Radio Wars (2012) User Reviews

Radio Wars is an excellent documentary

[aliceebrody · 10/10 · 29 November 2012]

It's about time a filmmaker tackled the issue of radio history. Director Sandra Mohr manages to include so much of the mystique, power struggles, transitions, pitfalls and joy radio has given us over the last 100 years...in less than 2 hours.

After seeing the proved history behind broadcast radio, it is surprising to me more people/directors have not already made a movie like this.

From the first tap-tap of Morse code, to the battles over controlling news, to the war between AM and FM, to stock market influence on our music to the SiriusXM merger, to Pandora Radio and virtual DJ's, Radio Wars reminds us all of something we already know deep down: Radio is a huge influence in our lives and has helped shape our society in so many ways. A+ Rating.

Excellent !!!

[ballascllen46 · 10/10 · 31 December 2014]

Radio Wars is hands down one of the most useful documentaries for learning about the real power behind broadcasting.

The film delivers great story-telling, incredible research and an amazing education for anyone who wants to learn about everything from AM/FM to Pandora and iHeart Radio.

It features Martine Rothblatt (the inventor of Satellite radio) and the very first virtual DJ. Worth seeing and sharing. The movie length was appropriate, with the first half setting the story and building up towards the character and story development. A good movie to watch over the weekend!

10 Stars.

Director Sandra Mohr nails it -10 Stars

[niveragiovanni899 · 10/10 · 2 January 2015]

I heard the director of Radio Wars (Sandra Mohr) on the radio talking about the power behind radio today.

Apparently there are only about 5 corporations that control pretty much everything we hear. She obviously saw that as a cultural problem and attacked it head-on. This is not the first activist film for Sandra Mohr. Her website shows she has created hundreds of videos to help animals and other charities. We can use more activist filmmakers out there. It's not all up to Michael Moore to tell the truth.

Glad to have Sandra Mohr join the fight. Worth seeing and highly recommended.

Radio Wars: A Wild Ride

[morrislxm686 · 8/10 · 30 November 2012]

It is difficult to look at radio and its history without giving a nod to money and politics. Technology means change which typically means current winners are about to become tomorrow's wiener's.

According to Radio Wars, the medium begins when Telsa discovers how to modulate electrons so that beeps can be created creating the wireless telegraph. It doesn't take long before this is expanded to reproduce music and human voice.This is done by varying the signal strength of a particular frequency. At first that was AM radio and it was a big hit The established news media of the day, newspaper was not thrilled with this new development. They fought it tooth and nail.

Technology Marches on, and a new form of radio comes along known as FM (Frequency Modulation). It the waves are shorter between the peaks and do not bounce off the upper atmosphere. It is also not prone to static as AM is. Of course, the AM radio industry fights tooth and nail against FM.

Satellites become important in radio as well. Sirius and XM copy the model of pay for (not free) content, freeing the listener from far more than geographical boundaries. Since the content is paid for and controlled, the FCC (Federal Trade Commission) is unable to restrict content (for example vulgarity) < think Howard Stern>.

This did not happen overnight, the FCC fought it tooth and nail. On December 23, 2011 on page B3, in the Wall Street Journal the headline reads: " FCC Aims to Ease Media Rule".

This is because with newspaper readership declining, a corporation's ability to shape public opinion by controlling what is released in a market has been seen as less of an issue.

Historically, the incumbent will always fight tooth and nail against the new technology appearing on the radar. And this excellent movie by the name of Radio Wars: The Historic Battles that Redefined Radio tells the story from beginning to present day. I encourage you to ask your local library to put a copy on their local shelves.