Main article:The idea of wireless communication predates the discovery of 'radio' with experiments in ' via inductive and capacitive induction and transmission through the ground, water, and even from the 1830s on. Showed in theoretical and mathematical form in 1864 that electromagnetic waves could propagate through free space.
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It is likely that the first intentional transmission of a signal by means of electromagnetic waves was performed in an experiment by around 1880, although this was considered to be induction at the time. In 1888 was able to conclusively prove transmitted airborne electromagnetic waves in an experiment confirming Maxwell's theory of.After the discovery of these 'Hertzian waves' (it would take almost 20 years for the term 'radio' to be universally adopted for this type of electromagnetic radiation) many scientists and inventors experimented with wireless transmission, some trying to develop a system of communication, some intentionally using these new Hertzian waves, some not. Maxwell's theory showing that light and Hertzian electromagnetic waves were the same phenomenon at different wavelengths led 'Maxwellian' scientists such as John Perry, and Alexander Trotter to assume they would be analogous to optical signaling and the Serbian American engineer to consider them relatively useless for communication since 'light' could not transmit further than. In 1892 the physicist wrote on the possibilities of wireless telegraphy based on Hertzian waves and in 1893 Tesla proposed a system for transmitting intelligence and wireless power using the earth as the medium. Others, such as, and were involved in the development of components and theory involved with the transmission and reception of airborne electromagnetic waves for their own theoretical work or as a potential means of communication.Over several years starting in 1894 the Italian inventor built the first complete, commercially successful system based on airborne Hertzian waves. British Post Office engineers inspect Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraphy (radio) equipment in 1897.In 1894 the young Italian inventor began working on the idea of building a commercial wireless telegraphy system based on the use of Hertzian waves (radio waves), a line of inquiry that he noted other inventors did not seem to be pursuing.
Marconi read through the literature and used the ideas of others who were experimenting with radio waves but did a great deal to develop devices such as portable transmitters and receiver systems that could work over long distances, turning what was essentially a laboratory experiment into a useful communication system. By August 1895 Marconi was field testing his system but even with improvements he was only able to transmit signals up to one-half mile, a distance Oliver Lodge had predicted in 1894 as the maximum transmission distance for radio waves. Marconi raised the height of his antenna and hit upon the idea of grounding his transmitter and receiver. With these improvements the system was capable of transmitting signals up to 2 miles (3.2 km) and over hills. Marconi's experimental apparatus proved to be the first engineering-complete, commercially successful system. Marconi's apparatus is also credited with saving the 700 people who survived the tragic disaster.In 1896, Marconi was awarded British patent 12039, Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-for, the first patent ever issued for a Hertzian wave (radio wave) base wireless telegraphic system.
In 1897, he established a radio station on the, England. Marconi opened his 'wireless' factory in the former -works at Hall Street, England in 1898, employing around 60 people. Shortly after the 1900s, Marconi held the patent rights for radio. Marconi would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 and be more successful than any other inventor in his ability to commercialize radio and its associated equipment into a global business. In the US some of his subsequent patented refinements (but not his original radio patent) would be overturned in a 1935 court case (upheld by the US Supreme Court in 1943). 20th centuryIn 1900, Brazilian priest Roberto transmitted the human voice wirelessly.
According to the newspaper Jornal do Comercio (June 10, 1900), he conducted his first public experiment on June 3, 1900, in front of journalists and the General Consul of Great Britain, C.P. Lupton, in, Brazil, for a distance of approximately 5.0 miles (8 km). The points of transmission and reception were Alto de Santana and Paulista Avenue.One year after that experiment, de Moura received his first patent from the Brazilian government. It was described as 'equipment for the purpose of phonetic transmissions through space, land and water elements at a distance with or without the use of wires.' Four months later, knowing that his had real value, he left Brazil for the United States with the intent of patenting the machine at the inHaving few resources, he had to rely on friends to push his project.
Despite great difficulty, three patents were awarded: 'The Wave Transmitter' (October 11, 1904), which is the precursor of today's radio transceiver; 'The Wireless Telephone' and the 'Wireless Telegraph', both dated November 22, 1904. 'The Wireless Telephone', U.S.
