Monthly Archives: September 2016

09.15.16
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HACKING BEFORE THE COMPUTER AGE/ CODE WARRIORS/ STEPHEN BUDIANSKY

Stephen Budiansky’s scholarly book CODE WARRIORS, NSA’S CODEBREAKERS AND THE SECRET INTELLIGENCE WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION is a detailed history of the NSA and the historical herculean and expensive effort to crack the codes and cyphers of the enemies of America dating back to pre WWII.  From the successful breaking of the German Enigma code to intercepting and deciphering war-time radio signals, Code Warriors details the massive U.S. intelligence  gathering mechanism that blossomed into a billions of dollars bureaucracy complete with the intrigue of politics, fighting factions and competing egos.

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Budiansky’s impeccable research sets the stage for today’s headlines as the world of hacking and high speed computers has replaced machines that mechanically spun alphabetical and numbered wheels to crack codes of friends and enemies alike.  The author’s pages are not always kind to the  NSA or the CIA.

It almost seems simplistic  that America once constructed huge antenna arrays worldwide to capture information  sometimes with questionable legality. Early satellites intercepted radio signals and a tunnel under the Berlin Wall tapped into Soviet communications.  America spent additional billions safeguarding its own classified military and diplomatic messaging but the Soviets kept pace and the information race equalled the arms race. It all came under the umbrella of signals intelligence.

While Alan Turing and a staff of hundreds took months to crack the German codes at Bletchley Park, today lone wolf hackers invade secret government and private  files with the impunity of key strokes.

Budiansky details the NSA’s obsession with capturing every possible syllable of signal intelligence and then attempting to decipher and make sense of all of the information. The book begs the question as to whether NSA codebreakers have also become hackers as the narrative  transcends  current events.

Code Warrior’s is  valiant in its effort to make highly technical material  understandable for the layman and place the subject in the context of its vital importance in the major world events of the past seventy-five years.

Stephen Budiansky also wrote Blackett’s War and Perilous Fight.

 

 

 

 

 

09.09.16
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MARIO CUOMO/ NEW FROM WILLIAM O’SHAUGHNESSY/ A TIMELY LOOK BACK

Mario Cuomo called him “Brother Bill.”  Therefore, who better than William O’Shaughnessy to publish MARIO CUOMO, Remembrances of  a Remarkable Man.  The book captures their personal relationship  and the unique openness between them. The author shares countless previously unpublished interviews with Mario Cuomo both before and after his  governorship. The author peels back the pages of many of Cuomo’s most remarkable speeches,  delivered by the person who is deemed the best political orator of his day. O’Shaughnessy bares personal witness to Mario Cuomo’s interactions with the famous and less famous.

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O’Shaughnessy has always possessed an impeccable sense of timing. After all he is a radio guy, a medium that lives in the present.  We are  currently in the moment of a political  campaign for the leadership of the free world where neither candidate is trusted by a majority of the American people. The word “orator” will find no place in the newspeak of today. To the contrary, O’Shaughnessy’s  Mario Cuomo reads as a tribute to trustworthiness, statesmanship, vision, empathy, oratory, gravitas and grace. Cuomo’s words leap from the tome’s pages with themes of a “higher calling.”  The book begs the question; What happened to our national discourse?

Mario Cuomo is filled with anecdotal insight into the governor, his friends, his day-to-day, his family and his lifestyle  evolving into a tableau describing why he was admired by millions and loved by those closest to him. Will we see the likes of Mario Cuomo again? O’Shaughnessy is hopeful.

William O’Shaughnessy is president and editorial director of Whitney Media. He has written four other books: Vox Populi, More Riffs, Rants, and Raves, It All Comes Back to Me Now and Airwaves.

 

 

 

09.08.16
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A MAN AND HIS MEDIUM/ ALAN HENRY WITH GORDON HASTINGS

I must explain first that I proudly worked closely with Alan Henry in writing this memoir. It was an inspiration to learn his life story and help define his lasting impact on the broadcasting industry. This is not simply a book about broadcasting. It is much more than that because it speaks of a time when young people with a passion could find supportive and helping hands to launch their career.

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The broadcasting industry is approaching the 100th anniversary of the birth of America’s first commercial radio station, KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. KDKA signed on the air on November 20, 1920.

Emerging through the haze of broadcasting history come the names of individuals that transformed the emerging new technologies of radio and television into broadcast programming that attracted hundreds of millions of listeners and viewers.

Entertainment programming came to the new radio medium inherited from the vaudeville stage. Long form dramatic shows followed including scripted programs like Lux Radio Theater and comedies that included Amos and Andy and Burns and Allen. There were westerns Tom Mix, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and dozens of crime shows including the FBI in Peace and War, The Shadow and Mr. and Mrs. North. It was radio’s Golden Age.

When television exploded in American homes during the 1950s radio needed to reinvent itself by creating new and appealing programs and approaches to position itself for the future. Many stations adopted a Rock & Roll music format while others took a more adventurous, riskier and innovative approach and created what later became All News and Talk Radio.

This is the untold story of Alan Henry, a young boy left on a relative’s doorstep at an early age whom through self reliance, grit and imagination grew to be among America’s most successful radio and television broadcast entrepreneurs, innovators and executives.

Alan Henry took high risks to help create programming that is today universal across all media. Over the decades these formats have launched thousands of individual careers in radio, television, cable television and the Internet.

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Alan Henry’s legacy has left an indelible mark on how Americans use the broadcast media in the 21st century. The book is available now at amazon.com and can be obtained through your local bookstore.