Derek W. Vaillant

Derek W. Vaillant is a historian specializing on the history of radio broadcasting in the U.S. and in France, sound studies, and the social and cultural history of American popular music. His current book project examines the gendered and racialized formation of U.S. broadcasting. He is the author of Across the Waves: How the United States and France Shaped the International Age of Radio (Urbana, 2017) and Sounds of Reform: Progressivism and Music in Chicago, 1873-1935 (Chapel Hill, 2003). He previously worked in public/educational broadcasting, including research and production for "Heat," a Peabody award-winning national public radio series, and A World of Ideas and Listening to America with Bill Moyers at PBS. 

Field(s) of Study

• Historical Approaches to Media and Technology
• International and Comparative Media
• Sound Studies
• Popular Music and Media