The early history of radio is the

history of technology The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques and is one of the categories of world history. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and info ...

that produces and uses radio instruments that use

radio wave Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz (GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (short ...

s. Within the

timeline of radio The timeline of radio lists within the history of radio, the technology and events that produced instruments that use radio waves and activities that people undertook. Later, the history is dominated by programming and contents, which is closer t ...

, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

. Radio development began as "

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...

". Later radio history increasingly involves matters of

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

Discovery

In an 1864 presentation, published in 1865, James Clerk Maxwell proposed theories of

electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...

, with mathematical proofs, that showed that light and predicted that radio and x-rays were all types of electromagnetic waves propagating through

free space A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

. Between 1886 and 1888

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz Heinrich Rudolf Hertz ( ; ; 22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The unit o ...

published the results of experiments wherein he was able to transmit electromagnetic waves (radio waves) through the air, proving Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. ''Electric waves; being research on the propagation of electric action with finite velocity through space''
by Heinrich Rudolph Hertz (English translation by Daniel Evan Jones), Macmillan and Co., 1893, pp. 1–5 Thus, given Hertz comprehensive discoveries, radio waves were referred to as "Hertzian waves".

Exploration of optical qualities

$Refraction of Hertzian waves by a paraffin lens 1897$ After the discovery of what came to be called "Hertzian waves" (it would take almost 20 years for the term "radio" to be universally adopted for this type of electromagnetic radiation) many scientists and inventors experimented with transmitting and detecting them. Maxwell's theory showing that light and Hertzian electromagnetic waves were the same phenomenon at different wavelengths led "Maxwellian" scientists such as John Perry,

Frederick Thomas Trouton Frederick Thomas Trouton FRS (; 24 November 1863 – 21 September 1922) was an Irish physicist known for Trouton's rule and experiments to detect the Earth's motion through the luminiferous aether. Life and work Trouton was born in Dubli ...

and Alexander Trotter to assume they would be analogous to optical light. Following Hertz' untimely death in 1894, Professors

Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, H ...

presented a widely covered lecture on Hertzian (radio) waves at the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

on June 1 of the same year. Lodge focused on the optical qualities of the waves and demonstrated how to transmit, reflect, and detect them (using an improved variation of French physicist

Édouard Branly Édouard Eugène Désiré Branly (23 October 1844 – 24 March 1940) was a French inventor, physicist and professor at the Institut Catholique de Paris. He is primarily known for his early involvement in wireless telegraphy and his invention of the ...

's detector Lodge named the "

coherer The coherer was a primitive form of radio signal detector used in the first radio receivers during the wireless telegraphy era at the beginning of the 20th century. Its use in radio was based on the 1890 findings of French physicist Édouard Bran ...

"). During part of the demonstration radio waves were sent from the neighboring

Clarendon Laboratory The Clarendon Laboratory, located on Parks Road within the Science Area in Oxford, England (not to be confused with the Clarendon Building, also in Oxford), is part of the Department of Physics at Oxford University. It houses the atomic and ...

building, and received by apparatus in the lecture theater.James P. Rybak
Oliver Lodge: Almost the Father of Radio
page 5-6, from Antique Wireless PSM V83 D416 Oliver Joseph Lodge

Building on the work of Lodge,Mukherji, Visvapriya, ''Jagadish Chandra Bose, 2nd ed.'' 1994. Builders of Modern India series, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. . the Bengali Indian physicist

Jagadish Chandra Bose Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (;, ; 30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a biologist, physicist, Botany, botanist and an early writer of science fiction. He was a pioneer in the investigation of radio microwave optics, made significant contr ...

further explored the optical nature these waves. He conducted his experiments using very short wavelengths (closer to visible light in the

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

range) which allowed him to explore the relationship between radio waves and light while using much smaller antennas, reflectors, and prisms as test equipment. He published the paper "On polarisation of electric rays by double-refracting crystals" in May 1895 followed by a second paper sent to the Royal Society of London in October 1895. Bose would latter write an essay, "Adrisya Alok" ("Invisible Light") on how during 1895 he conducted a public demonstration at the Town Hall of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

using millimeter-range-wavelength microwaves to trigger detectors that ignited gunpowder and rang a bell at a distance.

Proposed applications

Between 1890 and 1892 physicists such as John Perry,

and

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing t ...

proposed electromagnetic or Hertzian waves as a navigation aid or means of communication, with Crookes writing on the possibilities of wireless

telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

based on Hertzian waves in 1892.Hong (2001) pages 5-10 Among physicist, what were perceived as technical limitations to using these new waves, such as delicate equipment, the need for large amounts of power to transmit over limited ranges, and its similarity to already existent optical light transmitting devices, lead them to a belief that applications were very limited. The Serbian American engineer

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

line of sight The line of sight, also known as visual axis or sightline (also sight line), is an imaginary line between a viewer/observer/spectator's eye(s) and a subject of interest, or their relative direction. The subject may be any definable object taken ...

. There was speculation that this fog and stormy weather penetrating "invisible light" could be used in maritime applications such as lighthouses,Hong (2001) pages 5-10 including the London journal ''The Electrician'' (December 1895) commenting on Bose's achievements, saying "we may in time see the whole system of coast lighting throughout the navigable world revolutionized by an Indian Bengali scientist working single handed yin our Presidency College Laboratory." In 1895, adapting the techniques presented in Lodge's published lectures, Russian physicist

Alexander Stepanovich Popov Alexander Stepanovich Popov (sometimes spelled Popoff; russian: Алекса́ндр Степа́нович Попо́в; – ) was a Russian physicist, who was one of the first persons to invent a radio receiving device. declassified 8 Januar ...

built a

lightning detector A lightning detector is a device that detects lightning produced by thunderstorms. There are three primary types of detectors: ''ground-based'' systems using multiple antennas, ''mobile systems'' using a direction and a sense antenna in the same l ...

that used a coherer based radio receiver. He presented it to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society on May 7, 1895. A depiction of the lightning detector was printed in the ''Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society'' the same year (publication of the minutes 15/201 of this session – December issue of the journal RPCS).

