-
In the United States, Samuel Morse begins his first telegraph line. The wires run 39 miles from Baltimore, MD to Washington, D.C. The first message sent by Morse is: "What hath God wrought?"
-
Alexander Graham Bell issued a patent for the Telephone on March 7th. By the early 1800's many experimental uses were attempted for this invention including what was later called "Audio Theatre" -- plays and readings performed over the telephone.
-
Emile Berliner invents the first microphone and sells the rights to Bell Telephone
-
Emile Berliner invents the flat record player ("gramophone") using acoustic horn and licenses technology to record companies who make "70-rpm" disks
-
Louis Glass invents the modern jukebox (coin-operated phonograph) and installs it at the "Palais Royal" saloon in San Francisco where it is an immediate hit.
-
Danish inventor Valdemar Poulson invents magnetic wire sound recording
-
The International copyright agreement is adopted between major countries
-
Popular music becomes a serious business; Music Publishers begin renting office space on 28th street in New York City, near vaudeville theatres in an area that would become known worldwide as "Tin Pan Alley."
-
The first "million-seller" song hit (sold via sheet music) was "After The Ball" by Charles K. Harris, who was both its composer and publisher.
-
- Eldredge Johnson perfects first system of mass duplication of pre-recorded flat disks.
-
"The Electric Theater" in Los Angeles is opened by Thomas L. Tally: the first Nickelodeon, a multimedia movie palace, that spawned imitators nationwide;
-
-British scientist John Ambrose Fleming develops the first vacuum tube called a "Valve."
-
- RCA Victor's "Victrola" model record player is introduced. It has a variable turntable speed control to accomodate the wide range of phonograph records produced at that time; Victor's speeds ranged from 71 - 76 rpm. Columbia was producing discs as 80rpm. Some British disks even rotated between 66rpm - 90rpm; Although U.S. phonograph manufacturers agreed in 1928 to standardize on the rate of 78.26 rpm, it still took decades for more st
-
• Lee de Forest is granted a patent for the first triode (three-element) vacuum tube which he calls the "Audion". It was similar to Flemings diode (two-element) vacuum tube called a "Valve". But de Forest's third element (called a "grid") allowed the Audion tube to amplify signals -- which made radio with voice and music practical.
-
The first double-sided phonograph records are introduced by Columbia. Soon its competitors follow suit; Prior to this time, all records had sound only on one side; the back side was a blank (un-grooved) side
-
Charles "Doc" Herrold and his assistant Ray Newby begin experimental "wireless" voice and music broadcasts from San Jose, California using experimental radio station call letters "FN" and "SJN". They transmit with a series of arcing street lamps under liquid
-
Mary Pickford becomes the first American "Motion Picture Star" via her silent films.
-
. Disk recordings overtake cylinders in the popular market. Columbia drops cylinders
-
Charles "Doc" Herrold begins the first regular public radio broadcasting of voice and music from his "wireless telegraph college" in San Jose, California; He calls it "The Herrold Station" and transmits to audiences from San Jose to San Francisco.
-
The first TV remote in our house wasn't ultrasonic, infrared, or even mechanical.
-
First aired on Monday, October 15th 1951
-
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution and that means that cable-TV companies could move into the phone business.
-
Since the widespread adoption of reel-to-reel audio tape recording in the 1950s, audio tapes was exposure
-
The first color television sets rolled off the assembly line of RCA's factory in Bloomington, Indiana. Costing $1,000 at a time
-
10-inch disc records were introduced, followed by 12-inch records.
-
Original NBC Peacock Logo used 1956 - 1962; ... The Peacock graphic logo as a still image was first seen in July of 1956 (according to Chicago's NBC/5 Web Site.)
-
The number of audio channels provided ("mono", "stereo", "quad", etc.). The Phonograph disc record was the primary medium used for music.
-
The use of transistors instead of vacuum tubes as the amplifier elements meant that the now-familiar 9-volt battery was introduced for powering transistor radios.
-
As radio broadcasting began, the future for record players initially looked bleak.
-
The use of magnetic tape for sound recording, century analog magnetic tape is largely being replaced by digital recording technologies.
-
Bill Lear Invents the 8-Track and Brings in Ford, Motorola, and RCA Victor and announced in 1965 that he had developed a cartridge with eight tracks.
-
Dolby A was the company's first noise reduction system, presented in 1966. It was intended for use in professional recording studios, where it became.
-
Electronic noise reduction techniques were also developed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range.
-
"Never Can Say Goodbye" Album certified Platinum in 1975, Gloria made history when Billboard gave birth to the 'Disco Action Charts.
-
At Atari. Inc., which had first introduced Pong as an arcade game.
-
The video camera tube was a type of cathode ray tube used to capture the television image prior to the introduction of charge-coupled devices.
-
NBC's weekend radio format MONITOR is cancelled after nearly 20 years
-
A four-channel noise reduction system for optical sound tracks on 35mm film is introduced by Dolby labs (originally called "Dolby Stereo".)
-
Garrett Brown invents the gyroscopic Steadicam, a motion picture camera stabilizer mount, worn by the cameraman himself, first used in the movie "Rocky."
-
The sugarhill gang's "rapper's Delight" is the first hiphop record to reach Top 40 Radio.
