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Recommended: Radio in the past
“The growth and influence of radio broadcasting in the United States is one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of communication. In less than three decades 90.7 percent of…families..have acquired radio receivers. This means 33,998,000 “radio homes” or about 130,000,000 potential listeners” (Bartlett). For countless years in the United States, Americans have turned on the switches of their radios, whether in their cars, in their homes, or in their workplaces, and they have been greeted with the sound of the most popular music at the time and radio hosts discussing the most controversial topics of the time. The radio has become a common household object in homes across America creating a culture of its very own. The use of the radio has made a significant impact in American culture from its early beginnings, to its amateur recreational use, to its professional broadcasting companies, and its use in connected the country as a whole.
The radio works because of sound waves being transmitted from one receptor to the next. Electrons moving through a wire create a magnetic field and when a second wire is placed next to the first the electrons are transmitted. The second wire is then able to turn the moving electrons into an electrical current which produces the same sound that created the moving electrons in the first wire (Gugliotta). Italian inventor, Gulielmo Marconi received the British patent for the radio in 1897. In 1901, Marconi discovered that radio wires did not have to be close to each other to work and that radio signals could be transmitted over very large distances. On December 13, 1901 Marconi successfully transmitted a radio wave 2,000 miles across the ocean from Poldhu, England to St. John’s, Newfoundland. U...
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...First Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph in 1901.” Social Research 72.1 (2005): 107. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
Jenkins, Henry. "Contacting the Past; Early Radio and the Digital Revolution." MIT Communications Forum. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
Keith, Michael C. "Radio's America: The Great Depression and the Rise of Modern Culture." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 53.1 (2009): 157-58. The University of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
Lewis, Tom. “‘A Godlike Presence’: The Impact of Radio on the 1920s and 1930s.” OAH Magazine of History 6.4 (1992): 26-33. JSTOR. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
"The Fireside Chats." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
White, Thomas H. "Amateur Radio After World War One." United States Early Radio History. OneStat, 2003. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
Wireless begins with a brief discussion of the 1995 centennial of the invention of radio by Marconi and a rebuttal by the British historians who oppose this claim. Using underused or previously overlooked or perhaps ignored resources the author disproves the claims against the originality and ingenuity of Marconi's 1897 patent on wireless telegraphy. While credit is given to several British scientists and engineers and their scientific discoveries and inventions, it was Marconi, a practitioner, who made the first significant breakthrough in practical wireless telegraphy when he "connected one end of the plate of the receiver, and one end of the transmitter, to the earth" (p. 20). Marconi transformed these scientific effects into wireless technologies and then exploited them for commercial purposes. The focus of British scientists and engineers on optical analogies, scientific experimentation and demonstration, and the fear of British national interests becoming monopolized (particularly by a foreigner) are the primary reasons for the dispute surrounding Marconi's patent. (By 1897 it was clear how wireless telegraphy would impact military interests.) The author shows in great detail how British scientists and engineers, namely physicist Oliver Lodge, J. J. Thomson, Minchin, Rollo Appleyard, and Campbell Swinton, deliberately constructed false scientific and social claims to discredit the originality of Marconi's patent.
Radio waves were first discovered in 1887, but radio itself was initially invented by Italian Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 (1). His biggest mentioned success was in 1901, when he managed to broadcast the letter “S” across the Atlantic Ocean (1). However, he focused primarily on point-to-point transmissions, not large scale broadcasts from one point (F). As such, three American inventors - Lee De Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff - took credit for making radio as it is today a success (F). De Forest was born and raised in Alabama and he thought of everything in terms of patents and eventually held more than 300, but many claimed that he simply stole the inventions of others (2). In 1900, he patented a device to enhance weak signals and in 1902, he formed the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company (1). In the same year. Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian, invented the “electrolytic detector”, which later became the spade detector that brought De Forest so much fame (F). In 1904, John Fleming invented the oscillation valve, which later became De Forest’s audion, and De Forest won the gold medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair for his “spade detector” (F). De Forest gained quite a bit of fame by broadcasting music live from the Eiffel Tower and from the Metropolitan Opera; however, many believed that this was a scam and that he had actually had the device broadcasting the signal only a few blocks away (F). In 1906, he envisioned bringing music and voices to all American households, but as it turns out Canadian inventor Fessenden had already broadcasted a Christmas greeting and music to the crew of a ship off the coast of Canada on Christmas Eve a year earlier (F). In 1912, Armstrong became prominent by inventing regeneration, wh...
-In the 1930s there were basically three types of radio stations: the large networks, the network afilliates,and the idependent stations.
Thesis: Though Britain’s victory in World War II was due to international alliances, radio propaganda was a primary factor in the nation’s success and economic endurance throughout the war.
"Spotlight on the Golden Age of Radio." The Home of Digital Deli's Golden Age Radio History, Vintage Radio Resources, and Nostalgia pages. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .
In the 1930s, the United States was recovering from the Great Depression, and the urban audience needed products that would bring comfort and get-away opportunities. At the same time, radio broadcasting became more common in the country, bringing affordable entertainment to the public. In one account, ordinary southerners would listen to the radio on Saturday night as “there wasn’t nothing else doing.” Producers travelled in the South, including the Appalachian region, to record the rich, local, and traditional mus...