Marconi and radio telegraphy

In 1894, the young Italian inventor

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...

began working on the idea of building long-distance wireless transmission systems based on the use of Hertzian waves (radio waves), a line of inquiry that he noted other inventors did not seem to be pursuing. Marconi read through the literature and used the ideas of others who were experimenting with radio waves but did a great deal to develop devices such as portable transmitters and receiver systems that could work over long distances, turning what was essentially a laboratory experiment into a useful communication system. By August 1895, Marconi was field testing his system but even with improvements he was only able to transmit signals up to one-half mile, a distance Oliver Lodge had predicted in 1894 as the maximum transmission distance for radio waves. Marconi raised the height of his antenna and hit upon the idea of grounding his transmitter and receiver. With these improvements the system was capable of transmitting signals up to and over hills. Marconi's experimental apparatus proved to be the first engineering-complete, commercially successful

radio transmission Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

system.Correspondence to the editor of the Saturday Review, ''The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art''
"The Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy: A Reply"
from Guglielmo Marconi (3 May 1902, pages 556-558) an
"Wireless Telegraphy: A Rejoinder"
from Silvanus P. Thompson (10 May 1902, pages 598-599) Marconi's apparatus is also credited with saving the 700 people who survived the tragic ''

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 ...

'' disaster."A Short History of Radio"
Winter 2003-2004 (FCC.gov) In 1896, Marconi was awarded British patent 12039, ''Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-for'', the first patent ever issued for a Hertzian wave (radio wave) base wireless telegraphic system. In 1897, he established a radio station on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, England. Marconi opened his "wireless" factory in the former

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

-works at Hall Street,

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, England, in 1898, employing around 60 people. Shortly after the 1900s, Marconi held the patent rights for radio. Marconi would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 and be more successful than any other inventor in his ability to ''commercialize'' radio and its associated equipment into a global business. In the US some of his subsequent patented refinements (but not his original radio patent) would be overturned in a 1935 court case (upheld by the US Supreme Court in 1943). In June 1912 Marconi opened the world's first purpose-built radio factory at New Street Works in Chelmsford, England.

Audio transmission

In the late 1890s, Canadian-American inventor

Reginald Fessenden Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) was a Canadian-born inventor, who did a majority of his work in the United States and also claimed U.S. citizenship through his American-born father. During his life he received hundre ...

came to the conclusion that he could develop a far more efficient system than the spark-gap transmitter and coherer receiver combination. To this end he worked on developing a high-speed alternator (referred to as "an alternating-current dynamo") that generated "pure sine waves" and produced "a continuous train of radiant waves of substantially uniform strength", or, in modern terminology, a

continuous-wave A continuous wave or continuous waveform (CW) is an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency, typically a sine wave, that for mathematical analysis is considered to be of infinite duration. It may refer to e.g. a laser or particl ...

(CW) transmitter. While working for the

United States Weather Bureau The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the p ...

Cobb Island Cobb Island is a small island located at the confluence of the Potomac and Wicomico rivers in southern Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is located approximately south of Washington, and is considered to be within the Washington, D.C ...

, Maryland, Fessenden researched using this setup for audio transmissions via radio. By fall of 1900, he successfully transmitted speech over a distance of about 1.6 kilometers (one mile),"Experiments and Results in Wireless Telephony" by John Grant, ''The American Telephone Journal''
Part I
January 26, 1907, pages 49–51
Part II
February 2, 1907, pages 68–70, 79–80. which appears to have been the first successful audio transmission using radio signals. Although successful, the sound transmitted was far too distorted to be commercially practical. According to some sources, notably Fessenden's wife Helen's biography, on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

1906,

used an Alexanderson alternator and rotary

spark-gap transmitter A spark-gap transmitter is an obsolete type of radio transmitter which generates radio waves by means of an electric spark."Radio Transmitters, Early" in Spark-gap transmitters were the first type of radio transmitter, and were the main type use ...

to make the first radio audio broadcast, from

Brant Rock, Massachusetts Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, composed of the neighborhoods of Ocean Bluff, Brant Rock, Fieldston, and Rexhame in the town of Marshfield. The population of the CDP ...

. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing ''

O Holy Night "O Holy Night" (original title: ) is a well-known sacred song for Christmas performance. Originally based on a French-language poem by poet Placide Cappeau, written in 1843, with the first line (Midnight, Christian, is the solemn hour) that co ...

'' on the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and reading a passage from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. Around the same time American inventor

Lee de Forest Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor and a fundamentally important early pioneer in electronics. He invented the first electronic device for controlling current flow; the three-element "Audion" triode va ...

experimented with an arc transmitter, which unlike the discontinuous pulses produced by spark transmitters, created steady "continuous wave" signal that could be used for

amplitude modulated Amplitude modulation (AM) is a modulation technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting messages with a radio wave. In amplitude modulation, the amplitude (signal strength) of the wave is varied in proportion to t ...

(AM) audio transmissions. In February 1907 he transmitted electronic

telharmonium The Telharmonium (also known as the Dynamophone) was an early electrical organ, developed by Thaddeus Cahill c. 1896 and patented in 1897. , filed 1896-02-04. The electrical signal from the Telharmonium was transmitted over wires; it was hear ...

music from his laboratory station in New York City. This was followed by tests that included, in the fall,

Eugenia Farrar Eugenia Farrar (1875—1966), whose full name was Ada Eugenia Hildegard von Boos Farrar, was a mezzo-soprano singer and philanthropist. She was born in Sweden and lived most of her life in New York City. In the fall of 1907 she gave what is comm ...

singing "I Love You Truly". In July 1907 he made ship-to-shore transmissions by radiotelephone—race reports for the Annual Inter-Lakes Yachting Association (I-LYA) Regatta held on

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

—which were sent from the steam yacht ''Thelma'' to his assistant, Frank E. Butler, located in the Fox's Dock Pavilion on

South Bass Island South Bass Island is a small island in western Lake Erie, and a part of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. It is the southernmost of the three Bass Islands and located 3 miles (4.6 km) from the south shore of Lake Erie. It is the third l ...

