Bordentown Male Quartet: The anonymous foursome who made up the Bordentown Male Quartet performed over a station run by Westinghouse in Newark, as early as May 1922. The quartet consisted of students from the Bordentown Industrial and Manual Training School in Bordentown, NJ. (source: Chicago Defender, May 20 1922 p.9)” My first thought on reading it was “did the Bordentown Industrial and Manual Training School have a yearbook”. Then it occurred to me what a great opportunity these short entries are for history teachers. Here are short, historically recent, mysteries that a class, or an individual, could research. Ellett’s book is filled with interesting answers about segregated black radio and also with interesting questions that could ignite the love of history and expose students to the adventure of uncovering the past.

I really enjoyed this book. As a student of history I feel it fills in part of 20th century US history that is often overlooked and helps make our picture of our shared past much more complete. ( )

This book depicts time period when music was the focal point of everything that made America , AMERICA!! Music was live, genuine, soulful, tranquil, and roaring. It was a true art form of expression. We relied on music to get us through wars, and many other tough times. Music , like food has a way of bringing people together. I've thoroughly enjoyed the mini biographical sketches about the artist, the music , and time.