December 31, 2020 • 5 min read • radio-tips

Movies and Documentaries About Radio: 10 Options

Looking forward to a chill relaxing evening? Well, watching a movie about radio is a perfect way to ease into the night!

What’s on your watchlist this holiday season?

You should include one radio documentary or radio movie on your list. Well, we’ll save you the trouble of finding great content to watch.

Today, we’re presenting some of the top 10 radio movies and documentaries. You can easily find them from various sources on the web. So, once you find something you want to watch, pop its name into your favorite search engine.

Besides providing great entertainment, the content here can help you become a better radio presenter and teach some life skills.

Let’s get started:

I Am What I Play

This radio documentary denotes Rock music’s evolution from the 1960s to the 1980s on the radio.

You’ll meet and learn about radio rock DJs. It’s more than what they play, as you’ll see their views, relationships with musicians, and what fans reacted to rock music during this age.

It spans four cities New York, Boston, Toronto, and Seattle. Soundtracks feature notable rock songs from the era.

The Last Pirates: Britain’s Rebel DJs

The radio documentary tells the story of the second wave of pirate radio DJs who emerged in the 1980s.

They did not broadcast from sailing ships but made their voices heard from London’s estates. Their story; playing black music when it wasn’t being played on mainstream radio stations.

In their quest to introduce new music, they had to evade DTI enforcers tasked with keeping them off the airwaves.

Corporate FM

Commercial radio in America has undergone consolidation, and now, local radios belong to large conglomerates.

This radio documentary tells that story, and it’s won various awards and is described as “riveting.”

McKinney showcases that all the radios in the US belonged to six corporations by 2012. And this has consequences, as people have limited choices regarding music, as they have killed variety.

As the norm, large corporations tend to syndicate programs across stations reducing the need to hire staff. Profit-hungry companies also use this to reduce costs. McKinney also exposures ways local radios can make a comeback.

1944 ON THE AIR

Pay homage to the infant days of radio with this radio documentary. With the convenience of USB microphones and laptops, we’re quick to forget that broadcasting audio wireless was almost magical.

Long before radio became mainstream, it was a hobby for some. No one dreamed that it would be in every home.

Empire of the Air

Radio dominated the airwaves for several decades before its gradual fallback to TV. This radio documentary looks into the lives of three men. They were instrumental in taking radio from a dream into an industry.

Delve into the three subjects; Lee de Forest, responsible for inventing the audion tube, a key component in Radios; Edwin Armstrong, an engineer who pioneer FM, and David Sarnoff, founder of RCA.

Talk Radio - The Last Neighborhood

The film revolves around the true events that lead to the fatal shooting of Alan Harrison Berg on June 18, 1984.

He was a Jewish radio host known for confronting issues head on without any apologies, coupled with a brash personality. This made him a figure of both adoration and hate by his audience.

In the film, Berg finds out that his show is about to go national, but the management wants certain things changed. His views have also angered a neo-nazi group, who are ultimately responsible for the shooting and his death.

Pirate Radio

Pirate DJs captivated an entire generation of British radio listeners in the 1960s. At the time, the BBC didn’t allow independent stations in the country.

There were the guardians of the programming and held the key to what music could be played. With the rise of rock ‘n roll and rock music, they considered it immoral and thus unfit for the general public consumption.

The radio movie, inspired by true events, tells the story of a rogue band of DJs that began broadcasting off-shore. It’s a fun comedy that stacks up the renegades against the British Government who attempted to shut them down.

Pump Up the Volume

This radio movie’s plot revolves around Mark Hunter, who discovers that shortwave radio can help him express his opinions and thoughts. He broadcasts as “Hard Harry” and gives commentaries about the injustices and mismatches in society. Soon, his principal finds out and is out to shut him down.

Private Parts

In the style of a film, Private Parts is based on Howard Stern’s life, one of the most famous radio broadcasters in the US. In the movie, Howard Stern, who plays himself, has just appeared at the MTV Music Awards as his self-created superhero Fatman.

On his way home, he begins telling a fellow passenger Gloria about his life story. It’s a heartful and funny movie that includes bits about Stern’s childhood, including his time as a DJ at his college radio station.