Broadcasting

The Dutch company ''Nederlandsche Radio-Industrie'' and its owner engineer,

Hanso Idzerda Hanso Schotanus á Steringa Idzerda (26 September 1885 – 2 November 1944) was a Dutch scientist, entrepreneur and pioneer in radio technology. Between 1907 and 1917 he worked to introduce the already invented triode into radio technology. In ...

, made the first regular wireless broadcast for entertainment from its workshop in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

on 6 November 1919. The company manufactured both transmitters and receivers. Its popular program was broadcast four nights per week on AM 670 metres, until 1924 when the company ran into financial troubles. On 27 August 1920, regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, pioneered by

Enrique Telémaco Susini Enrique Telémaco Susini (January 31, 1891 – July 4, 1972) was an Argentine entrepreneur and media pioneer. In 1920, Susini led the effort for the first radio broadcast in Argentina, and subsequently established one of the earliest regular ra ...

and his associates, and

spark gap A spark gap consists of an arrangement of two conducting electrodes separated by a gap usually filled with a gas such as air, designed to allow an electric spark to pass between the conductors. When the potential difference between the conduct ...

telegraphy stopped. On 31 August 1920 the first known radio news program was broadcast by station 8MK, the unlicensed predecessor of

WWJ (AM) WWJ (950 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to serve Detroit, Michigan, featuring an all-news format known as "Newsradio 950 WWJ". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services Metro Detroit, is the market affiliate for CBS News R ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

under ownership of the CBS network. The first college radio station began broadcasting on October 14, 1920, from Union College, Schenectady,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

under the personal call letters of Wendell King, an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

student at the school. Also in October 1920, 2ADD (renamed

WRUC WRUC (89.7 MHz) is an independent educational college radio station, owned and operated by Union College in Schenectady, New York. The station transmits with an effective radiated power of 100 watts, providing coverage over an approximate 15-mile ...

in 1947), aired what is believed to be the first public entertainment broadcast in the United States, a series of Thursday night concerts initially heard within a radius and later for a radius. In November 1920, it aired the first broadcast of a sporting event. At 9 pm on August 27, 1920, Sociedad Radio Argentina aired a live performance of Richard Wagner's opera ''Parsifal'' from the Coliseo Theater in downtown

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Only about twenty homes in the city had receivers to tune in this radio program. In 1922 regular audio broadcasts for entertainment began in the UK from the Marconi Research Centre 2MT at

Writtle The village and civil parish of Writtle lies west of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has a traditional village green complete with duck pond and a Norman church, and was once described as "one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishi ...

near

Chelmsford, England Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...

. In the early 1930s,

single sideband In radio communications, single-sideband modulation (SSB) or single-sideband suppressed-carrier modulation (SSB-SC) is a type of modulation used to transmit information, such as an audio signal, by radio waves. A refinement of amplitude m ...

and frequency modulation were invented by amateur radio operators.

Wavelength (meters) vs. frequency (kilocycles,
kilohertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...
)

In early radio, and to a limited extent much later, the transmission signal of the radio station was specified in meters, referring to the

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...

, the length of the radio wave. This is the origin of the terms

long wave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

, and

short wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (10 ...

radio. Portions of the radio spectrum reserved for specific purposes were often referred to by wavelength: the 40-meter band, used for

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

, for example. The relation between wavelength and frequency is reciprocal: the higher the frequency, the shorter the wave, and vice versa. As equipment progressed, precise frequency control became possible; early stations often did not have a precise frequency, as it was affected by the temperature of the equipment, among other factors. Identifying a radio signal by its frequency rather than its length proved much more practical and useful, and starting in the 1920s this became the usual method of identifying a signal, especially in the United States. Frequencies specified in number of cycles per second (kilocycles, megacycles) were replaced by the more specific designation of

hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

(cycles per second) about 1965.

Radio companies

Donald Manson working as an employee of the Marconi Company

British Marconi

Using various

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s, the British Marconi company was established in 1897 by Guglielmo Marconi and began communication between

coast radio station A coast (or coastal) radio station (short: coast station) is an on-shore maritime radio station which may monitor radio distress frequencies and relays ship-to-ship and ship-to-land communications. A coast station (also: '' coast radio station ...

s and ships at sea. A year after, in 1898, they successfully introduced their first radio station in Chelmsford. This company, along with its subsidiaries Canadian Marconi and American Marconi, had a stranglehold on ship-to-shore communication. It operated much the way

American Telephone and Telegraph AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...

operated until 1983, owning all of its equipment and refusing to communicate with non-Marconi equipped ships. Many inventions improved the quality of radio, and amateurs experimented with uses of radio, thus planting the first seeds of broadcasting.

Telefunken

The company

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company'). The name "Telefunken" app ...

was founded on May 27, 1903, as "Telefunken society for wireless telefon" of

Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Geo ...

(S & H) and the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (''General Electricity Company'') as joint undertakings for radio engineering in Berlin. It continued as a joint venture of

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

and

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

, until Siemens left in 1941. In 1911,

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...

sent Telefunken engineers to West Sayville,

to erect three 600-foot (180-m) radio towers there. Nikola Tesla assisted in the construction. A similar station was erected in

Nauen Nauen is a small town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for Nauen Transmitter Station, the world's oldest preserved radio transmitting installation. Geography Nauen is situated within the Havelland Luch glac ...

, creating the only wireless communication between North America and Europe.

