My PhD dissertation (Germanic Languages and Literatures, Columbia University) is a media- and literary-historical study of the Gem1an 'Horfilm' [radio-film] between the years 1923 and 1933. The research project will combine traditional literary close reading of works from this genre of radio art with cultural historical analysis of contemporary radio journals and theoretical writings. Along with concepts and methods developed in the neighboring discipline of documentary film history, it will use contemporary media theory to understand the true significance of this improperly understood phenomenon in the history of the radio. It will contribute to the comparative history of realism, where 'realism' is understood to mean not only an aesthetic style but also the codes and conventions of 'actuality', 'veracity' and 'reality' specific to any medium at a given historical moment. In achieving both of these goals, it will further historically-informed comprehension of what is still the world's most popular medium, and perhaps its least understood.