- Department of History
117 Calvin Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-1002
Michael Krysko
Kansas State University, History, Faculty Member
- SUNY: Stony Brook University, History, Alumnusadd
- History of Technology, History, History of American Foreign Relations, American Studies, Technology And Culture, Asian Studies, and 15 moreHistory of Science and Technology, Media Studies, Diplomatic History, Chinese Studies, Japanese History, Economic History, Science and Technology Studies, Computer Networks, Databases, Software, History of Mass Media, Global Media Studies, Media History, Journalism and Media Studies, and Communications Historyedit
- My research and teaching specialties focus on the history of technology, mass media, and US foreign relations. I have... moreMy research and teaching specialties focus on the history of technology, mass media, and US foreign relations. I have a particular interest in the history of international radio. "Contested Airwaves: American Radio at Home and Abroad, 1914-1946" is my forthcoming book. It will be published by the University of Illinois Press in the History of the Media and Communications series. In 2011, my first book "American Radio in China: International Encounters with Technology and Communications, 1919-41" was published by Palgrave Macmillan in the Palgrave Studies in the History of Media series. I earned my Ph.D. at Stony Brook University in 2001 and spent five years on the history faculty at Dowling College in New York before joining the Department of History at Kansas State University in 2006. In 2023, I was named the department's National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty in Military History and 20th Century Studies.edit
Interwar era efforts to expand US radio into China floundered in the face of flawed US policies and approaches. Situated at the intersection of media studies, technology studies, and US foreign relations, this study frames the ill-fated... more
Interwar era efforts to expand US radio into China floundered in the face of flawed US policies and approaches. Situated at the intersection of media studies, technology studies, and US foreign relations, this study frames the ill-fated radio initiatives as symptomatic of an increasingly troubled US-East Asian relationship before the Pacific War.
Research Interests:
Technology is ubiquitous in the history of US foreign relations. Throughout US history, technology has played an essential role in how a wide array of Americans have traveled to and from, learned about, understood, recorded and conveyed... more
Technology is ubiquitous in the history of US foreign relations. Throughout US history, technology has played an essential role in how a wide array of Americans have traveled to and from, learned about, understood, recorded and conveyed information about, and attempted to influence, benefit from, and exert power over other lands and peoples. The challenge for the historian is not to find where technology intersects with the history of US foreign relations, but how to place a focus on technology without falling prey to deterministic assumptions about the inevitability of the global power and influence-or lack thereof-the United States has exerted through the technology it has wielded. "Foreign relations" and "technology" are, in fact, two terms with extraordinarily broad connotations.
"Foreign relations" is not synonymous with "diplomacy," but encompasses all aspects and arenas of American engagement with the world. "Technology" is itself "an unusually slippery term," notes prominent technology historian David Nye, and can refer to simple tools, more complex machines, and even more complicated and expansive systems on which the functionality of many other innovations depends. Furthermore, processes of technological innovation, proliferation, and patterns of use are shaped by a dizzying array of influences
"Foreign relations" is not synonymous with "diplomacy," but encompasses all aspects and arenas of American engagement with the world. "Technology" is itself "an unusually slippery term," notes prominent technology historian David Nye, and can refer to simple tools, more complex machines, and even more complicated and expansive systems on which the functionality of many other innovations depends. Furthermore, processes of technological innovation, proliferation, and patterns of use are shaped by a dizzying array of influences
Research Interests: Military History, Cultural History, Diplomatic History, International Relations, History of Technology, and 7 moreHistory of American Foreign Relations, History of Communication, Radio History, History of Trade, History of transportation, Nineteenth Century American Industrial History, and History of Industrialization
By 1946, Cuban–US relations had become strained over radio. Broadcasting from each nation repeatedly crossed borders and interfered with radio reception in the other country. The 1946 North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA)... more
By 1946, Cuban–US relations had become strained over radio. Broadcasting from each nation repeatedly crossed borders and interfered with radio reception in the other country. The 1946 North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) attempted to remedy that problem. This account of the impassioned reactions and heated rhetoric surrounding the 1946 NARBA underscores the enduring strength of national and regional identities in a globalizing world. Encounters with US radio programming in Cuba inspired Cubans to fight for distinctly Cuban radio interests. The resulting 1946 NARBA, which imposed new restrictions on US broadcasting to benefit Cuba, provoked farmers from California and Arizona, who – as those who believed they were the most affected by the new restraints imposed on US radio – railed against their government’s acquiescence. Their reactions, in fact, were deeply entangled with the complex history of US identity formation, which had from the nation’s earliest years privileged specific regional loyalties that coexisted alongside both local and national ones. It is, in sum, a story that shows how in certain contexts audiences can and will resist globalizing influences by leaning on their existing national, regional, and local identities that provide meaning in their world.
