This paper examines the unobtrusive ways in which broadcasting sustains the lives and routines, from one day to the next, year in and year out, of whole populations, and reflects on some of the implications of these processes by accounting for the ways in which the times of radio and television are organized in relation to the social spaces of listening and viewing. Topics discussed include: (1) three intersecting planes of temporality that are intrinsic to every moment of social reproduction and a fourth plane which occurs in broadcasting; (2) the process of modernization, after 1834, that demanded new time-keeping habits and work disciplines from whole populations, and with it the necessity for reconstruction of images and emblems of nationhood; (3) the development of radio broadcasting in the 1920s and 1930s and the role the broadcast "year" played in stitching together the private and public spheres in a whole new range of contexts; (4) the narrative features of broadcast serials and the subtle ways in which broadcasting runs parallel and intersects with the life and times of our actual world; (5) program building in these decades, and the historical development of radio in the organization of the rhythm of work and leisure; (6) The Peoples' Activities and Use of Time, a survey of people's time paths through the day, including the data analysis and conclusions; and (7) phased patterns of (in)attention, of listening and viewing, during the day, and how broadcasting is inextricably implicated in these patterns. (37 references) (CGD)