This biography of Charles Herrold focuses on how he used primitive technology to get on the air. Today it is a 50,000-watt station (KCBS, in San Francisco). The authors describe Herrold's story as one of early triumph and final failure, the story of an "everyman," an individual who was an innovator but never received recognition for his work and, as a result, died penniless. His most important work was done between 1912 and 1917, and following World War I, he received a license and operated station KQW for several years before running out of money. Herrold then worked as a radio time salesman, an audiovisual technician for a high school, and a janitor at a local naval facility, still telling anyone who would listen to him that he was the father of radio. The authors also consider some other early inventors, and the directions that their work took.