Technological development

Amplitude-modulated (AM)

The invention of amplitude-modulated (AM) radio, so that more than one station can send signals (as opposed to spark-gap radio, where one transmitter covers the entire bandwidth of the spectrum) is attributed to

and

Crystal sets

The most common type of receiver before vacuum tubes was the

crystal set A crystal radio receiver, also called a crystal set, is a simple radio receiver, popular in the early days of radio. It uses only the power of the received radio signal to produce sound, needing no external power. It is named for its most impo ...

, although some early radios used some type of amplification through electric current or battery. Inventions of the

triode amplifier A triode is an electronic amplifying vacuum tube (or ''valve'' in British English) consisting of three electrodes inside an evacuated glass envelope: a heated filament or cathode, a grid, and a plate (anode). Developed from Lee De Forest's 19 ...

, motor-generator, and

detector A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

enabled audio radio. The use of

amplitude modulation Amplitude modulation (AM) is a modulation technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting messages with a radio wave. In amplitude modulation, the amplitude (signal strength) of the wave is varied in proportion to ...

( AM), by which soundwaves can be transmitted over a continuous-wave radio signal of narrow bandwidth (as opposed to spark-gap radio, which sent rapid strings of damped-wave pulses that consumed much bandwidth and were only suitable for Morse-code telegraphy) was pioneered by Fessenden and

. The art and science of crystal sets is still pursued as a hobby in the form of simple un-amplified radios that 'runs on nothing, forever'. They are used as a teaching tool by groups such as the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

to introduce youngsters to electronics and radio. As the only energy available is that gathered by the antenna system, loudness is necessarily limited.

Vacuum tubes

During the mid-1920s, amplifying

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. The type kn ...

s (or ''thermionic valves'' in the UK) revolutionized

radio receiver In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. Th ...

s and

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

John Ambrose Fleming Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic rad ...

developed a vacuum tube

diode A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts current primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction, and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other. A diode ...

placed a screen, added a "grid" electrode, creating the

triode A triode is an electronic amplifying vacuum tube (or ''valve'' in British English) consisting of three electrodes inside an evacuated glass envelope: a heated filament or cathode, a grid, and a plate (anode). Developed from Lee De Forest's 19 ...

. Early radios ran the entire power of the transmitter through a

carbon microphone The carbon microphone, also known as carbon button microphone, button microphone, or carbon transmitter, is a type of microphone, a transducer that converts sound to an electrical audio signal. It consists of two metal plates separated by granu ...

. In the 1920s, the Westinghouse company bought

's and

Edwin Armstrong Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – February 1, 1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, who developed FM (frequency modulation) radio and the superheterodyne receiver system. He held 42 patents and received numerous awa ...

's patent. During the mid-1920s, Amplifying

s (US)/

thermionic valve A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as a ...

s (UK) revolutionized

s and

s. Westinghouse engineers developed a more modern vacuum tube.

Transistor technology

Following development of

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

technology,

bipolar junction transistor A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar ...

s led to the development of the

transistor radio A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following the invention of the transistor in 1947—which revolutionized the field of consumer electronics by introducing small but powerful, convenien ...

. In 1954, the Regency company introduced a pocket transistor radio, the TR-1, powered by a "standard 22.5 V Battery." In 1955, the newly formed

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

company introduced its first transistorized radio, the TR-55. It was small enough to fit in a

vest A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit), or vest ( US and Canada), is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear. ...

pocket, powered by a small battery. It was durable, because it had no vacuum tubes to burn out. In 1957, Sony introduced the TR-63, the first mass-produced transistor radio, leading to the mass-market penetration of transistor radios. Over the next 20 years, transistors replaced tubes almost completely except for high-power

s. By the mid-1960s, 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) were using

metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

s (MOSFETs) in their consumer products, including

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

, television and

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

Metal–oxide–semiconductor The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

(MOS)

large-scale integration An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

(LSI) provided a practical and economic solution for radio technology, and was used in

mobile radio Mobile radio or mobiles refer to wireless communications systems and devices which are based on radio frequencies(using commonly UHF or VHF frequencies), and where the path of communications is movable on either end. There are a variety of view ...

systems by the early 1970s.

Radio telex

Telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

did not go away on radio. Instead, the degree of automation increased. On land-lines in the 1930s,

teletypewriter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point and point- ...

s automated encoding, and were adapted to pulse-code dialing to automate routing, a service called

telex The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a Public switched telephone network, telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of ...

. For thirty years, telex was the cheapest form of long-distance communication, because up to 25 telex channels could occupy the same bandwidth as one voice channel. For business and government, it was an advantage that telex directly produced written documents. Telex systems were adapted to short-wave radio by sending tones over

CCITT The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and Information Commu ...

R.44 (the most advanced pure-telex standard) incorporated character-level error detection and retransmission as well as automated encoding and routing. For many years, telex-on-radio (TOR) was the only reliable way to reach some third-world countries. TOR remains reliable, though less-expensive forms of e-mail are displacing it. Many national telecom companies historically ran nearly pure telex networks for their governments, and they ran many of these links over short wave radio. Documents including maps and photographs went by

radiofax Radiofacsimile, radiofax or HF fax is an analogue mode for transmitting monochrome images via high frequency (HF) radio waves. It was the predecessor to slow-scan television (SSTV). It was the primary method of sending photographs from remote s ...

, or wireless photoradiogram, invented in 1924 by

Richard H. Ranger Richard Howland Ranger (13 June 1889 – 10 January 1962) was an American electrical engineer, music engineer and inventor. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of John Hilliard and Emily Anthen Gillet Ranger, He served in the U.S. Ar ...

(RCA). This method prospered in the mid-20th century and faded late in the century.

Radio navigation

One of the first developments in the early 20th century was that aircraft used commercial AM radio stations for navigation, AM stations are still marked on U.S. aviation charts.

