-
1925 - Vitaphone introduces a sound system to synchronize music and sound effects with a
motion picture; It uses a 16-inch disc turntable that is connected by gears to the
projector mechanism. Operators have to continuously adjust the synchronization of
the grooves to the picture, which was not perfect. Later the speed and size of these
discs (16-inches running at approximately 33rpm) is utilized by some radio stations
stations and netw -
1926 - Scotsman John Logie Baird invents mechanical television which he calls a "Televisor",
a postcard-sized black and pink (not black and white) image with 30 scan lines running
at a flickering 12 1/2 frames per second. -
1926 - Bell Laboratories develops a 33 1/3 rpm disk system to synchronize a music track for
the Warner Brothers film "Don Juan" containing music composed by William Axt. This
system is similar to the Vitaphone system introduced months earlier. Both competing
systems -- the "Vitaphone system" and the "Bell/Warner Bros. system", as well as the
use of transcription discs by radio stations/networks, inspire the introduction of
33rpm disks l -
1927 - The NBC Pacific Coast "Orange network" debuts April 5, 1927 with its flagship station
KGO in San Francisco. -
1927 - "Movie-Tone News" talking theatrical newsreels debut May 25th in New York City.
-
1927 - On Sept. 7th -- Philo Farnsworth transmits the first "electric television" picture (about
the size of a postage stamp, an inch and a half square) in his San Francisco Laboratory. -
1928 - Billboard magazine publishes its first music chart of performed songs.
-
The NBC-TV series "Hank McCune Hall" used laugh tracks from other shows on
its soundtrack since it was filmed without a studio audience, and the era of "canned
laughter" began; later that year a CBS-TV engineer named Charlie Douglas made a
device that could produce a "laugh track" using multiple tape loops, which could be
played like a "laugh organ", and began a company to supply this service to producers. -
The first ID jingle company to "sing-over" pre-recorded backgrounds - PAMS, Inc. is
formed in Dallas, Texas by former radio studio musician Bill Meeks on August 20, 1951. -
The "CBS Eye" network logo debuts on September 10, 1951, designed by network art
director William Golden. An animated version debuted on the air on October 17th. -
The first pre-recorded reel-to-reel tape (at 7 1/2 ips) is offered for sale.
-
The First public RCA "compatible-color" TV broadcast was an episode of NBC's
"Kukla, Fran and Ollie" on August 30th; The first regularly scheduled prime-time
series in RCA compatible color was on Nov. 22nd (NBC's "Colgate Comedy Hour".) -
On March 25, the first color television sets rolled out of the RCA Victor factory
in Bloomington, Indiana; (The model CT-100 had a 12-inch screen, and a suggested
retail price of $1000. A total of 5,000 model CT-100 sets were made.) -
The First "transistor radio" went on sale in the U.S. named The Regency TR-1
(it had 4 transistors and cost $49.99.) -
Swanson employee Gerry Thomas invents the frozen "T. V. Dinner" to get rid of extra
turkey. He received a $1000 bonus from the company and a pay increase to $300 per month.
At first the company received letters from irate husbands who wanted their wives to continue
"cooking from scratch" like their mothers. But soon the idea was widely accepted, and the
segmented aluminum dinner compartments (inspired by airline food containers) fit nicely -
NBC debuts a weekend radio network format called MONITOR on Sunday, June 12th,
a creation of Pat Weaver, who also created NBC's Today and Tonight Shows. -
Larger 12" LP's overtake 10" LP's as the preferred size for long-playing records.
-
Ampex Co. of Redwood City, CA demonstrates the first videotape system in February
-
The "NBC Peacock" logo (symbol of compatible "Living Color") debuts in July,
designed by Fred Knapp and the NBC graphics department under John J. Graham. -
Compatible Stereo disks and record players are offered for sale (33 1/3 and 45rpm.)
-
Sony introduces the first "solid-state" TV set, using transistors instead of vacuum tubes.
-
FM Stereo radio broadcasting begins and FM slowly starts to gain respect.
-
Multitrack analog tape recording starts being used in recording studios.
-
Ivan Sutherland does his M.I.T. Doctoral Thesis on Interactive Computer Graphics
creating a "Sketchpad" program using an interactive light pen instead of a mouse;
which leads to the first practical uses of interactive graphics on computers. -
Compact tape cassettes and players are developed by Phillips originally for dictation.
Despite a sneak preview at a Berlin fair on August 30, its "official" introduction
to the world was at Phillips headquarters in Amsterdam on September 13.
Who would have thought its use as a portable music medium would still be alive
and well in some countries 50 years later. -
Gloria Gaynor records "Never Can Say Goodbye" -- the first disco record on US radio
-
Martin Cooper of Motorola conceived the first cellular phone system, and led the
10-year process of bringing it to market. -
The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", is the first hip-hop record to reach Top 40 radio.
