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The First Radio Signal
Guglielmo Marconi is credited with the first wireless transmission. He created a device that could send and receive radio waves. His first successful attempt was on the 12 of December in 1901. -
The Audion Tube
Lee De Forest claimed the credit for the Audion Tube in 1906. An Audion Tube is a device with a vaccuum used to amplify, or make loudor/stronger, something, in this case the radio waves. Although it is possible that Canadian inventor Reginald Fesseden actually invented it, he didn't become popular enough to live up to that could-be legacy. -
The Titanic Sinks
In the early morning of April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean due to an underwater collision with an iceberg. A grat many lives were lost, but thanks to a radio signal that was sent out, many of those on lifeboats were saved. -
The First Radio Station
In 1920, Frank Conrad created the first radio station, 8XK, later changed to KDKA News Radio. The station was launched on election day in order to broadcast the results. It is still around and is broadcasted from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. -
Uncle Charlie Stations
Around the same time KDKA showed up, people could pay fifty cents to set up their own personal stations. These personal stations were called Uncle Charlie stations. Anyone could create their station using a frequency. -
The Problem with Uncle Charlies
Eventually, though there were too many stations. The frequencies would drown each other out, and the person would keep changing and changing the frequencies, therefore making the other change their frequency, and so on. Because so many wanted to be heard, more and more power was being wasted by these stations and electricy rates rose higher than the today's legal limit. -
The First Advertising
WEAF aired the first 10-minute commercial in 1922. It was for an apartment complex that cost $50. This paved the way fore more commercials, and created the economy of advertising in radio. -
The Federal Communications Commission
Due to the chaos of radio transmission and mass of frequencies, the Federal Communications Commission, later the FRC, was established. They put an end to the mess by creating liscened stations. This way, each station had assigned frequencies, call letters, and power limits,. -
Call Letters
Most of the station names follow a system of codes based on their broadcasting location. The organization is as follows.
W - East of Mississippi River
K - West of Mississippi River
These letters are at the begginning of each code, with the exceptions of WFAA and WBAP. -
AM Waves
AM stands for Amplitude Modulation. With these waves, their height is the factor that changes them. Their frequencies range from 535 KHz to 1605 KHz. This later became the stations used mostly for talk shows. -
FM Waves
Frequency Modulation, or FM waves, are due to their width apart. Each wave is the same height, but unlike AM waves, the distance between each wave varies. These waves range from 88 MHz to 108 MHz. These stations were later used for music stations. -
Radio Shows
During the Great Depression in the twenties, the most popular form of family entertainment was listening to radio shows. They were stories told on air, such as a soundtrack to a movie, with sound effects and different voices. Some popular ones include Superman and Little Orphan Annie. This was the most popular time of radio, called The Golden Era. -
Radio Show Replacements
Since the invention of the Television, radio declined. Radio shows were no longer popular, so music began to replace it. Such early artists whose music was featured on radio unclude Elvis and The Righteous Brothers. -
Jukebox Replacements
As a result of music being aired on radio, the use of Jukeboxes declined. Records were still being bought, but radio became a much cheaper way of listening to the back-in-the-day hit songs. Even concerts were affected at the time beacause money was a very large factor to what people did. -
Video Killed The Radio Star
In 1996, a group called the Buggles released a song called Video Killed The Radio Star. The song is about a radio actor/actress whoise downfall began from the VCR. It is a summarry of the unfortunate demise of radio shows.