Retrieved from http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/case-against-lt-milo-radulovich/content?oid=44316 (Boeck) Campbell, W. J. (2010, March 08). Recalling, and doubting, television's 'finest half hour. Retrieved from http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/recalling-and-challenging-televisions-finest-half-hour/ (Campbell, 2010) Handman, G. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html Wershba, J.. Edward r. murrow and the time of his time.
Paul S. Boyer. "Television." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved November 24, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Television.html
Ever since technology has advanced, it played a major role in bringing the American culture in Canadian homes, especially through radio. This resulted Canadians to become more familiar with American artists and performers, because of this, the Aird Commissions were concerned of Canada losing its identity to Americanization, thus was the birth of the successful Canadian Broadcasting Commission as its purpose was to “engage in the quick distribution of news across Canada...and providing exposure to Canadian compositions.” (“Creation of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation”) To begin with, CBC radio was successful because it established a powerful sense of national unity across Canada. This connected Canadians coast to coast with news about what was happening everyday in the urbanized life, and exchanged cultural expressions that were made available in French and English to reflect on national consciousness and identity. Without having to rely on American culture, CBC allowed more airtime with only Canadian content by replacing American cult...
The article that appeared in Fortune entitled “Radio’s Stern Challenge” by John Helyar discusses Sirius’ marketing strategy to not only take market share from the entrenched and free terrestrial radio industry but also to beat its only competitor, XM. The Fortune article presents how a fat and lazy radio industry has failed to react to an eroding listening base and an increasing number of competing technologies. Issues like lack of attention to programming, no on-air talent, and an increase of 166% in the time devoted to commercials have driven listeners away from radio. Teens aged 12-17 spend 11% less time listening to radio compared to five years ago and adults 18-24 spend 13% less time compared to five years ago (Helyar, 2004). The article further discusses that terrestrial radio has much to fear from competing technologies like satellite radio, streaming digital radio on the Internet, and Apple’s iPod. What terrestrial radio does have in its favor is that it’s free compared to any of the current competing technologies like satellite radio.
The 1920's brought many advancements in technology which allowed Americans to entertain themselves at home; the radio was one of them. The radio was actually developed before the 1920's; however, it was banned during World War I and allowed to reappear after the Prohibition ended in 1919 (Events 72). After the Prohibition ended, and radio broadcasting was being brought back to life, many people started up their first stations, like Frank Conrad (Events 72). Frank Conrad's first broadcast consisted of the Presidential Election results (Events 72). As Conrad was one of the first people to broadcast, KDKA was one of the first radio stations to appear in the Unite...
"Short History of Radio A Short History of Radio With an Inside Focus on Mobile Radio." fcc.gov. Version 2003-2004. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. .
Radio-wave technology is one of the most important technologies used by man. It has forever changed the United States and the world, and will continue to do so in the future. Radio has been a communications medium, a recreational device, and many other things to us. When British physicist James Clerk Maxwell published his theory of electromagnetic waves in 1873, he probably never could have envisioned the sorts of things that would come of such a principle. His theory mainly had to do with light waves, but fifteen years later, a German physicist named Heinrich Hertz was able to electrically generate MaxwellÕs ÒraysÓ in his lab. The discovery of these amazing properties, the later invention of a working wireless radio, and the resulting technology have been instrumental to AmericaÕs move into the Information Age. The invention of radio is commonly credited to Guglielmo Marconi, who, starting in 1895, developed the first ÒwirelessÓ radio transmitter and receiver. Working at home with no support from his father, but plenty from his mother, Marconi improved upon the experiments and equipment of Hertz and others working on radio transmission. He created a better radio wave detector or cohere and connected it to an early type of antenna. With the help of his brothers and some of the neighborhood boys he was able to send wireless telegraph messages over short distances. By 1899 he had established a wireless communications link between England and France that had the ability to operate under any weather conditions. He had sent trans-Atlantic messages by late 1901, and later won the Nobel prize for physics in 1909. Radio works in a very complicated way, but hereÕs a more simple explanation than youÕll get from most books: Electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths are produced by the transmitter, and modulations within each wavelength are adjusted to carry ÒencodedÓ information. The receiver, tuned to read the frequency the transmitter is sending on, then takes the encoded information (carried within the wave modulations), and translates it back into the sensory input originally transmitted. Many of the men who pioneered radio had designs for it. Marconi saw it as the best communication system and envisioned instant world-wide communication through the air. David Sarnoff ( later the head of RCA and NBC) had a vision of Òa radio receiver in every homeÓ in 1916, although the real potential of radio wasnÕt realized until after World War I.
The radio accommodated people’s desire to have fun by introducing them to a new entertainment experience. People could now listen to news, music, entertainment shows, and weather forecasts. Families would gather around the radio for night-time entertainment. (Radio in the 1920s) People would schedule their day-to-day activities around popular radio shows. Young individuals started to dance to the most current jazz music and ministers would broadcast their Sunday sermons to many listeners. (Radio Craze, Class Zone) The radio offered free entertainment in the home which was a blessing for the ill, the restricted, parents of small children, and those merely fatigued after a day's labor. Additionally, people were now able to share this source of entertainment with everyone. Radio “entertainment shows resembling vaudeville stage shows, short skits, and live comedy acts… (were) popular family entertainment.” (The history of radio and the 1920′s radio craze, 2011) However, radio had some ne...
Bellis, Mary. The History of the Electric Telegraph and Telegraphy: The Beginning of Electronic Communications. About.com. Retrieved 7/11/2011 from http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/telegraph.htm