About This Lesson
New technologies prosper only when they become meaningful to users. The stories of how the single and the LP became meaningful in different ways in American music culture provides a unique glimpse of American life in the mid-20th century. This lesson explores the technology of “records” and what it meant to the people who consumed them. Students will learn how a record works and why a needle on a disc can record and play back music. Moreover, students will investigate how these technological changes had far reaching effects, even in the domestic setting. Finally, this lesson follows the 45 rpm and LP record through the airwaves of both AM and FM radio, using excerpts of broadcasts by the pioneering DJs Alan Freed and Tom Donahue and investigating how the possibilities and limitations of each medium and their respective places on the radio dial provide a framework for historical analysis.