-
The MTV Music TV Cable Network debuts on the air at Midnight
-
1981 - The first IBM-brand "PC" (for "Personal Computer") "Personal Computer" becomes the popular name of what used to be called a "micro- computer" system; It uses the "DOS" -- Disk Operating System -- provided by enterprenour Bill Gates who bought the rights to it from a local company in Seattle for a pittance, and resold it under his company's name -- "Microsoft"
-
The digital Compact Disc (CD) is introduced by a Japanese conglomerate
-
The first CD released (in Japan) is Billy Joel's "52nd Street"
-
The first CD titles are released in the US
-
NBC broadcasts the first television programs with stereo sound.
-
Adoption of the CD starts taking a huge bite out of LP sales, causing them to drop 25%.
-
The Recording Industry Association of America (the RIAA) announces on June 19 that CDs have overtaken LP sales in the U.S.
-
CD-ROMs are developed as a computer medium able to store around 750 MegaBytes per disc
-
Phillips introduces a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) using a digital casette.
-
Phillips introduces a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) using a digital casette.
-
- The "SoundScan" barcode tracking system of reporting music recording sales begins to bring accurate sales figures to record charts; Country music is now a bigger segment.
-
The Moving Picture Experts Group MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3) compressed audio file format becomes an international standard, and eventually the most popular format for distributing digital audio over the Internet.
-
The DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) increases capacity of digital storage of audio and video
on a CD (Compact Disc) medium; can store on to 4.7 GigaBytes per side; double-sided disks are possible though rare... -
- The world falls in love with everything Internet, and there is talk of a "New Economy" where the old rules don't apply. But by 2001, the speculative bubble bursts, leaving many computer engineers jobless; and fueling the trend toward hi-tech outsourcing.
-
Founded by former Radio/TV composer/producer and Macromedia software engineer David Shields, who wanted to consolidate his research into classic television themes and old-time radio (OTR) themes, that he had been researching, collecting and publishing since 1960; Over the years biographies about the better composer-arrangers of Light (Easy Listening) music, and other resources are added; and the site becomes a primary source for the music
-
First regular transmissions of HDTV (High-Definition Television) begin in major cities
-
- Recordable CD-R digital audio disc technology becomes part of personal computer systems.
-
Rival Audio DVD formats DVD-A and SACD (Super-Audio CD) introduced which offer superior sound than conventional CDs; DVD-A includes other media content as well.
-
The Mutual Broadcasting System is a victim of consolidation -- absorbed into Westwood One-CNN Radio on April 18, ending 65 years as an independent radio network.
-
Broadband Internet service providers begin to be offered to consumers faster Web page downloads and smoother and faster streaming media.
-
the so-called "Internet Bubble" burst leading to a recession/shakeout of the inflated technology industry, as reality started to replace "irrational exuberance."
-
Internet music-swapping site "Napster" is created, and alarms the recording industry which mounts a massive campaign to shut it down despite First Amendment concerns.
-
The first year recording sales actually declined -- record industry blames online music swapping as the cause and tried to advance digital copy protection schemes
-
Consumer DVD recorders were introduced at the Comdex Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas priced at $1000, but by the 2001 show came down to around $500 these video recorders can hold up to 4.7 gigabytes of video and multimedia content
-
Digital electronic books (E-Books) become a small part of the publishing industry, and several competing companies attempt to introduce the standards for them.
-
Napster is forced to "filter out" content due to RIAA lawsuit; hints at fees to come other free peer-to-peer software including Gnutella are developed to take Napster's place
-
Intel announces a breakthrough in the speed of computer processing chips that will make computers several THOUSAND times faster; first systems expected to be sold in 2007
-
DVD video disk players outsell VHS video cassette recorder/players for the first time.
-
Music DVD's are introduced which can contain 7 - 10 times the amount of music, or multimedia content to augment the usual sound recordings.
-
The TV screen gets more junked up by "crawls" -- banners at the bottom of the screen, and other distracting divisions of the screen in imitation of computer desktops.
-
Apple Computer introduces the iPod portable music player for playing mp3 files, and it is a big hit, helping re-establish Apple's innovative reputation and improve their bottom line.
-
The F.C.C. (U.S. Federal Communications Commision) requires all new U.S. television TV sets to include digital receivers in order to help the transition to digital
-
The F.C.C. approves a digital radio broadcast standard developed by iBiquity Digital Corp., a company backed by broadcasters including ABC and Viacom.
-
Apple Computer introduces a downloadable music service via its iTunes music application, which proved that people would pay 99-cents-per-tune to download music legally in the wake of peer-to-peer free (but illegal) file swapping
-
Retailers Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Circuit City announce they will stop selling VHS Video Cassette tapes since DVD's are now the medium of choice for most consumers
-
the U.S. Congress agreed that Standard NTSC analog TV broadcasts will cease in favor of all digital TV transmission nation-wide on February 17, 2009
-
Western Union stopped delivering telegrams as of this date -- ending a service in the United States that it began in 1851; Their primary business is still money transfers.
-
Apple Computer's online music store integrated into its iTunes software and iPod hardware, sold it's one-billionth song on this date, proving that digital music can be accepted by the public when distributed across a network in a virtual form, as opposed to inscribed only in discrete tangible media
