WRNY was a
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
AM radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
that began operating in 1925. It was started by
Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as pub ...
's
Experimenter Publishing Company to promote his radio and science magazines. Starting in August 1928, WRNY was one of the first stations to make regularly scheduled experimental television broadcasts. Experimenter Publishing went bankrupt in early 1929 and the station was purchased by the
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company to promote aviation. WRNY was deleted in 1934, as part of a consolidation on its shared frequency by surviving station WHN (now
WEPN).
History
![WRNY AD 1928](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/WRNY_AD_1928.png)
Origin
Hugo Gernsback was born in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
and studied electrical engineering in Germany. In 1904 at age 20, Gernsback emigrated to the United States to sell his automotive battery design and to start a mail order radio and electrical components business. The Electro Importing Company catalog soon grew into a magazine, ''
Modern Electrics
''Modern Electrics'' was a technical magazine for the amateur radio experimenter. The magazine existed between 1908 and 1914.
History and profile
''Modern Electrics'' was created by Hugo Gernsback and began publication in April 1908. The magaz ...
''. The Experimenter Publishing Company was started in 1915 and by the early 1920s was publishing ''
Radio News
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...
'', ''Science and Invention'', and ''Practical Electrics'' magazines. Gernsback included fiction stories in his magazines, and in 1926 launched the first magazine devoted to scientific fiction, ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...
''. Experimenter Publishing also published numerous technical and general interest books.
Organized radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s, and by 1925 there were over 500 stations in the United States. In addition to radio equipment manufacturers who established stations to help sell receivers, many publishers started stations. In mid-1925 Experimenter Publishing was granted a license for a New York City station broadcasting on 1160 kHz with the specially requested call sign of WRNY, "signifying Radio News, New York or Roosevelt, New York". The station's state-of-the-art studio was in a hotel room on the 18th floor of the
Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, with its 500–watt transmitter located on the hotel roof.
The first broadcast was on June 12, 1925. The opening speaker was former Senator
Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Mitchell Depew (April 23, 1834April 5, 1928) was an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician. He is best remembered for his two terms as United States Senator from New York and for his work for Cornelius Vanderbilt, as ...
, followed by the self-described "Father of Radio",
Lee de Forest. The evening concluded with two hours of live musical entertainment.
Experimenter Publishing used the radio station and the magazines to promote each other. Radio interviews with scientists or other radio notables were reprinted in the magazines, and projects and articles from Gernsback's magazines were discussed on WRNY. The station call letters also appeared on each magazine cover.
By 1927 there were over fifty radio stations and 1.5 million radio sets in the New York metropolitan area. There were so many stations it was common for stations to share the same frequency at different times during the day.
At this time radio was regulated by the Department of Commerce, as authorized by 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 ...
. However, this act did not mention broadcasting, and it was not clear how much control the federal government actually had over station power and frequency assignments. Following a series of court decisions that ruled that the U.S. government had only limited authority, in August 1926 Acting Attorney General William J. Donovan issued a statement concurring with court rulings that stations were currently free to adopt powers and frequencies of their own choosing.
![Radio News Oct 1928 pg343](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Radio_News_Oct_1928_pg343.png)
The following November, taking advantage of the temporary regulatory lapse, WRNY relocated its transmitter from the Roosevelt Hotel to Coytesville, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, and began transmitting on 800 kHz. However, early radio receivers were not very selective and there were frequent disputes over interference between stations transmitting on nearby frequencies. Radio station WHN, on 830 kHz, complained that WRNY was now interfering with its signal, and labeled WRNY as a "pirate" broadcaster.
In 1927 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 ...
(FRC) was established, with the authority to fully regulate broadcast station operations. A new frequency allocation that went into effect on June 15, 1927, assigned WRNY to 970 kHz, sharing this frequency with WPCH. Later in 1927 these two stations were reassigned to 920 kHz. Effective November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the FRC's
General Order 40
The Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, dated August 30, 1928, described the standards for a sweeping reorganization of radio broadcasting in the United States. This order grouped the AM radio band transmitting frequencies into thre ...
, WRNY was moved to 1010 kHz, sharing this assignment with three other New York City-area stations: WHN, WPAP and WQAO.
Bankruptcy
By 1927 the expenses exceeded the income of the Experimenter Publishing Company. The printer and paper supplier were each owed over $150,000. The radio station had advertising revenue but it did not cover large investment in the new transmitter facility in New Jersey and the television equipment. WRNY lost $42,000 in 1927 and $39,000 in 1928.