Radio navigation Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position of an object on the Earth, either the vessel or an obstruction. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination. The basic principles a ...

played an important role during war time, especially in World War II. Before the discovery of the crystal oscillator, radio navigation had many limits. However, as radio technology expanding, navigation is easier to use, and it provides a better position. Although there are many advantages, the radio navigation systems often comes with complex equipment such as the radio compass receiver, compass indicator, or the radar plan position indicator. All of these require users to obtain certain knowledge. In the 1960s

VOR VOR or vor may refer to: Organizations * Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales * Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster * Volvo Ocean Race, a yacht race Science, technology and medicine * VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in a ...

systems became widespread. In the 1970s,

LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...

became the premier radio navigation system. Soon, the US Navy experimented with

satellite navigation A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...

. In 1987, the

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

(GPS) constellation of

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

s was launched.

FM

In 1933,

was patented by inventor

Edwin H. Armstrong Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – February 1, 1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, who developed FM (frequency modulation) radio and the superheterodyne receiver system. He held 42 patents and received numerous awar ...

. FM uses

frequency modulation Frequency modulation (FM) is the encoding of information in a carrier wave by varying the instantaneous frequency of the wave. The technology is used in telecommunications, radio broadcasting, signal processing, and Run-length limited#FM: .280. ...

of the radio wave to reduce

static Static may refer to: Places *Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica United States * Static, Kentucky and Tennessee *Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming **Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak Science and technology Physics *Static el ...

and

interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...

from electrical equipment and the atmosphere. In 1937, W1XOJ, the first experimental FM radio station after Armstrong's

W2XMN W2XMN was an experimental FM radio station located in Alpine, New Jersey. It was constructed beginning in 1936 by Edwin Howard Armstrong in order to promote his invention of wide-band FM broadcasting. W2XMN was the first FM station to begin regula ...

in Alpine, New Jersey, was granted a construction permit by the US

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC).

FM in Europe

After World War II,

broadcasting was introduced in Germany. At a meeting in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1948, a new

wavelength plan A frequency plan, bandplan, band plan or wavelength plan is a plan for using a particular band of radio frequencies, that are a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each frequency plan defines the frequency range to be included, how channels a ...

was set up for Europe. Because of the recent war, Germany (which did not exist as a state and so was not invited) was only given a small number of

medium-wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

frequencies, which were not very good for broadcasting. For this reason Germany began broadcasting on UKW ("Ultrakurzwelle", i.e. ultra short wave, nowadays called VHF) which was not covered by the Copenhagen plan. After some

experience with VHF, it was realized that FM radio was a much better alternative for VHF radio than AM. Because of this history FM Radio is still referred to as "UKW Radio" in Germany. Other European nations followed a bit later, when the superior sound quality of FM and the ability to run many more local stations because of the more limited range of VHF broadcasts were realized.

Television

In the 1930s, regular

analog television Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, instantaneous phase and frequency, ...

broadcasting began in some parts of Europe and North America. By the end of the decade there were roughly 25,000 all-electronic television receivers in existence worldwide, the majority of them in the UK. In the US, Armstrong's FM system was designated by the FCC to transmit and receive television sound.

Color television

* 1953:

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

compatible

color television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

introduced in the US. * 1962:

Telstar 1 Telstar 1 was a communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962. It was the satellite that allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe. Telstar 1 remained active for only 7 months before i ...

, the first

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

, relayed the first publicly available live transatlantic

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

signal. * Mid-1960s:

Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

(MOSFET) first used for television, by the

(RCA). The

power MOSFET A power MOSFET is a specific type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) designed to handle significant power levels. Compared to the other power semiconductor devices, such as an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IG ...

was later widely adopted for

television receiver A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using ...

circuits. By 1963,

was being broadcast commercially (though not all broadcasts or programs were in color), and the first (radio)

communication satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

, ''

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fi ...

'', was launched. In the 1970s,

Mobile phones

In 1947 AT&T commercialized the

Mobile Telephone Service The Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) was a pre-cellular VHF radio system that linked to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). MTS was the radiotelephone equivalent of land dial phone service. The Mobile Telephone Service was one of the ear ...

. From its start in St. Louis in 1946, AT&T then introduced Mobile Telephone Service to one hundred towns and highway corridors by 1948. Mobile Telephone Service was a rarity with only 5,000 customers placing about 30,000 calls each week. Because only three radio channels were available, only three customers in any given city could make mobile telephone calls at one time.Gordon A. Gow, Richard K. Smith ''Mobile and wireless communications: an introduction'', McGraw-Hill International, 2006 page 23 Mobile Telephone Service was expensive, costing US$15 per month, plus $0.30–0.40 per local call, equivalent to (in 2012 US dollars) about $176 per month and $3.50–4.75 per call. The

Advanced Mobile Phone System Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was an analog mobile phone system standard originally developed by Bell Labs and later modified in a cooperative effort between Bell Labs and Motorola. It was officially introduced in the Americas on October ...

analog mobile phone system, developed by

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

, was introduced in the Americas in 1978,Private Line: Daily Notes Archive (October 2003)
by Tom Farley .
by Kathi Ann Brown (extract from ''Bringing Information to People'', 1993) (MilestonesPast.com) gave much more capacity. It was the primary analog mobile phone system in North America (and other locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s. In 1947, AT&T commercialized the

. From its start in St. Louis in 1946, AT&T then introduced Mobile Telephone Service to one hundred towns and highway corridors by 1948. Mobile Telephone Service was a rarity with only 5,000 customers placing about each week. Because only three radio channels were available, only three customers in any given city could make mobile telephone calls at one time. Mobile Telephone Service was expensive, costing US$15 per month, plus $0.30–0.40 per local call, equivalent to (in 2012 US dollars) about $176 per month and $3.50–4.75 per call. The development of

metal–oxide–semiconductor The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

(MOS)

(LSI) technology,

information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...

and

cellular network A cellular network or mobile network is a communication network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless. The network is distributed over land areas called "cells", each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver (typically thre ...

ing led to the development of affordable

mobile communications Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the l ...