Patent Office in Washington, D.C.The next advancement was the vacuum tube detector, invented by engineers. On 1906, used a synchronous for the first radio program broadcast, from, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing on the and reading a passage from the. This was, for all intents and purposes, the first transmission of what is now known as amplitude modulation or AM radio.In June 1912 Marconi opened the world's first purpose-built radio factory at in Chelmsford, England.The first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920 by station 8MK in, which survives today as all-news format station under ownership of the CBS network. The first college radio station began broadcasting on October 14, 1920 from Union College, Schenectady, under the personal call letters of Wendell King, an student at the school.That month 2ADD (renamed in 1947), aired what is believed to be the first public entertainment broadcast in the United States, a series of Thursday night concerts initially heard within a 100-mile (160 km) radius and later for a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) radius.
In November 1920, it aired the first broadcast of a sporting event. At 9 pm on August 27, 1920, Sociedad Radio Argentina aired a live performance of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal from the Coliseo Theater in downtown.
Only about twenty homes in the city had receivers to tune in this radio program. Meanwhile, regular entertainment broadcasts commenced in 1922 from the Marconi Research Centre at, England.Sports broadcasting began at this time as well, including the broadcast of a. An American girl listens to a radio during theOne of the first developments in the early 20th century was that aircraft used commercial AM radio stations for navigation.
This continued until the early 1960s when systems became widespread. In the early 1930s, and frequency modulation were invented by amateur radio operators.
By the end of the decade, they were established commercial modes. Radio was used to transmit pictures visible as as early as the 1920s. Commercial television transmissions started in North America and Europe in the 1940s.In 1947 AT&T commercialized the.
From its start in St. Louis in 1946, AT&T then introduced Mobile Telephone Service to one hundred towns and highway corridors by 1948. Mobile Telephone Service was a rarity with only 5,000 customers placing about 30,000 calls each week. Because only three radio channels were available, only three customers in any given city could make mobile telephone calls at one time. Mobile Telephone Service was expensive, costing US$15 per month, plus $0.30–0.40 per local call, equivalent to (in 2012 US dollars) about $176 per month and $3.50–4.75 per call. The mobile system, developed by, was introduced in the Americas in 1978, gave much more capacity. It was the primary analog mobile phone system in North America (and other locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s.
The, which used ', was the world's first commercially produced.In 1954, the Regency company introduced a pocket, the, powered by a 'standard 22.5 V Battery.' In 1955, the newly formed company introduced its first transistorized radio. It was small enough to fit in a pocket, powered by a small battery. It was durable, because it had no vacuum tubes to burn out. Over the next 20 years, transistors replaced tubes almost completely except for high-power.By 1963, color television was being broadcast commercially (though not all broadcasts or programs were in color), and the first (radio), was launched.
In the late 1960s, the U.S. Long-distance telephone network began to convert to a digital network, employing for many of its links. In the 1970s, became the premier system.Soon, the U.S.
Navy experimented with, culminating in the launch of the (GPS) constellation in 1987. In the early 1990s, amateur radio experimenters began to use personal computers with audio cards to process radio signals. In 1994, the U.S. Army and launched an aggressive, successful project to construct a that can be programmed to be virtually any radio by changing its software program. Digital transmissions began to be applied to broadcasting in the late 1990s.Start of the 20th centuryAround the start of the 20th century, the was developed. In 1900, made a weak transmission of voice over the airwaves.
In 1901, Marconi conducted the first successful transatlantic experimental radio communications. In 1904, The reversed its decision, awarding Marconi a patent for the invention of radio, possibly influenced by Marconi's financial backers in the States, who included.
This also allowed the U.S. Government (among others) to avoid having to pay the royalties that were being claimed by Tesla for use of his patents. For more information see. In 1907, Marconi established the first commercial transatlantic radio communications service, between, Ireland and,. Julio Cervera Bavieradeveloped radio in Spain around 1902. Cervera Baviera obtained patents in England, Germany, Belgium, and Spain.
