Preceding the album, Dolby submitted a demo of "Airwaves" to be included on a collection titled From Brussels with Love, released on 20 November 1980[8] by Belgian label Les Disques Du Crépuscule.

Dolby's synthesizer work gave the 4 album a polished sheen, especially his Brian Eno–like ambient synth intro to "Waiting for a Girl Like You".

The monies earned from his session work for Foreigner allowed him to finance The Golden Age of Wireless, and the 4 album credit brought him greater notice.

[14] In August, Dolby released a cover of the Joni Mitchell song "The Jungle Line" as a single under the artist name Low Noise, his own project on Happy Birthday Records.

[20]The music of "Europa and the Pirate Twins" is a deliberate merging of past and present, combining modern synthesizers with blues harmonica playing and electronic percussion with handclaps.

[22] EMI Records manufactured and distributed the aforementioned singles and the album, supporting Dolby's own Venice in Peril (VIP) label.

The first US version, issued by Capitol-EMI's Harvest Records imprint, excised the instrumental "The Wreck of the Fairchild" and added the two sides of Dolby's first single, "Leipzig" and "Urges".

[23] Capitol also opted for the single edit of "Airwaves" and abandoned the original UK "comic book" cover in favour of a shot of Dolby on a stage during the production of Bertholt Brecht's Life of Galileo.

After Dolby released the single "She Blinded Me with Science" (with an accompanying music video) in October 1982, backed with "One of Our Submarines",[9] Capitol removed "Urges" and "Leipzig" from the album, added the extended version of "Science" (also known as the "US Mix") and "Submarines", and changed the album's cover art back to its original "comic book" design.

In 1983, Dolby's UK record label, Venice in Peril, followed suit and reissued the album with a similar track listing to the second US version.

In October 1982, Don Shewey of Rolling Stone magazine awarded The Golden Age of Wireless four stars out of five, calling it "one of the most impressive debuts" of 1982.

Shewey compared the album's melodicism to the works of Paul McCartney and concluded that "unlike many synthesizer bands from England, Dolby eschews morbid, droogy drones.

"[25] In The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records (1983), Trouser Press writer Steven Grant praised the album, stating, "Besides demonstrating an unfailing flair for sharp, snappy compositions, Dolby shows himself unusually capable of getting warm, touching feeling out of his synthesizers and his voice, creating an evocative sound that magnificently straddles nostalgia and futurism.

"[27] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Ned Raggett called the album "an intriguing and often very entertaining curio from the glory days of synth pop", comparing Dolby favorably to David Bowie, Bryan Ferry and Gary Numan.

The original UK track listing (including its reappearance on the 2009 Collector's Edition CD) is the only place one can hear the progression of "The Wreck of the Fairchild" into "Airwaves" and then into the synth version of "Radio Silence".

"Fairchild" concludes with the sound of various electronics, including a PPG Wave Computer (an early wavetable synthesizer), which segues into the intro of "Airwaves" with no break.

"Airwaves (Demo)" first appeared on the 1980 compilation cassette From Brussels with Love (the first release by the label Les Disques du Crépuscule), which has been reissued at various times as a double LP, CD and deluxe 2-CD set.

In November 2019, BMG division the Echo Label, which acquired Dolby's catalogue from Warner Music Group in 2017, rereleased the record on vinyl and CD.