. The

analog mobile phone system, developed by

and introduced in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

in 1978, gave much more capacity. It was the primary analog mobile phone system in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

(and other locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s.

Broadcast and copyright

The British government and the state-owned postal services found themselves under massive pressure from the wireless industry (including telegraphy) and early radio adopters to open up to the new medium. In an internal confidential report from February 25, 1924, the ''Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee'' stated: :"We have been asked 'to consider and advise on the policy to be adopted as regards the Imperial Wireless Services so as to protect and facilitate public interest.' It was impressed upon us that the question was urgent. We did not feel called upon to explore the past or to comment on the delays which have occurred in the building of the Empire Wireless Chain. We concentrated our attention on essential matters, examining and considering the facts and circumstances which have a direct bearing on policy and the condition which safeguard public interests." When radio was introduced in the early 1920s, many predicted it would kill the

phonograph record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

industry. Radio was a free medium for the public to hear music for which they would normally pay. While some companies saw radio as a new avenue for promotion, others feared it would cut into profits from record sales and live performances. Many record companies would not license their records to be played over the radio, and had their major stars sign agreements that they would not perform on radio broadcasts. Indeed, the music recording industry had a severe drop in profits after the introduction of the radio. For a while, it appeared as though radio was a definite threat to the record industry. Radio ownership grew from two out of five homes in 1931 to four out of five homes in 1938. Meanwhile, record sales fell from $75 million in 1929 to $26 million in 1938 (with a low point of $5 million in 1933), though the economics of the situation were also affected by 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 ...

. The copyright owners were concerned that they would see no gain from the popularity of radio and the ‘free’ music it provided. What they needed to make this new medium work for them already existed in previous copyright law. The copyright holder for a song had control over all public performances ‘for profit.’ The problem now was proving that the radio industry, which was just figuring out for itself how to make money from advertising and currently offered free music to anyone with a receiver, was making a profit from the songs. The

test case In software engineering, a test case is a specification of the inputs, execution conditions, testing procedure, and expected results that define a single test to be executed to achieve a particular software testing objective, such as to exercise ...

was against Bamberger's Department Store in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(ASCAP) began collecting licensing fees from radio stations in 1923. The beginning sum was $250 for all music protected under ASCAP, but for larger stations the price soon ballooned to $5,000. Edward Samuels reports in his book ''The Illustrated Story of Copyright'' that "radio and TV licensing represents the single greatest source of revenue for ASCAP and its composers ��and average member of ASCAP gets about $150–$200 per work per year, or about $5,000-$6,000 for all of a member's compositions." Not long after the Bamberger ruling, ASCAP had to once again defend their right to charge fees, in 1924. The Dill Radio Bill would have allowed radio stations to play music without paying and licensing fees to ASCAP or any other music-licensing corporations. The bill did not pass.

Regulations of radio stations in the U.S

Wireless Ship Act of 1910

Radio technology was first used for ships to communicate at sea. To ensure safety, the

Wireless Ship Act of 1910 The Wireless Ship Act of 1910, formally titled "An Act to require apparatus and operators for radio-communication on certain ocean steamers" (36 Public Law 262) and also known as the "Radio Ship Act of 1910" and the "Radio Act of 1910", was the f ...

marks the first time the U.S. government implies regulations on radio systems on ships. This act requires ships to have a radio system with a professional operator if they want to travel more than 200 miles offshore or have more than 50 people on board. However, this act had many flaws including the competition of

radio operator A radio operator (also, formerly, wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system. The profession of radio operator has become largely obsolete with the automation of ra ...

s including the two majors company (British and American Marconi). They tended to delay communication for ships that used their competitor's system. This contributed to the tragic incident of the sinking of the

in 1912.

Radio Act of 1912

In 1912, distress calls to aid the sinking ''Titanic'' were met with a large amount of interfering radio traffic, severely hampering the rescue effort. Subsequently, the US government passed the

Radio Act of 1912 The Radio Act of 1912, formally known as "An Act to Regulate Radio Communication" (), is a United States federal law which was the first legislation to require licenses for radio stations. It was enacted before the introduction of broadcasting to ...

to help mitigate the repeat of such a tragedy. The act helps distinguish between normal radio traffic and (primarily maritime) emergency communication, and specifies the role of government during such an emergency.

The Radio Act of 1927

The

Radio Act of 1927 The Radio Act of 1927 (United States Public Law 632, 69th Congress) was signed into law on February 23, 1927. It replaced the Radio Act of 1912, increasing the federal government's regulatory powers over radio communication, with oversight vested ...

gave the

Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by t ...

the power to grant and deny licenses, and to assign frequencies and power levels for each licensee. In 1928 it began requiring licenses of existing stations and setting controls on who could broadcast from where on what frequency and at what power. Some stations could not obtain a license and ceased operations. In section 29, the Radio Act of 1927 mentioned that the content of the broadcast should be freely present, and the government cannot interfere with this.

The Communications Act of 1934

The introduction of the

Communications Act of 1934 The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 19, 1934 and codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, et seq. The Act replaced the Federal Radio Commission with ...

led to the establishment of the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC). The FCC's responsibility is to control the industry including "telephone, telegraph, and radio communications." Under this Act, all carriers have to keep records of authorized interference and unauthorized interference. This Act also supports the President in time of war. If the government needs to use the communication facilities in time of war, they are allowed to.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

The

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of t ...

was the first significant overhaul in over 60 years amending the work of theThe Communications Act of 1934. Coming only two dozen years after the breakup of AT&T, the act sets out to move telecommunications into a state of competition with their markets and the networks they are a part of. Up to this point the effects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 have been seen, but some of the changes the Act set out to fix are still ongoing problems, such as being unable to create an open competitive market.

