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Marconis Wireless
When Guglielmo Marconi, the Irish-Italian inventor, came to the United States in 1899 to demonstrate how his wireless telegraph might expedite press coverage of the America's Cup races, the concept of broadcasting had not entered his mind at all. -
Radio Transmitter
On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fessenden, who developed the first sophisticated radio transmitter, the high-frequency alternator, sent out a program of music and speech. -
Radio Tube
Lee de Forest, inventor of the radio tube, attempted to broadcast synthesized music and opera in New York City between 1907 and 1909. -
The Radio Act
The Radio Act of 1912 had initiated the licensing of stations and introduced a crude allocation of wavelengths. -
Records
The patent for manufacturing records expires, opening the levees for an endless supply of albums that persists to this day. -
Music Boom
By the next decade, amateur operators were broadcasting speech, music, and coded messages in dozens of cities. This activity, interrupted by World War I, resumed in the early 1920s, and the radio boom began. -
Radio Advertising
Radio advertising was, in the 1920s, only one of several proposals for financing radio, and it was controversial. Critics felt that sending ads over the airwaves constituted an invasion of privacy, sabotaging people's ability to keep the marketplace out of the home. -
NBC
NBC (national broadcasting company) was formed in 1926 and caught eyes of many. -
CBS
CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) was formed a year after NBC. -
Public News
By the late 1930s, radio was woven into the fabric of American life. Public events, from political rallies to sporting events and vaudeville routines, were now enjoyed by millions in private. And, increasingly, Americans got their news from radio, especially news of the expanding war in Europe. -
March Of Time
the show was broadcast on Friday nights and sounded very much like the movie newsreels. The show was built around a narrator who lead listeners into the dramatized events. There were three during the shows run, Ted Husing, Harry Von Zell and Westbrook Van Voorhis -
MBS
MBS (Mutual Broadcasting System) was formed years after NBC and CBS. -
"War of The Worlds" on Halloween
When Orson Welles broadcast his “War of the Worlds” on Halloween, 1938, he had no inkling that the mock terror of the play would resonate with a real terror of invasion among some listeners, prompting them to clog highways as they sought to flee the Martians. -
Elvis
Elvis records at Sun Studios. It’s entirely debatable whether Elvis and Sam Phillips invented Rock on this fateful day. For the sake of argument, let’s say they didn’t. -
The Beatles
The Beatles arrive in America. When their plane touches down at JFK airport, a crowd of 3,000 awaits, and The Beatles immediately begin their conquest of the country.
