In what ways have music and radio shaped american culture and its values

Music in America reflects the ideals of a country that has built itself on a foundation of freedom and cultural diversity and has been an important cultural form for the people to maintain and preserve history. American music also reflects how people have struggled against oppressive economic and social conditions.

With the invention of radio, Americans were exposed to a diversity of musical styles and there was no way to "segregate" the airwaves. Radio was able to expand regionally based music to audiences across the country, enabling people gain insight into different cultures, bringing with it, acceptance of those differences.

American music has reflected many influential revolutionary movements, including the labor movement, the war on poverty, the New Deal, the Civil Rights movement, as well as, Chicano, Native American and women's movements. The economic and social changes brought about by World War II also had a huge effect on Blues and Country music.

Radio is now supposedly as unpopular as newspapers, another fading industry, because advertisers and listeners are migrating to digital media. However, the audience is not disappearing, they have just moved online, with an estimated 39% of people listening to internet radio this year.