[ The actual amounts from the court records were $41,733.73 and $39,409.05]
On February 20, 1929, an involuntary petition in bankruptcy was filed against the Experimenter Publishing Company. The total liabilities were estimated at $600,000 and assets at $182,000. A federal bankruptcy judge appointed the Irving Trust Company as receiver.
Irving Trust kept the magazines and radio station operating but removed Hugo Gernsback and his brother Sidney from the company. The bankruptcy was not contested and the magazines and radio stations were sold. The bankruptcy proceedings were enthusiastically covered in the news and gossip columns of the New York City press.
The final bids were accepted at a hearing on April 3, 1929. Two publishers,
Bernarr Macfadden
Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine pu ...
and B. A. MacKinnon were the leading bidders. MacKinnon prevailed and paid $500,000 for the magazines. The radio stations were sold in a separate auction. Attorneys for newspaper publisher
William R. Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
and Curtiss Aircraft president C. M. Keys got into a bidding war for the radio stations. When the bid reached $100,000, a recess was called to allow one attorney to try to reach Hearst in California. He was unsuccessful and the Curtiss Aircraft bid won.
Aviation Radio
The day after the bankruptcy auction, the Aviation Radio Station, Inc. was formed to take over the WRNY radio stations. C. M. Keys, president of the
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, provided the financial backing for the new company. Chester Cuthell, the attorney who was at the auction, was the president and Walter Lemmon was the general manager. The goal of the station was to promote aviation.
The Federal Radio Commission had to approve station license transfer and any changes to the station. Mr. Cuthell asked the commission for more frequencies as he said that he and his partners had up to $2,000,000 dollars to spend on the stations. The commission approved the license transfers and improvements to the existing stations.
In August 1929 Aviation Radio moved the studios from the Roosevelt Hotel to 27 West Fifty-Seventh Street. They also installed a new 1,000 watt transmitter with automatic frequency control and new speech amplifiers at the Coytesville transmitter site. These upgrades improved the station's range and sound quality.
The short wave station, 2XAL, increased its power to 15,000 watts. The radio station's format was changed; the jazz music was prohibited and replaced with presentations devoted to aviation and aviators. On a show about women aviators,
Amelia Earhart recounted her recent transcontinental flight. The station gave hourly weather reports of aviators. A typical schedule in late 1929 under the timesharing agreement on 1010 kHz had WRNY starting at 10:00 AM, WHN following at 1:30 PM, WPAP at 7:00 PM, and finally WRNY closing out the broadcast day from 9:30 PM to midnight.
WQAO, owned by the Calvary Baptist Church, broadcast three programs on Sunday and one on Wednesday.
Deletion
The owner of WHN,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, bought out WRNY and WQAO-WPAP in early 1933, which allowed WHN to begin fulltime operation on 1010 kHz. WRNY and WQAO-WPAP were formally deleted in January 1934.
Shortwave transmissions
The early AM band radio transmitters used around New York City were typically 500 or 1,000 watts. To serve a larger area, beginning in the mid-1920s a few stations added a
shortwave transmitter. In 1927, WRNY started experimental shortwave station 2XAL (later W2XAL) on 9.7 MHz.
This 500–watt station could be heard throughout the world, and in September 1928 Hugo Gernsback wrote about a listener in New South Wales, Australia.
Television broadcasts
![Radio News Nov 1928 Cover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Radio_News_Nov_1928_Cover.jpg)
Hugo Gernsback first wrote about television in the December 1909 issue of ''Modern Electrics'' and regularly reported technical advances in his magazines. By 1925
mechanical scanning television systems were becoming available, with resolutions of up to 60 scan lines.
Vladimir K. Zworykin and
Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...
were developing electronic scanning systems that were the precursors of modern television but these would not be available for another decade.
WRNY was second to broadcast television pictures to the general public, after
W3XK
W3XK is widely regarded as the oldest television station in the United States. It was operated by Charles Jenkins of Charles Jenkins Laboratories from July 2, 1928 to 1934. It is believed to be the first station to broadcast to the general publi ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and was preceded by several attempts to broadcast television pictures. In 1927 AT&T had demonstrated a system that sent television images and sound over telephone lines.
The General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York was sending experimental television over their shortwave radio station in early 1928. Westinghouse had a system that would broadcast motion pictures. Several other laboratories were also conducting experiments and demonstrations.
![Early Television System Diagram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Early_Television_System_Diagram.png)
The television camera used a spinning disk, commonly known as a
Nipkow disk
A Nipkow disk (sometimes Anglicized as Nipkov disk; patented in 1884), also known as scanning disk, is a mechanical, rotating, geometrically operating image scanning device, patented in 1885 by Paul Gottlieb Nipkow. This scanning disk was a funda ...
