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Connor Kenaston

@cskenaston.bsky.social
465 followers 797 following 45 posts

Historian of the modern US | Writing a book about religion and radio in the American century | Assistant History Prof at Randolph College | PhD @UVA | BA @Yale | WV roots | he/him/his

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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Kind of a 1930s version of what NPR CodeSwitch has called "rep sweats"
npr.org
On The Podcast: Rep Sweats, Or, 'I Don't Know If I Like This, But I Need It To Win'
Kat and Gene hash out something they've been mulling over for a while: that feeling of obligation that you have to root for something, because it's theoretically for you.
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Black Protestants and Latter-day Saints followed programs like Wings over Jordan and Music and the Spoken Word closely—listening every week, rooting for them, cringing at their flaws, trying to shape them
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
But one of my key points: even when these programs reached broad audiences, they often mattered most to the communities they represented (even though the industry often assumed Black listeners didn’t have the $$ for radios and so didn’t imagine them as part of the audience).
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The programs I wrote about were designed to appeal to a cross-section of the audience—and they did. They weren’t crossovers (bc the radio market wasn’t yet segmented like the recording industry) but their mass appeal was a forerunner to Motown, the Golden Gate Quartet, Nat King Cole, etc.
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
At the same time, when they could get on the air, radio often served as a “trapdoor” (Susan J. Douglas) for developing an appreciation of other cultures—partly because radio detached sounds from bodies and was both free and potentially private (no material evidence of what you listened to).
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
This is part of what made it so hard for racial, religious, and ethnic minorities to break into the industry—they were seen as incapable of appealing to a broad audience.
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Radio didn’t really begin to recognize and cater to distinct market segments until the late 1940s. Before that, broadcasting was imagined to appeal to a BROAD audience and therefore targeted the “average American” (thought to be white, middle-class, Protestant, etc).
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
You totally should—I’d love to hear your thoughts! As for segregated music, part of it comes down to the different timeframe between these 1930s/1940s programs and the emergence of CCM.
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Ultimately, this history underscores the complex promise and peril of cultural representation for underrepresented groups. /7 doi.org/10.1017/rac....
doi.org
Coloring Sound: Religion, Race, and Music in Radio’s Network Era | Religion and American Culture | Cambridge Core
Coloring Sound: Religion, Race, and Music in Radio’s Network Era - Volume 34 Issue 3
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Using network records, newspapers, listener letters, and a few extant recordings, the article illustrates the subtle yet integral role of sound in forming racial and religious identities, including the emerging category of “American religion.” /6
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Examining these marginalized programs reveals a more racially diverse radio audience than commonly assumed, as well as how nonwhite Americans listened closely and sought to influence these programs. /5
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
The result was a set of flawed yet beloved programs that both challenged and reinforced the assumed whiteness of network radio and of the nation it purported to reflect. /4
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
To get on the air and to stay there, groups like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Wings over Jordan had to skillfully navigate the demands of white industry executives and multiracial audiences. /3
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Though often dismissed as inconsequential, I show how broadcasting’s so-called Sunday morning “religious ghetto” became home to network radio’s largest concentration of nonwhite performers prior to the 1950s. These exceptional programs shaped how Americans heard race and religion. /2
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
My newest article is out! It argues that racial and religious outsiders, such as Black Protestants and white Latter-day Saints, used sacred music to break into powerful networks' exclusive programming lineups during the height of radio's national influence 🗃️ #amrel #radio
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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Fascinating 👇 Black Protestants & white Latter-day Saints infiltrated networks’ programming lineups, producing sounds that challenged & reinforced assumed whiteness of network radio and the nation, forming racial and religious identities, including the emerging category of “American religion.”
cambridge.org
Coloring Sound: Religion, Race, and Music in Radio’s Network Era | Religion and American Culture | Cambridge Core
Coloring Sound: Religion, Race, and Music in Radio’s Network Era - Volume 34 Issue 3
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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
"Changes to centers and institutes were initially projected to save $4.8 million." Bill Belichick's annual salary is $10 million.
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Laura Ansley @lmansley.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Earlier this year, @wendylrouse.bsky.social was one of the first to sound the alarm about federal censorship of historical work. Today at #AHAPerspectives, she writes about what happened with her own article on the NPS website and the longer history of LGBTQ+ erasure. 🗃️
historians.org
Confronting the Rainbow Panic
The erasure of LGBTQ+ stories from the National Park Service and other government websites has a long history.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11/06/2025
W.E.B. Du Bois on Robert E. Lee: “Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.”
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
This is so ridiculous — she’s apparently down to talk with folks if anyone is interested. @snmrrw.bsky.social , @acluva.bsky.social @bobbyallyn.bsky.social
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
#Facebook appears to have kicked this education professor off its platforms bc she quoted Harvey Milk. #meta apparently considers calling for “a safe and supportive environment” for all young people a form of child exploitation. Happy Pride Month from our corporate overlords! 🌈 #pride #pride2025
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Julia Rose Kraut @juliarosekraut.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
“We are in danger of not being able to help this next generation of American citizens understand the nation’s past,” said Cathy Gorn, the exec. dir. of National History Day. “There’s a lot to lose here.” Canceled remaining National History Day funding: $825,000 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/a...
nytimes.com
Groups Are Told That Federal Humanities Grants Are Canceled (Gift Article)
Letters informed grant recipients that funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities would be redirected to furthering “the president’s agenda.”
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12/02/2025
"[For the Right], D.E.I...is the mere presence of a woman or nonwhite person or disabled or transgender person in any high-skilled, high-status position. And their alternative isn’t some heretofore unknown standard of merit; it is the reintroduction of something like segregation." (gift link)
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump’s War on D.E.I. Is Really a War on Civil Rights
The genius of the right-wing crusade against D.E.I. is that the term is amorphous enough that it can mean many different things to many different people.
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Allison Raine Chapman @alli.gay · 13/02/2025
UPDATE: The National Park Service have now removed “queer” and the “Q+” from the web page for stonewall, along with any mentions of transgender people.
Stonewall page on the National Park Service website:

