You’ve probably seen a Ken Burns documentary. You know the vibe: slow pans over sepia-toned photos, a fiddle playing softly in the background, and a narrator with a voice like warm mahogany. But Ken Burns Empire of the Air is a little different. It’s not about a war or a sport. It’s about a ghost.
It’s about the "Aether." That invisible stuff we used to think filled the sky.
Radio is basically magic we’ve grown bored with. We take it for granted now, scrolling through Spotify or hopping on a Zoom call, but there was a time when hearing a voice from a hundred miles away was enough to make people think they were losing their minds. Released in 1992, this film (based on Tom Lewis’s book) doesn't just look at the tech. It looks at the blood.
The story is built around three men. They weren’t exactly friends. Honestly, by the end, they mostly just wanted to destroy each other.
The Three Men Who Built the Sky
If you want to understand why Ken Burns Empire of the Air matters, you have to look at the personalities. This wasn't a "team effort." It was a cage match.
Lee de Forest: The Man Who Wanted to be King
Lee de Forest called himself the "Father of Radio." Most historians, and definitely the other guys in this movie, would call that a stretch. He invented the Audion tube. It was a tiny glass bulb that could amplify radio waves, and it changed everything. The problem? De Forest didn't actually understand how it worked. He was flamboyant, kind of a blowhard, and spent most of his life in court trying to prove he was a genius.
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Edwin Howard Armstrong: The Real Deal
Then there’s Armstrong. If you like clear audio, you owe this guy. He didn’t just tinker; he revolutionized the science. He invented regeneration (which made the Audion actually useful), the superheterodyne circuit (the basis for almost every radio since), and eventually, FM radio. He was a tragic figure. A man who climbed to the top of radio towers just to feel the wind, but who couldn't handle the corporate vultures on the ground.
David Sarnoff: The General
Sarnoff was the immigrant kid who started as a messenger boy and ended up running RCA and NBC. He wasn't an inventor. He was a visionary—and a steamroller. He saw radio not as a hobby for nerds in basements, but as a "music box" for every living room in America.
He basically stole the air.
Why the Documentary Feels Different Today
Ken Burns has a way of making the past feel like it’s happening right now. In Ken Burns Empire of the Air, the pacing is deliberate. It’s almost two hours long, and it uses Jason Robards to narrate. It feels heavy.
But it’s the sound design that gets you.
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When you watch it, pay attention to the silence. Burns uses these archival clips of old broadcasts—Amos 'n' Andy, FDR’s fireside chats, the Hindenburg disaster—and he lets them breathe. You realize that radio was the first time an entire nation "listened" together. It was the first social media.
Except instead of an algorithm, it was three guys with massive egos.
The FM War and the Tragic Ending
Most people don't know that the transition from AM to FM was a literal war. Sarnoff didn't want FM. He had invested millions in AM and was pivoting to television. Armstrong, who had invented FM to get rid of static, thought his old friend Sarnoff would help him.
He was wrong.
The legal battles Sarnoff launched against Armstrong were brutal. They dragged on for years. Eventually, broken and broke, Armstrong put on his hat and coat, stepped out of his 13th-story apartment window in New York, and ended it.
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It’s a gut punch. You don't expect a documentary about "the radio" to end in a suicide. But that's what makes this film special. It's a Greek tragedy set in the age of vacuum tubes.
Getting the Most Out of the Film
If you're going to sit down and watch Ken Burns Empire of the Air, don't just treat it as a history lesson. It's a character study on obsession.
- Watch the eyes: Look at the photos of Armstrong toward the end of his life. The spark is gone.
- Listen to the "Aether": The film does a great job of explaining that radio wasn't just a gadget; it was a cultural shift that made the world smaller.
- Spot the bias: Some critics say Burns leans a little too hard into the "great man" theory of history, ignoring the thousands of other engineers who helped. That's probably true. But for a story about ego, it works.
Actionable Steps for Radio Nerds
If this documentary sparks an interest in how we got here, don't stop at the credits.
- Visit a Radio Museum: If you're ever in Bellingham, Washington, the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention is incredible. They have actual Audion tubes and early Armstrong receivers.
- Listen to a "Fireside Chat": Go to YouTube and find a full FDR broadcast. Turn off the lights. Try to imagine being a farmer in 1936 hearing that voice in your kitchen.
- Read the Book: Tom Lewis’s Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio goes into way more technical detail than the movie. It’s a great companion.
- Check out the "Other" Pioneers: Look up Guglielmo Marconi and Reginald Fessenden. Burns focuses on the American "Three," but the story is global.
Radio is still here. Every time you use Wi-Fi or GPS, you're using the tech these guys fought over. Ken Burns Empire of the Air reminds us that behind every "magic" technology is a group of very flawed, very brilliant people who probably couldn't stand each other.