Its golden age was in the era before the rise of television. Mussolini claimed that radio was what enabled him to turn Italy fascist; FDR's "fireside chats" comforted and cheered up who-knows-how-many Americans during wartime.
電視未成形氣候之前，廣播何其輝煌，義大利統治者墨索里尼曾公開承認他是藉廣播來把義大利「法西斯化」；美國羅斯福總統的「爐邊閒話」不知安撫和振奮了多少戰時的美國民心。