Licensed commercial public radio stations

The question of the 'first' publicly targeted licensed radio station in the U.S. has more than one answer and depends on semantics. Settlement of this 'first' question may hang largely upon what constitutes 'regular' programming * It is commonly attributed to KDKA in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, which in October 1920 received its license and went on the air as the first US licensed commercial broadcasting station on November 2, 1920, with the presidential election results as its inaugural show, but was not broadcasting daily until 1921. (Their engineer

Frank Conrad Frank Conrad (May 4, 1874 – December 10, 1941) was an electrical engineer, best known for radio development, including his work as a pioneer broadcaster. He worked for the Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh, P ...

had been broadcasting from on the two call sign signals of 8XK and 8YK since 1916.) Technically, KDKA was the first of several already-extant stations to receive a 'limited commercial' license. * On February 17, 1919, station 9XM at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

broadcast human speech to the public at large. 9XM was first experimentally licensed in 1914, began regular

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

transmissions in 1916, and its first music broadcast in 1917. Regularly scheduled broadcasts of voice and music began in January 1921. That station is still on the air today as WHA. * On August 20, 1920, 8MK, began broadcasting daily and was later claimed by famed inventor

as the first commercial station. 8MK was licensed to a teenager, Michael DeLisle Lyons, and financed by

E. W. Scripps Edward Willis Scripps (June 18, 1854 – March 12, 1926), was an American newspaper publisher and, together with his sister Ellen Browning Scripps, founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, a diversified media conglomerate, and United Press ne ...

. In 1921 8MK changed to WBL and then to WWJ in 1922, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. It has carried a regular schedule of programming to the present and also broadcast the 1920 presidential election returns just as KDKA did. Inventor

claims to have been present during 8MK's earliest broadcasts, since the station was using a transmitter sold by his company. *The first station to receive a commercial license was WBZ, then in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

. Lists provided to the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' by the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth ...

showed that WBZ received its commercial license on 15 September 1921; another Westinghouse station, WJZ, then in

in the Highbridge section of New York City, that station began daily broadcasts in 1916. Like most experimental radio stations, however, it had to go off the air when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, and did not return to the air. * 1XE: Launched by

Harold J. Power Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Art ...

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...

, 1XE was an experimental station that started broadcasting in 1917. It had to go off the air during World War I, but started up again after the war, and began regular voice and music broadcasts in 1919. However, the station did not receive its commercial license, becoming WGI, until 1922. * WWV, the U.S. Government time service, which was believed to have started 6 months before KDKA in Washington, D.C. but in 1966 was transferred to Ft. Collins, Colorado. *

, the Wireless Radio Union College, located on

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

; was launched as W2XQ *

KQV KQV (1410 AM) is a non-commercial radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and covering the Greater Pittsburgh Region. Owned by Broadcast Educational Communications, the station simulcasts FM 88.1 WKGO in Murrysville and airs an easy liste ...

, one of Pittsburgh's five original AM stations, signed on as amateur station "8ZAE" on November 19, 1919, but did not receive a commercial license until January 9, 1922.

Footnotes

References

Primary sources

* De Lee Forest. ''Father of Radio: The Autobiography of Lee de Forest'' (1950). * Gleason L. Archer Personal Papers (MS108), Suffolk University Archives, Suffolk University; Boston, Massachusetts
Gleason L. Archer Personal Papers (MS108) finding aid
* Kahn Frank J., ed. ''Documents of American Broadcasting,'' fourth edition (Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1984). * Lichty Lawrence W., and Topping Malachi C., eds. ''American Broadcasting: A Source Book on the History of Radio and Television'' (Hastings House, 1975).

Secondary sources

* Aitkin, Hugh G. J. ''The Continuous Wave: Technology and the American Radio, 1900-1932'' (Princeton University Press, 1985). * Anderson, Leland. "''Nikola Tesla On His Work With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power''", Sun Publishing Company, LC , (''ed''

* Anderson, Leland I. ''Priority in the Invention of Radio �

', Antique Wireless Association monograph, 1980, examining the 1943 decision by the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

holding the key Marconi patent invalid (9 pages). (21st Century Books) * Archer, Gleason L. Big Business and Radio (The American Historical Society, Inc., 1939) * Archer, Gleason L. History of Radio to 1926 (The American Historical Society, Inc., 1938). * Barnouw, Erik. ''The Golden Web'' (Oxford University Press, 1968); ''The Sponsor'' (1978); ''A Tower in Babel'' (1966). * Belrose, John S., "
Fessenden and Marconi: Their Differing Technologies and Transatlantic Experiments During the First Decade of this Century
'". International Conference on 100 Years of Radio (5–7 September 1995). * Briggs, Asa. ''The BBC — the First Fifty Years'' (Oxford University Press, 1984). * Briggs, Asa. ''The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom'' (Oxford University Press, 1961). * Brodsky, Ira. "The History of Wireless: How Creative Minds Produced Technology for the Masses" (Telescope Books, 2008) * Butler, Lloyd (VK5BR), "
Before Valve Amplification
- Wireless Communication of an Early Era''" * Coe, Douglas and Kreigh Collins (ills), "''Marconi, pioneer of radio''". New York, J. Messner, Inc., 1943. LCCN 43010048 * Covert, Cathy and Stevens John L. ''Mass Media Between the Wars'' (Syracuse University Press, 1984). * Craig, Douglas B. ''Fireside Politics: Radio and Political Culture in the United States, 1920–1940'' (2005) * Crook, Tim. ''International Radio Journalism: History, Theory and Practice'' Routledge, 1998 * Douglas, Susan J., ''Listening in : radio and the American imagination : from Amos ’n’ Andy and Edward R. Murrow to Wolfman Jack and Howard Stern '', New York, N.Y. : Times Books, 1999. * Ewbank Henry and Lawton Sherman P. ''Broadcasting: Radio and Television'' (Harper & Brothers, 1952). * Garratt, G. R. M., "''The early history of radio : from Faraday to Marconi''", London, Institution of Electrical Engineers in association with the Science Museum, History of technology series, 1994. LCCN gb 94011611 * Geddes, Keith, "''Guglielmo Marconi, 1874-1937''". London : H.M.S.O., A Science Museum booklet, 1974. LCCN 75329825 (''ed''. Obtainable in the US from Pendragon House Inc., Palo Alto, California.) * Gibson, George H. ''Public Broadcasting; The Role of the Federal Government, 1919-1976'' (Praeger Publishers, 1977). * Hancock, Harry Edgar, "''Wireless at sea; the first fifty years. A history of the progress and development of marine wireless communications written to commemorate the jubilee of the Marconi International Marine Communication Company limited''". Chelmsford, Eng., Marconi International Marine Communication Co., 1950. LCCN 51040529 /L * Jackaway, Gwenyth L. ''Media at War: Radio's Challenge to the Newspapers, 1924-1939'' Praeger Publishers, 1995 * Journal of the Franklin Institute. "
Notes and comments; Telegraphy without wires
'", Journal of the Franklin Institute, December 1897, pages 463–464. * Katz, Randy H., "

