Life — March 4, 1926 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine, March 4, 1926 - "The Correct Time" This cover satirizes early radio's cultural impact. The illustration shows three figures: a man at a broadcasting microphone (center), a couple kissing in the background. The caption "The Correct Time" and "Radio Number" suggest the joke concerns radio broadcasts providing official time announcements. The satire appears to target how radio was transforming social life—the implication being that couples were now timing romantic moments by radio broadcasts, or that radio's intrusion into domestic spaces was affecting intimate behavior. The caricatured figures and their exaggerated poses underscore the comic absurdity of technology dictating personal conduct. This reflects 1920s anxieties about radio's rapid penetration into American homes and its influence on traditional social customs.