Radio

History Of Radio

  • Radio is invented

    Radio is invented
    An Italian man named Marconi sends and recieves the first radio signals in 1895. However, we don't know for sure if he was the first because he could've just had good public reletions. However, since no proof has been found to prove this, many people just assume that it was Marconi who sent and recieved radio signals first.
  • Titanic and Radio

    Titanic and Radio
    Radio had an impact because, without it, ships wouldn't have been able to comuncate with each other and people on the land. Since boats couldn't comunicate using a system that was connected with wires (because the boats were at sea) they used radio instead. This was very helpful for a lot of ships, not just the Titanic.
  • Audion Tube

    Audion Tube
    Lee de Forest creates a vacuum tube that amplifies signals, or an audion tube, in 1906. However, it is still widely believed that a Canadian inventor by the name of Reginald Fessenden was the first to come up with the audion tube, but there is currently no proof that he did. Lee de Forest may have had better public relations than Fessenden.
  • First Radio Station

    First Radio Station
    The first radio station was made in 1920, and it was originally called 8XK, though later it was renamed KDKA. The station was made by Frank Conrad. Also, KDKA is still aired today and is broadcasted out of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
  • First Uncle Charlie

    First Uncle Charlie
    The first Uncle Charlies started showing up in the 1920's. Uncle Charlies were personal radio stations that were very popular around the time professional radio stations were being created. Because of the amount of Uncle Charlies that existed around that time, other radio stations couldn't get listeners, sp the FRC would later be established to solve this problem.
  • Dawn of Advertising

    Dawn of Advertising
    One of the first commercials to be aired was aired by WEAF, and was aired in an appartment complex in 1922. This "toll broadcast" had costed $50, which is relatively cheap compared to the pricing for today's commercials.
  • FRC

    FRC
    The FRC was established in 1927, and was created because Uncle Charlies had gotten too popular. People couldn't listen to the stations that they wanted to without finding an Uncle Charlie, so the FRC had to be created to control which stations could be broadcasted and which couldn't. The FRC assigned radio frequencies, power limits and call letters.
  • TV Makes an Appearance

    TV Makes an Appearance
    In America, TV is invented in 1927, and although it took some time to gain popularity, soon many shows were being broadcasted over television. In the late 1930's, TV had begun to take the place of radio. Only one thing could save radio, and that was music.
  • Call Letters Made

    Call Letters Made
    The FRC makes call letters in 1927. Call letters would help to identify a station more accurately than the frequency would, and the different letters represented different locations. For example, "W" stands for east of the Mississippi River and "K" stands for west of the river.
  • Golden Era

    Golden Era
    Occured around the 30's and 40's, thiswas when most people would listen to radio most often. Because this was during the Great Depression, people didn't have much else to do. To fill this gap, many families tuned into radio stations and listened to them together.
  • The Rescue of Radio

    The Rescue of Radio
    Because TV had gained more popularity than radio, radio had one thing left to turn to: Music. So in the 1930's after FM radio was made, owners of radio stations began to play both talk shows and music. Music would play on FM radio, and talk shows would play on AM.
  • FM Radio is made

    FM Radio is made
    In 1933, Major Edwin Armstrong invented FM radio. This type of radio had a stronger signal, less static, and a wider range of audio frequencies than AM radio. With the appearance of TV, FM radio would support the survival of radio by letting owners of radio stations play music.
  • Adele

    Adele
    Adele releases the album 21. It became the best selling album in the past 15 years, and sold 26.4 million copies worldwide according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. It also won 6 Grammys.
  • Psy

    Psy
    In 2011, South Korean K-Pop singer Psy releases the album Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1. His song "Gangnam Style" was also the first YouTube video to have over one billion views. Having about 2.42 billion views, the music video even surpassed "Baby" by Justin Bieber.
  • Sam Smith

    Sam Smith
    In 2014, Sam Smith releases the album "In The Lonely Hour." This album includes the single "Stay With Me" that became a hit worldwide and was in the top ten songs in over 20 countries. "I'm Not the Only One", another single in this album, ranked number three in the UK and number five in the US.