, which had a spiral of holes used to sweep a narrow beam of light across the subject. The reflected light was picked up by a photoelectric cell whose electrical output would vary with the intensity of the light. This system was often called a "flying spot scanner". The early photoelectric cells were not very sensitive, so three or four would be used with the subject in a darkened booth. Another reason for multiple cells is even pickup of reflected light from the subject. The cell array includes cells in a window formation: One or more cells above, below and on each side of the subject.
The television receiver used the output of the photoelectric cell to control the brightness of a
neon lamp
A neon lamp (also neon glow lamp) is a miniature gas discharge lamp. The lamp typically consists of a small glass capsule that contains a mixture of neon and other gases at a low pressure and two electrodes (an anode and a cathode). When suff ...
. When the photoelectric cell detected a bright spot, the neon lamp's intensity was increased. The receiver also had a scanning disk with the same hole-pattern as the camera, and it spun at the same speed. The result was a small neon orange image (two inch (5 cm) diagonal) of the remote subject.
![TV Camera WRNY 1928](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/TV_Camera_WRNY_1928.png)
In April 1928, Pilot Electric Manufacturing and WRNY announced that television broadcasts would begin that fall, with Pilot providing the transmitting equipment. Pilot sold receivers, and the Experimenter Publishing magazines provided complete plans to allowed readers to build their own.
The system used by WRNY had 48 scan lines with 7.5 frames per second, with the received image was about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) square. This low resolution picture, without sound, could be transmitted in the 5 kHz bandwidth of an AM radio station. The experimental stations on the shortwave bands could use a 15 kHz bandwidth for a higher quality image. When commercial television broadcasting began in the 1940s, television stations were allotted a 6 MHz bandwidth. High definition televisions commonly display resolution as
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
or
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scre ...
; this early experimental television was a very low definition 48p display.
![Photoelectric Cells for WRNY](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Photoelectric_Cells_for_WRNY.png)
The television equipment WRNY used was designed by Pilot Electric's chief engineer, John Geloso. It was similar to the system designed by Uilses A. Sanabria that was used in a demonstration by
WCFL in Chicago in June 1928. Both systems used photoelectric cells made by Lloyd Preston Garner; a researcher at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
.
[ Paper on photoelectric cells by Lloyd Preston Garner] A September 1928 ''Radio News'' article about these cells noted "their cost is rather staggering".
On August 12, 1928, the television equipment was moved from Pilot's Brooklyn laboratory to the WRNY transmitter house at
Coytesville. A receiver was set up a quarter of a mile (400 m) away. The first subject televised was John Geloso's wife. The test ran from 5:43 to 6:30 PM with John Geloso and WRNY station engineer, John Maresca, also taking turns in front of the camera. A second test was conducted at 11 PM.
''The New York Times'' reported this successful test and said the regularly scheduled broadcast would start on August 13, although technical problems delayed this until August 21.
[ This story said broadcast has been postponed until Friday (August 17). It turned out to be Tuesday (August 21).] The receiver was moved to Hugo Gernsback's Manhattan apartment on Riverside Drive about 5 miles (8 km) from the transmitter. At 10 PM on August 14, John Geloso turned on the set and viewed an image of his wife sitting before the camera in Coytesville. There were problems with synchronizing the spinning disk but a clear image could be seen for six or seven seconds at a time.
The "Today on the radio" section of the August 21, 1928, edition of ''The New York Times'' showed 9 television programs on the schedule for WRNY.
That night, the first public demonstration of WRNY television was held in Philosophy Hall at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
to an audience of radio engineers, scientist and newspaper reporters. About 500 people passed before the television to see the image of Mrs. Geloso: "Mrs. Geloso closed her eyes, opened and closed her mouth and moved side to side. The images were about one and one-half inches
.8 cmsquare, but were magnified by a lens to twice that size."
Homemade television receivers
![Science and Invention Television 1928](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Science_and_Invention_Television_1928.jpg)
On July 4, 1928, ''The New York Times'' reported that in the past two weeks WRNY had received more than 2,000 letters requesting more information about the television broadcast. Hugo Gernsback stated: "The letters have come alike from radio listeners, wireless experimenters and home set builders who wish construction details about the apparatus required to intercept the television broadcast."
Television transmission using the shortwave bands could be received in New York City in early 1928, and Experimenter Publishing's magazines had been printing detailed descriptions of television receivers since 1927. The specialized parts to build a television were available that August. A New Jersey radio supply company, Daven, sold a complete television receiver kit for $100; the scanning disk was $10 and the neon bulb was $11.50.