Research Interests:
Radio debuted as a wireless alternative to telegraphy in the late 19th century. At its inception, wireless technology could only transmit signals and was incapable of broadcasting actual voices. During the 1920s, however, it transformed... more
Radio debuted as a wireless alternative to telegraphy in the late 19th century. At its inception, wireless technology could only transmit signals and was incapable of broadcasting actual voices. During the 1920s, however, it transformed into a medium primarily identified as one used for entertainment and informational broadcasting. The commercialization of American broadcasting, which included the establishment of national networks and reliance on advertising to generate revenue, became the so-called American system of broadcasting. This transformation demonstrates how technology is shaped by the dynamic forces of the society in which it is embedded. Broadcasting's aural attributes also engaged listeners in a way that distinguished it from other forms of mass media. Cognitive processes triggered by the disembodied voices and sounds emanating from radio's loudspeakers illustrate how listeners, grounded in particular social, cultural, economic, and political contexts, made sense of and understood the content with which they were engaged. Through the 1940s, difficulties in expanding the international radio presence of the United States further highlight the significance of surrounding contexts in shaping the technology and in promoting (or discouraging) listener engagement with programing content.
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Review of Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante's “Muy Buenas Noches”: Mexico, Television, and the Cold War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013.
Research Interests:
Technology is ubiquitous in the history of US foreign relations. Throughout US history, technology has played an essential role in how a wide array of Americans have traveled to and from, learned about, understood, recorded and conveyed... more
Technology is ubiquitous in the history of US foreign relations. Throughout US history, technology has played an essential role in how a wide array of Americans have traveled to and from, learned about, understood, recorded and conveyed information about, and attempted to influence, benefit from, and exert power over other lands and peoples. The challenge for the historian is not to find where technology intersects with the history of US foreign relations, but how to place a focus on technology without falling prey to deterministic assumptions about the inevitability of the global power and influence—or lack thereof—the United States has exerted through the technology it has wielded. “Foreign relations” and “technology” are, in fact, two terms with extraordinarily broad connotations. “Foreign relations” is not synonymous with “diplomacy,” but encompasses all aspects and arenas of American engagement with the world. “Technology” is itself “an unusually slippery term,” notes prominent...
Research Interests: Military History, Cultural History, Diplomatic History, International Relations, History of Technology, and 11 morePolitical Science, History of American Foreign Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, History of Communication, Radio History, Expansive Soils, History of Trade, History of transportation, Nineteenth Century American Industrial History, and History of Industrialization
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Review of Justin Castro’s Radio in Revolution: Wireless Technology and State Power in Mexico, 1897-1938. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016 and Alejandra Bronfman’s Isles of Noise: Sonic Media in the Caribbean. Chapel Hill:... more
Review of Justin Castro’s Radio in Revolution: Wireless Technology and State Power in Mexico, 1897-1938. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016 and Alejandra Bronfman’s Isles of Noise: Sonic Media in the Caribbean. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016
Research Interests:
Radio debuted as a wireless alternative to telegraphy in the late 19th century. At its inception, wireless technology could only transmit signals and was incapable of broadcasting actual voices. During the 1920s, however, it transformed... more
Radio debuted as a wireless alternative to telegraphy in the late 19th century. At its inception, wireless technology could only transmit signals and was incapable of broadcasting actual voices. During the 1920s, however, it transformed into a medium primarily identified as one used for entertainment and informational broadcasting. The commercialization of American broadcasting, which included the establishment of national networks and reliance on advertising to generate revenue, became the so-called American system of broadcasting. This transformation demonstrates how technology is shaped by the dynamic forces of the society in which it is embedded. Broadcasting’s aural attributes also engaged listeners in a way that distinguished it from other forms of mass media. Cognitive processes triggered by the disembodied voices and sounds emanating from radio’s loudspeakers illustrate how listeners, grounded in particular social, cultural, economic, and political contexts, made sense of an...