"By the time of Stonewall... we had 50 to 60 gay groups in the country. A year later... 1500."
Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.
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Allison Raine Chapman @alli.gay · 13/02/2025
‼️ The National Park Service has REMOVED mentions of transgender people being involved with Stonewall. Not only did the remove the world "Transgender" but changed "LGBTQ+" to "LGBQ+". The federal government is attempting to erase us and take away our history. This pride, we riot.
A national park service webpage about Stonewall.

"Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ+) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in
the quest for LGBQ+ civil rights and provided momentum for a movement."
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NPR @npr.org · 13/02/2025
A public State Department procurement document for fiscal year 2025 listed the purchase for $400 million. It comes as ethics experts raise conflict of interest questions about Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is a top White House official.
npr.org
Trump administration set to purchase $400 million worth of armored Teslas
That's according to a public State Department procurement document. It comes as ethics experts raise conflict of interest questions about the chief executive of Tesla, Elon Musk, who is a top White Ho...
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Checks and balances are apparently as outdated as balancing a checkbook #civics #ConstitutionalCrisis
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Joshua Earle, Ph.D. @cyborgapologist.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Every professor should join the AAUP right now if you haven't. www.aaup.org Also join your local campus workers union, or any other union relevant to your work (they do different things!). If the government won't protect us, and our administrations won't protect us, we need to protect each other.
aaup.org
AAUP
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Each executive order is terrible on its own, but the cumulative effect is the impression that POTUS is the government and everything else—Congress, courts, local gov, etc — doesn’t matter.
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Wow, love the design!
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Terribly weak and embarrassing move. He should be a man, like William Henry Harrison.
Trump's inauguration may be moved indoors because of cold weather.
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Cecilia Márquez @profceciliam.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Hi friends! At the end of this semester, I'm going up for tenure 😬😅Could you please🙏let me know if you have assigned my work in your classes?✨Please share so I can find any/all folks and I'll love you forever. Book avail here 30% off: 01UNCP30 t.co/ho6d1T9bQu
t.co
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469676050/making-the-latino-south/
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Aswin Punathambekar @aswinp.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
The Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication @annenbergcargc.bsky.social at @asc.upenn.edu invites applications for a postdoctoral fellowship. We are esp. interested in candidates whose work connects media industries, popular culture, and citizenship. www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...
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Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
For crying out loud Not only is this a fake Jefferson quote, but it's out of character. Over 20,000 Jefferson documents are online. He wrote "Jesus Christ" in only 13. One is a list of books He created his OWN version of the Bible. He also supported the separation of church & state. So...stop.
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Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain, PhD @enc.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Since I couldn't get to #ASCH because of pneumonia, I'll still revel in the joy that @rns.org gave me today in their archival photo section of the newsletter. This photo shows Rev. Elizabeth J. Canham as she celebrated her ordination on December 5, 1981, in the Episcopal Church.
After her ordination as an Episcopal priest on Dec. 5, 1981, the Rev. Elizabeth J. Canham is applauded by fellow clergy at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Newark, N.J. Canham sought ordination in the United States because the Church of England in her native United Kingdom did not accept women as priests. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
