Carl Dreher (February 16, 1896 – July 13, 1976) was an American
electrical engineer
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
, two-time
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
, and an author who primarily dealt with technical and scientific topics. Directly involved with two technological revolutions—the introduction of radio broadcasting and the development of sound movies—he observed that "No form of communication was safe from the innovative drive of electronics."
Radio engineer
Dreher was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1896, and emigrated to the United States in 1899. Beginning in 1908 he operated a small amateur radio station while living in the Bronx, and in 1916 qualified for a First Class-First Grade commercial radiotelegraph operator's license. He attended Townsend Harris Hall, the
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
(CCNY) preparatory school, graduating in 1913. He then enrolled at CCNY, where his primary instructor was Dr.
Alfred N. Goldsmith. The United States entered World War One in April 1917, and Dreher received his B.S. degree in May, a month early, on the condition that he take a civilian position that aided the war effort. He began employment with the
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America
The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (commonly called American Marconi) was incorporated in 1899. It was established as a subsidiary of the British Marconi Company and held the U.S. and Cuban rights to Guglielmo Marconi's radio (then ...
, working on war contracts in the company's test shop in Aldene, New Jersey, and also became a member of the
Institute of Radio Engineers
The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical a ...
(IRE).
In 1919 American Marconi's assets were purchased by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
and reorganized as the
Radio Corporation of America
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
(RCA). From 1921 to 1923 Dreher worked as an operating engineer at RCA's transatlantic radiotelegraph station located at Riverhead, Long Island. In May 1923, RCA established two showcase broadcasting stations, WJZ (now
WABC) and
WJY, at "Aeolian Hall" in New York City. Dreher was initially the facility's chief control operator, but was soon promoted to engineer-in-charge. Drawing on his experiences, he published articles about radio technology and the emerging broadcasting industry, including, beginning in March 1925, the monthly "As the Broadcaster Sees It" column in ''Radio Broadcast'' magazine.
Sound engineer
In 1922, Dreher had participated in RCA's review of
Charles A. Hoxie Charles A. Hoxie (1867–1941) creator of the pallophotophone at General Electric, and is credited as one of the inventors of sound film, and as father of the "talking picture".
During his career (1912–32) at General Electric, he devised a so ...
's system for recording radiotelegraph signals. It was found to be impractical for that purpose, but was later developed into the
RCA Photophone
RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was an opt ...
sound-on-film
Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...
process for recording movie audio. In March 1928 an RCA subsidiary was incorporated in order to promote Photophone, and Dreher became chief engineer of the new company.
In October 1928 RCA joined with Joseph P. Kennedy to form the
Radio-Keith-Orpheum
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
(RKO) movie studio in Hollywood, California. A year later, Dreher became the new studio's Director of Recording — a promotion that resulted in his salary being doubled. While at RKO, he developed a parabolic microphone, and regularly wrote about the changing technological advances. During this time, Dreher was nominated for two
Sound Recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...
Academy Awards, for the films ''
The Gay Divorcee
''The Gay Divorcee'' is a 1934 American musical film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It also features Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, and Erik Rhodes (actor, born 1906), Erik Rhodes. The sc ...
''
and ''
I Dream Too Much''.
RKO was formed with the expectation that it would become a major factor in the movie business. However, due to the effects of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, plus mismanagement and general organizational turmoil, the company went into a bankruptcy receivership that lasted for seven years.
Writer
Dreher's writing career dated back to early 1915, when he produced a weekly column, "Wireless for Amateurs", for the ''Rockville Centre Owl''. Disillusioned by the chaos of the constant and ineffective reorganizations at RKO, in 1936, at the age of forty, he decided to quit his "job you could do only by sabotaging yourself as a human being", to become a full-time freelance writer.
He was successful in his new career. During World War II, he served as a Major with the Army Air Corps, producing and directing training films. After the war he wrote for multiple publications including ''Popular Science'', ''The Rotarian'', ''Harpers'', and the ''Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers'', in addition to being the science editor for ''The Nation'' for the last fifteen years of his life. His final book, ''Sarnoff: An American Success'', was published posthumously in 1977. It is best known for fully dispelling the myth that in 1912
David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career, he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly afte ...
, while working as a New York City radiotelegraph operator, had been the first person to hear the distress call sent by the
RMS Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
and had operated as the primary contact in the subsequent communications.
[''Titanic Century: Media, Myth, and the Making of a Cultural Icon'' by Paul Heyer, 2012, page 50.]
Selected filmography
* ''
The Gay Divorcee
''The Gay Divorcee'' is a 1934 American musical film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It also features Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, and Erik Rhodes (actor, born 1906), Erik Rhodes. The sc ...
'' (1934)
* ''
I Dream Too Much'' (1935)
* ''
The Crime of Doctor Hallet
''The Crime of Doctor Hallet'' is a 1938 American drama film, directed by S. Sylvan Simon and starring Ralph Bellamy, Josephine Hutchinson, William Gargan, Barbara Read, John 'Dusty' King, and Charles Stevens. The film was released by Universal ...
'' (1938)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreher, Carl
1896 births
1976 deaths
American audio engineers
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States
20th-century American engineers