Research Interests:
The morning of February 19, 1939 was thrilling for Addie Viola Smith. “AN ECSTATIC MOMENT,” she exclaimed, describing her feelings at precisely 8:00 am on that chilly Sunday morning. “From this time onward to 11:30 am … [my] apartment... more
The morning of February 19, 1939 was thrilling for Addie Viola Smith. “AN ECSTATIC MOMENT,” she exclaimed, describing her feelings at precisely 8:00 am on that chilly Sunday morning. “From this time onward to 11:30 am … [my] apartment hummed with excitement and incessant telephone rings brought in observers’ reports from various parts of the city, telling of glad tidings.” Smith, the long-serving American Trade Commissioner for Shanghai, was referring to the very first broadcasts of W6XBE, a California-based shortwave station established to broadcast American radio programming to China. “W6XBE came in … as clear as a local station in many parts of Shanghai, and very good in buildings noted for poor reception,” Smith reported.1 For four years, Smith lobbied for just such a station. Smith, like many other Americans, believed that international radio could serve as a vehicle for beneficial cross-cultural and economic exchanges across international borders. From this vantage point, W6XBE’s inaugural broadcast presumably heralded the beginning of a new era in American-East Asian relations.
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Jacob Schurman, the American Minister to China, was elated when the Federal Telegraph Company of California reached an agreement with the Chinese government in January 1921. This agreement provided for the first radiotelegraphy link... more
Jacob Schurman, the American Minister to China, was elated when the Federal Telegraph Company of California reached an agreement with the Chinese government in January 1921. This agreement provided for the first radiotelegraphy link between China and the United States. “In more than one direction the present personnel of the Chinese government is anxious for a close understanding with the United States,” Schurman reported to Washington. The contract proposed building five stations, the main one in Shanghai and four low power stations in Harbin, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. The prospective stations promised to be “an important agency of cooperation between the two governments and peoples,” Schurman claimed. “From all aspects, political, military, and commercial” the ebullient Minister concluded, “the conclusion of this contract is a cause for greatest satisfaction.”1
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RCA quickly put the Federal debacle behind it. The company agreed to two radio contracts with China’s new Nationalist regime in 1928, and had two new stations operational in China by the early 1930s. The optimism surrounding the potential... more
RCA quickly put the Federal debacle behind it. The company agreed to two radio contracts with China’s new Nationalist regime in 1928, and had two new stations operational in China by the early 1930s. The optimism surrounding the potential for Sino-American radiotelegraphy returned in full force. When RCA opened the first of those radio links between China and the United States in 1930, company president James Harbord predicted that the new Sino-American radio connections “will be a factor in bringing China and the United States into a closer relationship.”1 Convinced that a stagnant China had been historically disconnected from the ongoing global march of progress, RCA Vice President William Winterbottom metaphorically claimed that radio made a “breach in the Great Wall of China’s isolation.” “This direct service,” Winterbottom continued, “gives China an independent communication system operated by the Chinese Government to aid in developing foreign markets and increasing her trade and commerce.”2
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W.A. Estes was confused. He had come home to the United States from Shanghai, where he was living, for an extended visit in June 1924. He hoped to bring a radio with him on his return, but he did not wish to run afoul of China’s 1915... more
W.A. Estes was confused. He had come home to the United States from Shanghai, where he was living, for an extended visit in June 1924. He hoped to bring a radio with him on his return, but he did not wish to run afoul of China’s 1915 radio law. This relic of the pre-broadcasting era identified all radio equipment as military contraband and prohibited its importation and possession. Estes contacted the US State Department for guidance as he prepared for his return trip in early 1925. “Before I left China last June I know that many such sets, made in the United States and Europe, were in constant use in Shanghai,” he wrote. Sets were easily acquired, and “reliable firms” sold them. Estes did not base his query solely on the assumption that reliable firms abided by the law; he also mentioned the exhortations of a local minister who urged his parishioners, and their friends living up to 400 miles from Shanghai, to purchase radios. Certainly a minister would not encourage his flock to break the law! But despite indications that the restrictive statute would be eased, Estes continued to receive letters from friends in China lamenting the confiscation of their sets. “I shall be very grateful for information in regard to this matter,” Estes concluded. “I am returning to Shanghai in August and hope to be able to take a radio receiving set with me.”1
