Retailing Radio

This article examines the history of the commercial radio commodity, demonstrating how classic radio came to be a material object circulated through formal commercial distribution practices. Drawing on historical archives of over a thousand popular and trade press articles, interviews, and collections of retail artifacts, this history focuses on the three most significant companies that sold classic radio recordings—Radio Yesteryear, Metacom, and Radio Spirits—from early experiments selling classic radio clips on vinyl in the 1960s to the formation of one of the first entertainment subscription streaming sites in the early 2000s. The history of retailing radio intervenes within media studies to consider how distributing classic recordings as physical objects within the commercial ecosystem redefined their industrial value and how audiences would encounter and engage with old sounds through new technologies.