© Mark Ollig
What goes around, comes around.
This saying is also valid for decades.
Not only are we beginning a new year, but we have also re-entered the decade of the ‘20s.
Those living in 1920 anticipated a bright future, as the economy was roaring, and the nation’s wealth began an unprecedented acceleration.
One hundred years ago, the US population was 106.5 million people.
In 1920, 37,275 Americans owned a telephone.
The same year, KDKA out of Pittsburgh, PA, became the first commercial radio station to begin transmitting its amplitude modulated over-the-air signal on 1020 kHz.
People living in Pittsburgh purchased “Amateur Wireless Sets,” or ready-to-use radio receiver boxes with wired headphones from the local Joseph Horne department store to listen to the local radio station broadcast.
Live election results of the Harding-Cox US presidential election were broadcast over KDKA the evening of Nov. 2, 1920. It was a significant event, as people learned the results from the radio broadcast before the newspapers went to press.
The election-night radio broadcast originated inside a small shack atop one of the Westinghouse Electric buildings in East Pittsburgh.
In this historic first-of-its-kind live radio broadcast to the public of the voting results, four people, engineer William Thomas; telephone line operator John Frazier; R.S. McClelland; and the first radio announcer, Leo Rosenberg were there that night.
An estimated 1,000 radio listeners learned the moment Warren Harding defeated James Cox for the presidency.
Today, we live in a news-rich environment; broadcasting originates from a multitude of professional and amateur sources, and over a variety of transmission mediums.
The word, broadcasting, is credited to Frank Conrad, an engineer with the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh.
He was immersed in new technology and built an experimental radio transmitter on the second floor of his garage in Wilkinsburg, PA.
Conrad chose to use broadcasting to describe radio transmissions as analogous with the agricultural term, broadcast seeding, meaning spreading seeds far and wide.
So, it made sense to call radio’s voice information as broadcasting to the people far and wide.
One-hundred years ago, a Detroit radio station aired what many consider to be the first news broadcast.
Aug. 31, 1920, “The Detroit News Radiophone” station 8MK, began a nightly news broadcast running from 8 to 10 p.m.
For the previous 10 days, the Detroit News newspaper-owned station, 8MK, had broadcast only music. The radio station changed its call letters to WWJ in 1922.
In 1922, the US public purchased 100,000 radios and listened to 30 radio stations.
The following year, the public bought more than 500,000 radio sets.
In 1926, radio signals were covering much of the US by some 700 radio stations, including NBC. CBS radio began in 1927.
Radio was now competing with the printed pages of the local newspaper to provide the public with news and information.
With commercial electricity becoming available to more homes and businesses in 1920, the significance of radio broadcasting to the public started. The birth of “mass media” had begun in earnest.
It’s been 100 years since public broadcast radio technology made its entrance. It is still listened to by millions, who get their news, weather, sports, and entertainment from it.
Will radio technology still be roaring after the next 100 years?
Stay tuned for my answer in 2120.
For the record, the first successful test transmission of the human voice occurred Dec. 23, 1906, on Cobb Island near Washington, DC.
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden transmitted audible speech over magnetic radio waves, using a spark-gap transmitter. His words were heard and understood one mile away on a wireless radio receiver.
The radio message, “One, two, three, four, is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? If it is, would you telegraph back to me?”, was heard over Thiessen’s radio receiver.
I hope we all have a happy, safe, and prosperous new year.
Welcome to the new Roaring ‘20s.
What goes around, comes around.
This saying is also valid for decades.
Not only are we beginning a new year, but we have also re-entered the decade of the ‘20s.
Those living in 1920 anticipated a bright future, as the economy was roaring, and the nation’s wealth began an unprecedented acceleration.
One hundred years ago, the US population was 106.5 million people.
In 1920, 37,275 Americans owned a telephone.
The same year, KDKA out of Pittsburgh, PA, became the first commercial radio station to begin transmitting its amplitude modulated over-the-air signal on 1020 kHz.
People living in Pittsburgh purchased “Amateur Wireless Sets,” or ready-to-use radio receiver boxes with wired headphones from the local Joseph Horne department store to listen to the local radio station broadcast.
Live election results of the Harding-Cox US presidential election were broadcast over KDKA the evening of Nov. 2, 1920. It was a significant event, as people learned the results from the radio broadcast before the newspapers went to press.
The election-night radio broadcast originated inside a small shack atop one of the Westinghouse Electric buildings in East Pittsburgh.
In this historic first-of-its-kind live radio broadcast to the public of the voting results, four people, engineer William Thomas; telephone line operator John Frazier; R.S. McClelland; and the first radio announcer, Leo Rosenberg were there that night.
An estimated 1,000 radio listeners learned the moment Warren Harding defeated James Cox for the presidency.
Today, we live in a news-rich environment; broadcasting originates from a multitude of professional and amateur sources, and over a variety of transmission mediums.
The word, broadcasting, is credited to Frank Conrad, an engineer with the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh.
He was immersed in new technology and built an experimental radio transmitter on the second floor of his garage in Wilkinsburg, PA.
Conrad chose to use broadcasting to describe radio transmissions as analogous with the agricultural term, broadcast seeding, meaning spreading seeds far and wide.
So, it made sense to call radio’s voice information as broadcasting to the people far and wide.
One-hundred years ago, a Detroit radio station aired what many consider to be the first news broadcast.
Aug. 31, 1920, “The Detroit News Radiophone” station 8MK, began a nightly news broadcast running from 8 to 10 p.m.
For the previous 10 days, the Detroit News newspaper-owned station, 8MK, had broadcast only music. The radio station changed its call letters to WWJ in 1922.
In 1922, the US public purchased 100,000 radios and listened to 30 radio stations.
The following year, the public bought more than 500,000 radio sets.
In 1926, radio signals were covering much of the US by some 700 radio stations, including NBC. CBS radio began in 1927.
Radio was now competing with the printed pages of the local newspaper to provide the public with news and information.
With commercial electricity becoming available to more homes and businesses in 1920, the significance of radio broadcasting to the public started. The birth of “mass media” had begun in earnest.
It’s been 100 years since public broadcast radio technology made its entrance. It is still listened to by millions, who get their news, weather, sports, and entertainment from it.
Will radio technology still be roaring after the next 100 years?
Stay tuned for my answer in 2120.
For the record, the first successful test transmission of the human voice occurred Dec. 23, 1906, on Cobb Island near Washington, DC.
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden transmitted audible speech over magnetic radio waves, using a spark-gap transmitter. His words were heard and understood one mile away on a wireless radio receiver.
The radio message, “One, two, three, four, is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? If it is, would you telegraph back to me?”, was heard over Thiessen’s radio receiver.
I hope we all have a happy, safe, and prosperous new year.
Welcome to the new Roaring ‘20s.
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