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Nikolia Tesla
The development of the radio began in 1893 with Nikolai Tesla's demonstration of wireless radio communication in St. Louis, Missouri. His work laid the foundation for those later scientists who worked to perfect the radio we now use. -
The Radio Act of 1912
The Radio Act of 1912 required all land stations and ship stations to be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. -
KDKA
KDKA was the first offically licensed radio station. KDKA was a station in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. KDKA was origanally named 8XK, but they later changed it to KDKA. KDKA was created by Frank Conrad in 1920. Most people used the station for news,but it did play music as well. -
British Broadcasting Company
The British Broadcasting Company, or BBC, was Europe's most famous radio broadcasting station. Marconi was one of the founders, along with other leaders in the wireless manufacturers. -
Advertisments
In 1923 WEAF broadcasted the very first advertisment on an AT&Tradio station in New York. Other stations began to put out advertisments, even with the RCA agreements. Other radio stations were owned by private businesses and were only used to sell that company’s products. -
Expanding
Broadcasts began only being local, but by 1925 it spread to most of the United Kingdom. -
News
All of the airing stations played classical music, and a variety of programs. However in 1926 that changed due to a newspaper strike in England. Because of this strike there was on news, so BBC took on the responsibility to supply the information to the public. -
BBC
The BBC became the British Broadcasting Corporation when it was granted in the Royal Charter. When World War ll began all the television stations shut down so it was up to the radio to cover the war. -
War and the Radio
The devastation of Britain made the people look for a distraction in radio entertainment. People liked hearing the music, plays and discussions from BBC. -
After World War ll
Following the Second World War the radio became more known for musical entertainment. AM stations played a top-40 time and temperature format, which means they constantly played popular three minute songs. Programming and music targeted the listeners between twelve and thirty five. The new music that FM aired soon posed a threat to the old top-40 music AM stations that still played in rotations and the growing music of the hippie and psychedelic generation took over the FM airwaves. -
Television Rises
With the end of the war television saw it rise to fame and the radio began to slowly decline and lose its popularity. However in the 1950's it slowly came back thanks to Rock and Roll. -
Growth of the Radio
With the expansion of radio to FM more programs began playing and local BBC stations started up across England. Radio in Europe kept growing, and by the 1990s new stations, like Radio 1, 4 and 5 began broadcasting with genres like sports and comedy for different listeners. -
Marconi's Accomplishment
Gulielmo Marconi was the man most associated with the radio. So in 1986 he was awarded an offical patent for the radio by the British Government. -
Changes
The radio grow into the satellite and internet markets. The need for live DJ’s has shrunk because everything can be done with computer such as editing and broadcasting. Jobs that used to take hours to do, now can be done with the click of a mouse. Car companies have paired up with satellite radio stations to offer special deals on satellite radios which offer all kinds of music, news, and entertainment stations for the enjoyment of every listener. -
Nearing the End
BBC expanded to the digital market and saw its greatest moment of growth as new stations like 1Xtra, 5 Live, Sports Extra, 6 Music and BBC 7 were launched and World Service were made available to domestic listeners. The history of radio broadcasting in the United States followed a similar path.