Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination.(Review)

Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination By Susan J. Douglas Times Books 432 pages; $27.50

My first summer away from home, I took a job at a newspaper, moved to a strange town, and booked a room in a run-down hotel. I had no television, telephone or roommates for company, only an ancient console radio that got three or four stations. For an entire summer, that radio was my best friend.

As Susan J. Douglas recognizes in "Listening In," my experience was not uncommon. For many people, radio may be the closest thing to a friend that an inanimate object