[ The September issue was on the newsstand on August 10, 1928. Advertisement for the Daven Corporation, Newark NJ] Raytheon
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...
advertised their "Kino-Lamp" and "Foto-Cell" for engineers and amateurs building televisions.
[ Raytheon advertisement] The complexity of the television was typical of the construction projects published in ''Radio News'' every month so some experimenters had a set ready for the early August broadcast. The publication of detailed plans for the WRNY receiver in October would have increased the number of built sets. The exact number of home televisions in 1928 is unknown, with Hugo Gernsback estimating that the New York area had around 2000 receivers.
![Television Schematic 1928](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Television_Schematic_1928.png)
The November 1928 issues (on the newsstand October 10) of ''Science and Invention''
and ''Radio News''
had detailed plans for building a receiver. However, Hugo Gernsback warned potential viewers that this early television receiver was for experimenters and "radio bugs", and not suitable for the general public.
The WRNY homemade television receiver consisted of a modified
TRF radio receiver. This was an AM band receiver for WRNY transmissions, and a shortwave set for other television stations of the day. After the detector stage, the receiver required a three-tube television adapter, consisting of a resistance-coupled preamplifier and a power amplifier, with the power amplifier driving the neon lamp. A typical adapter had two preamplifier stages and one power amplifier stage. The adapter drove a neon lamp and a 24-inch (61 cm)
Bakelite disk. The disk had 48 holes in a spiral pattern, with a neon bulb mounted behind the disk and replacing the radio loudspeaker.
![Science and Invention Nov 1928 Cover 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Science_and_Invention_Nov_1928_Cover_2.jpg)
The cover illustration of the November 1928 issue of ''Science and Invention'' featured an experimenter operating one of the homemade television receivers, who was shown using a 125-hertz
tuning fork
A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs ( tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal (usually steel). It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it agains ...
to adjust the scanning wheel speed. Looking through the vibrating tuning fork, a stationary line pattern on the hub indicated when the wheel was spinning at 450 RPM. The proper speed is not the only requirement, as the receiver's disk must also match the angular position of the television station's scanner disk. (Most mechanical television stations used scanners instead of cameras to pick up the talent.) To make both disks align, the viewer pressed a button to adjust the receiving disk's speed.
With homemade sets, maintaining synchronization was a major concern. A receiver with a fan ("universal") motor required the viewer to manually synchronize picture reception. The scanner at the television studio used a synchronous motor. With the same type synchronous motor, the receiver is far easier to keep in step, which is made much easier if both the studio scanner and the home are running off power from the same AC power grid, for with synchronous motors on the same grid, receiver sync is automatic, and the user must then only frame the picture. The variable resistors (R6 and R7 in the construction schematic) controlled the motor speed. The switch boosted the speed of the disk to synchronize it with the camera. To achieve 7.5 image frames per second, the receiver's disk, being rotated by standard household fan motor, needed to spin at 450 rpm. An external, variable resistor controlled the motor speed.
The Federal Radio Commission was concerned about television broadcasts on the AM radio band, and the possible interference with standard audio broadcasts. On November 2, 1928, the FRC limited television broadcast to shortwave stations above 1500 kHz. The broadcast would be limited to a 10 kHz bandwidth and for periods of not more than one hour per day. They were not allowed between 6 PM and 11 PM. The commission would review television broadcasting in January 1929.
[ FRC limits television in AM broadcast band.]
See also
*
November 1928 ''Radio News'' article on first TV broadcast
*
List of experimental television stations
This page is a list of the experimental television stations before 1946. After 1945 (in the United States) the television frequencies were opened up to commercialization and regular broadcasts began. Regular broadcast television start dates vary wi ...
*
Mechanical television
Mechanical television or mechanical scan television is a television system that relies on a mechanical scanning device, such as a rotating disk with holes in it or a rotating mirror drum, to scan the scene and generate the video signal, and a si ...
*
History of television
Notes
*In the 1920s, a listing of broadcast stations in a magazine or newspaper would use
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, t ...
instead of
frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
to specify a station's location on the radio dial. The advertising logo for WRNY shows both, 326 meters and 920 kilocycles. The public was slow to adopt the new "kilocycle" terminology because they could relate to wavelengths. A radio station's antenna was a one-half wavelength long wire between two masts.
The unit kilocycle (kc.) was replaced by
kilohertz (kHz) in the 1960s.
References
Further reading
part 2an
*
External links
A simulation of the 1927 AT&T television system.
{{NYC TV
Experimental television stations
History of television in the United States
Radio stations established in 1925
Television pioneers
RNY (defunct)
Defunct radio stations in the United States
RNY
1925 establishments in New York City
1934 disestablishments in New York (state)