The History Of Radio

The History of Radio

• 1892: Tesla. Transmission of radio frequency energy is frequently exhibited in Nikola Tesla’s experiments. He proposes that this could be used as a means o telecommunication.

• 1895: Marconi. Guglielmo Marconi built a wireless system capable of transmitting signals at long distances.
   
• 1901: Transatlantic. Marconi conducts the first successful transatlantic radio communication.
   
• 1904: Reversal of Fortune. The U.S patent office reverses the patent awarded to Tesla and awards Marconi with the patent for the invention of the radio. Some suggest it is due to his financial backer, Thomas Edison.
   
• 1905: John Fleming invents the vacuum tube diode that later helps Lee deForest create the three-element vacuum tube called the Audion. It is considered one of the most important developments in the history of electronics.
   
• 1906: Fessenden uses an Alexanderson alternator and rotary spark plug transmitter to make the first radio audio broadcast.
   
• 1912: The Wireless Ship Act requires all U.S ships travelling over 200 miles off the coast to be equipped with wireless radio.
   
• 1919: The government releases its control of all patents, and the Radio Corporation of America is established.
   
• 1920: Several radio stations claim to be the first public radio station. Some include KDKA Pittsburgh and 9XM University of Wisconsin.
   
• 1927: The Radio Act of 1927 re-assigns stations to clear frequencies and makes radio stations operate in the public’s interest.
   
• 1930: Amateur radio operators experiment with frequency modulation or FM.
   
• 1933: People turn to radio for entertainment and comfort during the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosvelt becomes the first “radio president.”
   
• 1933: Edwin Armstrong invents FM radio. FM provides static-free broadcasting and carries the full frequency range of sound perceptible to the human ear.
   
• 1950: Television is such a novelty that big stars, programs and advertisers defect from radio to TV. Radio begins to localize and concentrate on playing records.
   
• 1954: Regency introduces the pocket transistor radio, the TR-1, which was powered by a standard 22.5V battery.
   
• 1963: The world’s technology focuses on space. The first radio communication satellite, Telstar is launched into space.
   
• 1984: RDS allows small bits of data to be included in FM broadcasts, allowing stations to include artist and song info.
   
• 1987: RDS is shown to the public in car radios and stationary tuners at the International Funkausstellung in Berlin.
   
• 1990: Amateur radio experimenters begin to use computers with audio cards to process radio signals, and the first digital transmissions begin to be broadcast.
   
• 1995: Progressive Networks releases Real Audio, which offers AM-radio quality sound in real time.
   
• 1998: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act forces Internet Radio broadcasts to pay additional royalty fees in contrast to traditional radio stations, which only pay publishing royalties.
   
• 2003: Online radio is valued at $49 million.
   
• 2004: A neologism of broadcast and iPod, podcasting’s success caused radio businesses to reconsider established preconceptions about audiences, production and distribution.
   
• 2006: Howard Stern ditches terrestrial radio for Sirius Satellite radio.
   
• 2007: Slacker radio launches.
   
• 2008: By 2008, streaming music radio’s revenue rose to above $500 million. Nearly 13 per cent of the American population had listened to online radio.
   
• 2011: Spotify adds radio to its repertoire.
   
   
   
  Audiences
   
  In the early stages of radio, it was mainly used for serious purposes, rather than just playing music like we know it today. It would be used for ships travelling long distances etc. This means that the audience is now different, it will be younger people who just like to listen to music, where as previously it was just people who needed information about travel/ news, so older people.