BOOK DATA Eleanor Patterson, Bootlegging the Airwaves: Alternative Histories of Radio and Television Distribution. University of Illinois Press, 2024. $110 cloth; $28 paper; $19.95 e-book. 208 pages.
Eleanor Patterson’s first monograph, Bootlegging the Airwaves: Alternative Histories of Radio and Television Distribution, contends with unofficial, and occasionally clandestine, methods of radio and television distribution. Patterson explores audience-created distribution networks through four major fandoms: old-time radio (OTR), buddy-cop shows, Star Trek, and professional wrestling. While each fandom has its own culture and peculiarities, Patterson threads their commonalities of mutual aid, amateur archival sensibilities, and investment in self-aware media analysis. Due to the precarious nature of fan communities, Patterson’s primary sources draw heavily on fanzines and personal interviews, supplemented by establishment archival records (e.g., the National Broadcasting Company [NBC] records in Wisconsin). Through these four case studies, Patterson shows how bootlegging offered content consumption outside of the norms and expectations...