With only a few radio and television stations thousands must listen to each station and progress must be based on the few simple ideas which large groups of people have in common. The immediacy of radio has been used effectively in politics for uncomplicated nationalistic appeals. That national leaders have remained in power for unusual lengths of time is a fact not unrelated to the use of radio. Personal magnetism reflected over national networks has produced tendencies toward centralized control, the importance of which can- not be fully assessed.

Harold Innis, The Bias of Communication, loc. 1163