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Cassandra Good @cgoodhistorian.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Fellow #academicsky profs working on syllabi & looking for assignments that AI can't complete--check out my book hunt assignment. Students have to search for & check out a book from the library. It was a hit with my survey course this fall! /1 cassandragoodhistorian.com/2024/11/12/t... 🗃️
cassandragoodhistorian.com
The Book Hunt Assignment
This semester, I knew I wanted to swap out the short primary source analysis papers I’d been using in my US History to 1877 survey class. First, it was challenging to prevent AI cheating (whi…
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American Historical Association @historians.org · 27/12/2024
AHA members: The AHA is accepting applications for the 2025-26 research grants until February 15, 2025. Preference will be given to advanced doctoral students, nontenured faculty, and unaffiliated scholars and to those with specific research needs. 🗃️
historians.org
Grants & Fellowships - AHA
AHA Research Grants Grants may be used for travel to a library or archive; microfilming, photography, or photocopying; borrowing or access fees; and similar research expenses-a list of purposes that i...
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Christina Proenza-Coles @proenzacoles.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
On Christmas Eve 1855 enslaved teenagers from Loudon County, Virginia fended off slave patrollers as they made their escape to freedom in Philadelphia. This image, “A Bold Stroke for Freedom,” is housed in the Library of Congress.
Etching of young African American women and men in 19th century dress, three in a wagon, two outside on the ground, pointing pistols at white slave patrollers with rifles.
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
A right wing car maker who bought a media outlet in order to amplify antisemitic conspiracy theories is advocating for a far right German party that promises to expel a disfavored minority? You don’t say.
Henry Ford receiving the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Nazi officials, 1938. (Photo by AP).
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
After thinking abt it for years, I finally asked my students to do online social annotation for their assigned readings and viewings and was pleasantly surprised how well it worked. We used Perusall but Hypothesis is also great!
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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Just in case any of you don’t know about the amazing resources PH have been putting out, including how to implement your own handwriting transcription program (for free for <5000 images/month) programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/t... 🗃️
programminghistorian.org
Transcribing Handwritten Text with Python and Microsoft Azure Computer Vision
Tools for machine transcription of handwriting are practical and labour-saving if you need to analyse or present text in digital form. This lesson will explain how to write a Python program to t...
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Yeah, pretty sure that was the one!
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Jeffries: In our nation's history, 25% of our nation's debt was accumulated during the four years of the former president, 25%. How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility ever.
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
And if you see anyone using student evals negatively in a tenure process … stop them.
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
I also remember reading that in high school (not knowing anything about her) and having a very similar reaction 😝
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American Historical Association @historians.org · 19/12/2024
The call for proposals for #AHA26 is open until February 15, 2025. Our 2026 annual meeting will take place on January 8–11, 2026, in Chicago. The Program Committee welcomes and encourages all historians to submit proposals. 🗃️
historians.org
Call for Proposals - AHA
The AHA's annual meeting is the largest yearly gathering of historians in the United States. All historians are welcome and encouraged to submit proposals. The AHA also invites historically focused pr...
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Josh Kluever @joshkluever.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Any labor #skystorians who want to write a piece for @cliocontemporary.bsky.social about the teamsters Amazon strike that’s set to launch soon? Reach out and let me know! Or suggest someone who may be interested and I can reach out
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Connor Kenaston @cskenaston.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Very cool!
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