'". History of Communications Infrastructures. * Lazarsfeld, Paul F. ''The People Look at Radio'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1946). * Maclaurin, W. Rupert. ''Invention and Innovation in the Radio Industry'' (The Macmillan Company, 1949). * Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, "''Year book of wireless telegraphy and telephony''", London : Published for the Marconi Press Agency Ltd., by the St. Catherine Press / Wireless Press. LCCN 14017875 sn 86035439 * Marincic, Aleksandar and Djuradj Budimir, "
Tesla contribution to radio wave propagation
'". (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

) * Masini, Giancarlo. "''Guglielmo Marconi''". Turin: Turinese typographical-publishing union, 1975. LCCN 77472455 (''ed''. Contains 32 tables outside of the text'') * Massie, Walter Wentworth, "''Wireless telegraphy and telephony popularly explained''". New York, Van Nostrand, 1908. * McChesney, Robert W. ''Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for the Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-1935'' Oxford University Press, 1994 * McCourt, Tom. ''Conflicting Communication Interests in America: The Case of National Public Radio'' Praeger Publishers, 1999 * McNicol, Donald. "
The Early Days of Radio in America
'".

The Electrical Experimenter ''The Electrical Experimenter'' was an American technical science magazine that was published monthly. It was established in May 1913, as the successor to ''Modern Electrics'', a combination of a magazine and mail-order catalog that had been pub ...

, April 1917, pages 893, 911. * Peers, Frank W. ''The Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1920–1951'' (University of Toronto Press, 1969). * Pimsleur, J. L. "
Invention of Radio Celebrated in S.F.
100th birthday exhibit this weekend ''". San Francisco Chronicle, 1995. * ''The Prestige'', 2006, Touchstone Pictures. * The Radio Staff of the Detroit News, ''WWJ-The Detroit News'' (The Evening News Association, Detroit, 1922). * Ray, William B. ''FCC: The Ups and Downs of Radio-TV Regulation'' (Iowa State University Press, 1990). * Rosen, Philip T. ''The Modern Stentors; Radio Broadcasting and the Federal Government 1920-1934'' (Greenwood Press, 1980). ** Rugh, William A. ''Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics'' Praeger, 2004 * Scannell, Paddy, and Cardiff, David. ''A Social History of British Broadcasting, Volume One, 1922-1939'' (Basil Blackwell, 1991). * Schramm Wilbur, ed. ''Mass Communications'' (University of Illinois Press, 1960). * Schwoch James. ''The American Radio Industry and Its Latin American Activities, 1900-1939'' (University of Illinois Press, 1990). * Seifer, Marc J., "''The Secret History of Wireless''". Kingston, Rhode Island. * Slater, Robert. ''This ... is CBS: A Chronicle of 60 Years'' (Prentice Hall, 1988). * Smith, F. Leslie, John W. Wright II, David H. Ostroff; ''Perspectives on Radio and Television: Telecommunication in the United States'' Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998 * Sterling, Christopher H. ''Electronic Media, A Guide to Trends in Broadcasting and Newer Technologies 1920–1983'' (Praeger, 1984). * Sterling, Christopher, and Kittross John M. ''Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting'' (Wadsworth, 1978). * Stone, John Stone. "John Stone Stone on Nikola Tesla's Priority in Radio and Continuous-Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus"
Twenty First Century Books, 2005
* Sungook Hong, "''Wireless: from Marconi's Black-box to the Audion''", Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2001, * Waldron, Richard Arthur, "''Theory of guided electromagnetic waves''". London, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970. LCCN 69019848 //r86 * Weightman, Gavin, "''Signor Marconi's magic box : the most remarkable invention of the 19th century & the amateur inventor whose genius sparked a revolution''" 1st Da Capo Press ed., Cambridge, Massachusetts : Da Capo Press, 2003. * White, Llewellyn. ''The American Radio'' (University of Chicago Press, 1947). * White, Thomas H. "

'", United States Early Radio History. * Wunsch, A. David "

'" Mercurians.org.

Media and documentaries

* '' Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio'' (1992) by

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

, PBS documentary based on the 1991 book, ''Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio'' by Tom Lewis, 1st ed., New York : E. Burlingame Books,

External links

*"
A Comparison of the Tesla and Marconi Low-Frequency Wireless Systems
''". Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, Co.

. Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Held at the Engineering Society Building, New York City, Friday evening, May 18, 1917. *

An important chapter in the Death of Distance''. Nova Scotia, Canada, March 14, 2006.
Western Historic Radio Museum: Radio Communication Equipment from 1909 to 1959.
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Radio Guglielmo Marconi

Radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...