Radio im Kopf is an intimate and intellectually vibrant encounter between autobiography, media theory and the history of radio. Shortly before his death in 2022, pioneering media scholar Friedrich Knilli spoke with his daughter, filmmaker and theatre director Maria Knilli, revisiting his childhood in Styria, his experiences of National Socialism and war, and his life and work as a media theorist in Berlin.

At the heart of the book is this final conversation: a personal and philosophical account of a life shaped by sound, technology and the imagination. Knilli’s reflections are complemented by his provocative 1961 treatise on the art of the radio play, an essay by media archaeologist Siegfried Zielinski, and drawings by visual artist Lena Knilli.

A distinctive crossover between intellectual memoir, media history and cultural criticism, Radio im Kopf will appeal to readers of media studies, sound culture, twentieth-century cultural history and experimental nonfiction. Its combination of personal testimony and pioneering media theory gives the book a strong international profile for publishers interested in the intersections of ideas, technology and culture.