Newspapers, journals and periodicals were all well-established media
forms by the 1930s but the decade was a time of technological change
when both the radio and the newsreels became forms of mass
communication to stand alongside, complement and often rival the
newspapers. China’s first wireless station — the Osborn Radio Station,
known alternatively as XRO and the Radio Corporation of China — had
opened in 1923 in Shanghai. It transmitted from studios on the roof of
the Dollar Building on the Bund with an initial 65-minute programme of
classical and light music as well as some news. The station estimated
that there were 500 wireless sets in the International Settlement
though, to boost the audience, XRO’s signal was transmitted to Tianjin
and other major areas where foreigners lived. The station was owned
and established by an American journalist called E. G. Osborn and a
wealthy overseas Chinese. Sun Yat-sen declared himself a fan of the
new media but there simply weren’t enough listeners. Despite moving
the studios to the more prestigious roof garden of the Wing On
Department Store on Nanking Road and trying to organise live concerts,
the station failed after a few months due to a combination of precious
few listeners, government distrust and censorship.
[...]
http://www.danwei.org/china_books/pa...foreign_jo.php