Radio Beginnings

First Radio Stations

Dr. Frank Conrad got a jump on postwar broadcasting because of his connection with the Navy, for whom he had designed equipment.
October 17, 1919 he began broadcasting phonographic records.
The popularity of hearing music forced Conrad to begin broadcasting for two hours on Wed. & Sunday evenings.

Radio Beginnings

World War I

All governmental radio operations were shut down following the U.S. entry into WWI, but the government continued to make strides in broadcast technology.
By 1904 – the Navy had operated 20 wireless stations, closely following the work of Marconi.
Government passed a law in 1912 where the Dept. of Commerce would issue licenses to private broadcasters and assign them wavelengths that did not conflict with government wavelenghts.
1915 – American Telephone & Telegraph Co. used a Navy station in Arlington, VA to send signals across the Atlantic, which were picked up in Honololu.

Radio Beginnings

Inventors/Inventions

Lee De Forest

“Father of Radio”
Invented the “Audion” - forerunner to the vacuum tube and was able to transmit voice. Adding an element that allowed easier reception and more amplification of sound, was the discovery that would push the growth of radio.
A series of experiments in 1907 led to:
Broadcasting concerts enjoyed by ship operators & other wireless enthusiasts.
He and his wife broadcast music from the top of the Eiffel Tower over a distance of 500 miles.
Began daily music broadcasts in 1916.
His transmitter was located on the High Bridge in the Bronx, he broadcast the election returns on Nov. 7, 1916.
Stated Charles Evans Hughes had defeated Woodrow Wilson, which was an error. But, the spectacle of broadcasting important news was impressive.

Charles David “Doc” Herrold

Opened a broadcasting school in 1909.
Built an antenna on the roof of the Garden City Bank Building that was so large, wires spread from the 7 story building to the tops of several adjoining buildings.
Began regularly scheduled, weekly ½ hour news and music program which was made a daily program in 1910.
His wife, Sybil may have been the first woman to broadcast her own show, a musical program for young people.
Herrold claimed to be the 1st “broadcaster” because he aimed his programs at the widest possible audience and he offered the 1st regular programming.
His 15 watt station, with call letters FN, then SJN, became KQW in 1921, and finally KCBS in 1949 (San Francisco).

Radio Beginnings

Transmission of Sound

Sound was made more powerful through the invention of the carbon transmitter.
1877 – Music transmitted over the phone from NYC to Sarasota Springs, NY was accidentially heard in Boston and Providence.
Electricity had leaked to other trunk lines & the waves were inducted through the air.
This proved that sound waves could be set in motion & that they could be detected or received.

Radio Beginnings

Inventors/Inventions

Alexander Graham Bell
1876
Invention of the telephone
Demonstrated the telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
Instrument could be used to transmit music or information to an audience.

Amos Dolbear
Early 1880’s
Tufts College
Used a wireless telephone to send messages about a mile.

Guglielmo Marconi
1890’s
Experimented with the wireless.
February 1896 - Successfully transmitted dots and dashes across his family’s fields in Italy.
Patented the invention.
Transmitted a signal up to 9 miles.
Formed the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd aka Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd.

Nathan B. Stubblefield
1892
Kentucky melon farmer
Credited with talking to a friend some distance away, on his farm, using a wireless telephone.
Over the next ten years:
Near Washington D.C. he sent a voice message from a boat to shore.

Radio Beginnings

1920’s Radio

The atmosphere of the ’20’s was conducive to entertainment in newspapers.
The sensationalized tabloid gave the period the name, “jazz journalism.”
- Human interest stories
- Pictures
- Comic strips
- Other enticing fare.

Radio Beginnings

1920 – The first American radio stations saw a regular public audience.

1970 – Four or five times as many radio and television stations as there were daily newspapers in the U.S.

Network radio and big-screen televison offered home audiences on-the-spot journalistic coverage of history in the making as well as entertainment.