The aim of this paper is to show how vocal communication techniques and audiences' recognition and attitudes about voice changed in U.S. radio broadcasting during the 1920s. Some past studies on radio broadcasting have focused on the effects of "crooning," in which voice from the radio suggests an "intimate" imaginary relationship between the broadcaster and the audience. However, such studies were interested only in the effects of the technological change brought about by the electrical amplification of microphones. In this study, the author examines not only technological changes in devices used by radio broadcasters but also in devices for audiences, including radio receivers and speakers, as well as changes in the audiences' recognition of voice. In particular, the author focuses on the emergence of the term "personality" (which is used as a metaphor for individuality and character in discourse about voice broadcasting) and the term "radio voice" (which refers to a voice suited to radio broadcasting) in order to raise the following question: How did the custom of "analyzing personality from voice communication" emerge and how was it established? To answer this question, the author analyzes the process of change in the recognition of voice among broadcasters and audiences resulting from advances in radio broadcasting technology, such as microphones and radio devices, in the United States around the period from 1920 through 1927. By using primary materials, including radio magazines and newspapers that were read by the public at large at the time, the author studies the history of media by focusing on statements about voice made by broadcasters and by audiences. The findings of this study show the following: Radio-broadcasting devices were improved on an ongoing basis during this period. As radio broadcasting changed in nature from "Dxing" to "appreciative listening" as a result of technological progress, broadcasters invented vocal communication techniques suited to radio broadcasting while audiences developed imagination skills regarding the voice from the radio by changing their attitude toward voice communication. In this historical process, the term "radio voice" changed its meaning from "articulate communication skills" to "elements that show the depth of personality." At the same time, the habit of identifying individuals by "listening" to personality radio and feeling close to the broadcaster was generated.
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