A Century of Radio

since there were no movies 1920-1930,they relied on the radio

A Century of Radio

1900-1910 - BIRTH

1. THE INVENTION OF THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPH: Guglielmo (Bill)
Marconi has ideas for an invention that will (a) replace the wired
telegraph, (b) help ensure the safety of ships at sea. Marconi sends, in
1900, his famous S (dit dit dit) in Morse code from England to Canada.
2. FROM WIRELESS TELEGRAPH TO WIRELESS TELEPHONE: Inventors like
Lee de Forest and Reginald Fessenden want to find a wireless substitute for
the wired telephone. The human voice could add a nuance to communication
not possible with the telegraph, but people like Marconi decry it, saying
it will not be private and others will be able to hear it.
3. THE FIRST BROADCAST: In 1906 at Brant Rock MA, Fessenden plays
his violin, sings a song, reads a bible verse or two into a wireless
telephone of his own invention. This is the first broadcast and it happens
Christmas Eve, 1906. It is a broadcast because it is designed for more than
one listener (not 2-way) it is pre-announced. His goal is to find financial
backers.
4. LEE DE FOREST: Probably the most important person in the
development of radio, de Forest does two important demonstrations of
wireless telephone; (1) in 1907 he equips the Navy fleet with his wireless
telephone, an arc transmitter, and plays phonograph records to shore
stations as the fleet comes into ports like San Francisco, and (2) in NYC
he broadcasts on several occasions well-known opera singers to an audience
of reporters. He wants to bring culture into homes.
5. CHARLES HERROLD: In San Jose, Herrold in April 1910 is quoted in
a notarized affidavit published in a national magazine, "we have given
wireless phonograph concerts to amateur men in Santa Clara Valley," one of
the very first published references to what we now know as the activities
of radio broadcasting to an audience of more than one. He operates a
wireless training schools, The Herrold College of Wireless and Engineering
in a building at the corner of First and San Fernando.
1910-1920 - EXPERIMENTATION
1. CHARLES HERROLD: Between 1912 and 1917 Herrold and his students
are broadcasting music and talk on a regular schedule to a growing San Jose
audience. College radio. He also broadcasts every day to receiving stations
at the Pan Pacific International Exhibition in 1915.
2. WORLD WAR ONE: April, 1917. All amateur wireless stations are
ordered shut down, silent, so that the Government can use radio for defense
purposes. The war is important to radio technically as the vacuum tube,
invented earlier by de Forest is improved for war communication, and all
other radio patents are pooled for defense reasons.
3. LEE DEFOREST: After the wartime ban on wireless ends in 1918 he
sets up a station in High Bridge NY, and broadcasts music, news, election
returns, etc to NYC, this time using his vacuum tube as a transmitter. The
Federal Radio Inspector shuts him down saying "there is no place on the
ether for entertainment." Most still believed that radio should be for
two-way communication, and there was general agreement that the Navy would
be in charge of all radio. De Forest comes to San Francisco and sets up
another station in 1919 and broadcasts daily.
4. FRANK CONRAD: Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, PA a Westinghouse
Corporation engineer named Frank Conrad had been allowed by the government
to be on the air during the war to develop the de Forest vacuum tube into a
transmitter for the war effort. He uses a phonograph to test the audio; he
gets calls from a few experimenters who are, in defiance of government
order, illegally listening to his tests. He plays records to this
clandestine audience every Saturday Night.

1920-1930 - RADIO ARRIVES

1. LICENSED RADIO BROADCASTING: Conrad's company, Westinghouse,
asks him to go on the air on a regular basis to send out music and they'll
sell radios to pay for the service. They apply for a commercial radio
license and in November, 1920, KDKA goes on the air to broadcast the
election returns of the Harding-Cox presidential contest. Westinghouse
takes out ads in the newspaper advertising radios for sale to the home
consumer. This station receives the first official government license. The
dark years of war give way to peace and prosperity.
2. BROADCASTING'S DECADE: Within a few years there are hundreds of
stations entertaining thousands of people who buy or build their own
receivers, mostly crystal sets with earphones. Under a
government-sanctioned agreement, the Radio Corporation, RCA is formed to
manage the patents for the technology of the receiver and transmitter.
General Electric and Westinghouse are allowed to make receivers, Western
Electric is allowed to build transmitters and AT&T is allowed to engage in
"toll broadcasting" and "chain broadcasting."
3. TECHNOLOGY: The decade begins with people listening to home made
crystal sets with headphones, progresses to large battery-operated sets
with dozens of dials and a horn speaker to electric console radios designed
as fine furniture, single knob tuning and loudspeakers.
4. ADVERTISING: By 1923, WEAF in New York accepts the first "radio
ad." Because this station is owned by AT&T, it is the only station allowed
to engage in "toll broadcasting" under the RCA agreements. Other stations
are already advertising because no one can stop them. Many stations are
owned by businesses and their only reason for broadcasting is to sell
something.
5. NETWORKS: Having broken the AT&T monopoly on "chain
broadcasting" NBC and CBS are formed as the first radio networks by the
late 1920s.

6. REGULATION: The radio dial is filled with hundreds of
un-regulated transmitters, many interfering with each other to the point
where no one can get clear reception. The Federal Radio Commission is
formed and the Radio Act of 1927 is passed which re-assigns stations to
clearer frequencies, and for the first time makes radio stations operate in
the public interest, convenience and necessity. The decade ends with radio
as a fully formed industry. Amos and Andy is #1. The roaring 20s will give
way
to the great depression. A major social change is on the way.

References:http://www.californiahistoricalradio.com/100years.html retrieved
on March 2,2009