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“Mr. Chang” credited his conversion to Christianity in early 1937 to the Shanghai-based Christian broadcasting station XMHD. The American missionary-affiliated Shanghai Christian Broadcasting Association [SCBA] owned and operated XMHD.... more
“Mr. Chang” credited his conversion to Christianity in early 1937 to the Shanghai-based Christian broadcasting station XMHD. The American missionary-affiliated Shanghai Christian Broadcasting Association [SCBA] owned and operated XMHD. The organization celebrated Mr. Chang’s account as an example of harnessing radio’s tremendous power and influence over its listeners in the service of spreading Christianity. “Mr. Chang … having heard talks on public health and hygiene together with the doctrine of Christ became greatly anxious,” the SCBA wrote to the American missionary periodical, The Chinese Recorder. The SCBA further reported that Chang visited their Shanghai office poised to abandon his “false” Buddhist faith and accept the “true” Christian faith. That visit to the SCBA offices ultimately convinced Chang to make the switch. The SCBA touted other success stories as well. A wealthy merchant who lost his fortune when he contracted a debilitating disease found Christ after hearing XMHD’s broadcasts. A former political leader from Jiangsu, once “bitterly opposed Christianity,” also converted after listening to an XMHD program. There was “Mr. Yang,” a printer and “ardent idolator” [sic] who, while recovering from an illness, “casually turned on his wireless.” He heard an XMHD program about good health that also celebrated the virtues of believing in Christ. “Each sentence seemed to fit Mr. Yang exactly,” the SCBA reported. Yang converted, along with his family.1
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As radio newscaster Carroll Duard Alcott was being chauffeured to work on the evening of January 12, 1940, he was ambushed. A car carrying two uniformed members of the Japanese military barreled in front of Alcott’s rickshaw as it moved... more
As radio newscaster Carroll Duard Alcott was being chauffeured to work on the evening of January 12, 1940, he was ambushed. A car carrying two uniformed members of the Japanese military barreled in front of Alcott’s rickshaw as it moved through the streets of Shanghai. Having trapped the rickshaw, Alcott’s terrified puller bolted on foot down a nearby alley. A lieutenant grabbed the American radio personality with the intention of forcing him into his vehicle. Asked to confirm his identity, Alcott denied he was the man they sought. When a moment of doubt entered the officer’s mind, the 220 pound Alcott broke free and hightailed it down the same alley his puller used. Alcott arrived by foot at XMHA, an American-owned radio station, somewhat out of breath, but in time to deliver his scheduled broadcast.1
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Introduction: 'The great blessings that radio will engender in this old and populous land': American Expectations and Radio in China 'We owe nothing to their sensibilities': Federal Telegraph, the Open Door, and the... more
Introduction: 'The great blessings that radio will engender in this old and populous land': American Expectations and Radio in China 'We owe nothing to their sensibilities': Federal Telegraph, the Open Door, and the Washington System in 1920s China 'We are not interested in the politics of the situation': The Radio Corporation of America in Nationalist China, 1928-1937 'By some it is doubted if the Chinese will ever become radio fans': Sino-American Relations and Chinese Broadcasting during the Interwar Era 'As if we lived on Maine St. in Kansas USA': Shortwave Broadcasting and American Mass Media in Wartime China 'Win China for Christ through radio': Religious Broadcasting and the American Missionary Movement in Nationalist China 'Unofficial radio hell-raiser': Radio News and US-Japanese Conflict on the Eve of the Pacific War Conclusion Bibliography
Research Interests: History, American History, History of Science and Technology, Geography, Asian Studies, and 11 moreAmerican Studies, Media Studies, Chinese Studies, Telecommunications, Political Science, Nationalism, Japanese History, History of American Foreign Relations, China, History of the American West, and Historical Studies
By 1946, Cuban–US relations had become strained over radio. Broadcasting from each nation repeatedly crossed borders and interfered with radio reception in the other country. The 1946 North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA)... more
By 1946, Cuban–US relations had become strained over radio. Broadcasting from each nation repeatedly crossed borders and interfered with radio reception in the other country. The 1946 North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) attempted to remedy that problem. This account of the impassioned reactions and heated rhetoric surrounding the 1946 NARBA underscores the enduring strength of national and regional identities in a globalizing world. Encounters with US radio programming in Cuba inspired Cubans to fight for distinctly Cuban radio interests. The resulting 1946 NARBA, which imposed new restrictions on US broadcasting to benefit Cuba, provoked farmers from California and Arizona, who – as those who believed they were the most affected by the new restraints imposed on US radio – railed against their government’s acquiescence. Their reactions, in fact, were deeply entangled with the complex history of US identity formation, which had from the nation’s earliest years priv...