The American Outcome of Radio and Recorded Music Music is the heartbeat of American social and cultural identity. Music unifies us as Americans and also separates us as cultural stereotypes. Throughout history, music has always been a measure and outcome of different cultures and influences. Specifically starting in the 1940’s, music and radio has helped shape many aspects in American culture by intertwining cultures, developing socioeconomic statuses, and bringing headlines to the pop culture. Although many people contributed to the creation of the radio and not one person is totally credited, it was Nikola Tesla’s creation of the Tesla Coil that kick-started the radio revolution. Without Tesla’s contributions, the world would be without radio. However, with the introduction of television and its visual images of World War II, the radio companies felt forced to replace their audio-only entertainment and news shows by scheduling music interspersed with news and features. The radio simply was trying to keep up with television. By the end of the decade the music sensation caught on with Americans and car salesmen began offering car radios as standard accessories. The radio companies are largely credited with the music craze that many Americans have. In the 1940's many styles of music merged and thrived because of the new format the radio companies created to keep up with the television broadcasters. With World War II in the forefront, music became more meaningful with the increased focus on lyrics and different styles, genres of music emerged (rock and roll, swing, country, etc.). Music became emotional and “loud” sounding music started to become popular with youth. With the influence of radio, music was now available to the general public: all races and all classes. By the 1950’s the radio had created its first weekly top 40 music show (which still broadcasts today). The relationship between music and race is one of the most convincing factors used in determining the musical meaning of songs in the United States. Since the introduction to written word, music has been closely associated with various cultures. Typically, certain styles, or genres of music are more closely related to certain cultures (i.e. Caucasian people and country music or soul music and African Americans). As more and more immigrants poured into America, our culture and music continued to evolve. Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune adds to this “The template for American music, a cacophonous merger of a thousand cultures thrown together like nowhere else on Earth, is built on the shoulders of immigrants. And it's not simply that they brought with them their music and cultural values: More important, they applied what they knew to a wholly unfamiliar environment, along the way conjuring radical new methods for creating music” (Reich). Genres like rock, jazz, swing, funk, and among others are all closely