11 Broadening the Appeal
MOST NEW TECHNOLOGIES start out imperfect, difficult to master, and capable of being used only by enthusiastic early adopters. In the early 1920s, radios used crude electronic circuits that howled and drifted and needed three hands to tune; they ran on accumulators that had to be taken to the local garage for recharging, while the entertainment available often consisted of nothing more than a broadcast from the local dance hall. But over a period of a few years, the super-hetrodyne circuit transformed the stability and ease of tuning of radio sets, and it became possible to plug one into any electrical outlet; the quality of programs – drama, music, news, and sports – came to rival that ...
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