Radio was in its infancy in the early 20s. The first radio I can remember was an Atwater-Kent (?) set which used DC current that was supplied by a bank of automobile type storage batteries that were in the basement. There was a long wire antenna strung from the house to a far tree in the back yard.
This was later replaced by radios that operated on house current. Like most kids of my era by the time, I was in high school I had built a commercial crystal set for use in my room. WABC which became WJZ in Bound Brook was so powerful I could not receive any other stations except WOR.
Amos and Andy was the must hear show and became a national pastime. In the early 30s,right after the bank crisis and the depth of the great depression, people would run home to turn on their radio to listen to these two white comedians who wore "blackface" while broadcasting. Their comedy would now a days be not only politically incorrect but downright bigoted. It was based on a popular stereotype impression of people who had never been to New York City about the Afro-American residents of Harlem.
The late 30s and the 40s was the era of the great comedy shows, among them "Fibber Mckee and Molly,The Jack Benny Show, The Bob Hope show were among the most popular. Some of the most popular night time "soaps" were the “Shadow”, “Jack Armstrong",and Terry and the Pirates. I believe I could pick them up the weekly broadcasts on my crystal set.
The 30s was also the age of the Big Bands and their late night broadcasts were popular. Many played at the Meadowbrook, Ballroom in Cedar Grove NJ. Other nightly origins besides the Waldorf and the Pennsylvania hotels in New York were the Aragon and Trianon out west, and of course the Top of The Mark.
FDR was the first president to make extensive use of the radio in order to communicate with the public via his “Fireside Chats”. I doubt if more that 1% of the nation knew that the reason he sat at a desk for these broadcasts was the fact that polio had so crippled him he could not stand without the use of leg braces. Radio became a supplementary information media to the news papers. As the broadcasting stations became more powerful and receivers more sophisticated, people could listen to broadcasts from foreign countries. By the time we were in the war, the radio had become an if not the major media for information.
I used to listen to radio shows after school in the 1940s and radio remains my preferred medium for information and entertainment. WBAI has a show called "The Golden Age of radio" where Max Schmid airs old shows. He also airs Jean Shepherd shows, which are still fresh today. Radio is great and you don't have to sit on a couch and do nothing, as you do for TV. Long live radio!
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