In May–June 1899, Cervera had, with the blessing of the, visited Marconi's radiotelegraphic installations on the, and worked to develop his own system. He began collaborating with Marconi on resolving the problem of a wireless communication system, obtaining some by the end of 1899. Cervera, who had worked with Marconi and his assistant George Kemp in 1899, resolved the difficulties of wireless telegraph and obtained his first patents prior to the end of that year. On March 22, 1902, Cervera founded the Spanish Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Corporation and brought to his corporation the patents he had obtained in Spain, Belgium, Germany and England. He established the second and third regular radiotelegraph service in the history of the world in 1901 and 1902 by maintaining regular transmissions between and (across the ) for three consecutive months, and between and (Cabo Pelado).
This is after Marconi established the radiotelegraphic service between the and in 1898. In 1906, Domenico Mazzotto wrote: 'In Spain the has applied the system perfected by the commander of military engineering, Julio Cervera Baviera (English patent No.
20084 (1899)).' Cervera thus achieved some success in this field, but his radiotelegraphic activities ceased suddenly, the reasons for which are unclear to this day. British MarconiUsing various, the company was established in 1897 and began communication between and ships at sea. This company, along with its subsidiaries and, had a stranglehold on ship-to-shore communication. It operated much the way operated until 1983, owning all of its equipment and refusing to communicate with non-Marconi equipped ships.
In June 1912, after the disaster, due to increased production Marconi opened the world's first purpose-built radio factory at in, and in 1932 the. Many inventions improved the quality of radio, and amateurs experimented with uses of radio, thus planting the first seeds of broadcasting.TelefunkenThe company was founded on May 27, 1903, as 'Telefunken society for wireless telefon' of (S & H) and the as joint undertakings for radio engineering in Berlin. It continued as a joint venture of and, until Siemens left in 1941.
In 1911, sent Telefunken engineers to, to erect three 600-foot (180-m) radio towers there. Nikola Tesla assisted in the construction. A similar station was erected in, creating the only wireless communication between North America and Europe.Reginald FessendenThe invention of amplitude-modulated (AM) radio, so that more than one station can send signals (as opposed to spark-gap radio, where one transmitter covers the entire bandwidth of the spectrum) is attributed to. On 1906, used an and rotary to make the first radio audio broadcast, from.
Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing on the and reading a passage from the.Ferdinand BraunIn 1909, and were awarded the for 'contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy'.Charles David HerroldIn April 1909, an electronics instructor in constructed a broadcasting station. It used technology, but modulated the carrier frequency with the human voice, and later music. The station 'San Jose Calling' (there were no call letters), continued to eventually become today's in San Francisco. Herrold, the son of a farmer, coined the terms 'narrowcasting' and 'broadcasting', respectively to identify transmissions destined for a single receiver such as that on board a ship, and those transmissions destined for a general audience.
(The term 'broadcasting' had been used in farming to define the tossing of seed in all directions.) Charles Herrold did not claim to be the first to transmit the human voice, but he claimed to be the first to conduct 'broadcasting'. To help the radio signal to spread in all directions, he designed some, which he mounted on the rooftops of various buildings in San Jose. Herrold also claims to be the first broadcaster to accept (he exchanged publicity for a local record store for records to play on his station), though this dubious honour usually is foisted on (1922).
RMS Titanic (April 2, 1912).In 1912, the sank in the northern Atlantic Ocean. After this, wireless telegraphy using spark-gap transmitters quickly became universal on large ships. In 1913, the was convened and produced a treaty requiring shipboard radio stations to be manned 24 hours a day.
A typical high-power spark gap was a rotating commutator with six to twelve contacts per wheel, nine inches (229 mm) to a foot wide, driven by about 2,000 DC. As the gaps made and broke contact, the radio wave was audible as a tone in a at a remote location. The telegraph key often directly made and broke the 2,000 volt supply. One side of the spark gap was directly connected to the antenna. Receivers with became commonplace before spark-gap transmitters were replaced by continuous wave transmitters.Harold J. PowerOn March 8, 1916, with his radio company American Radio and Research Company (AMRAD), broadcast the first continuous broadcast in the world from under the call sign 1XE (it lasted 3 hours). The company later became the first to broadcast on a daily schedule, and the first to broadcast radio dance programs, university professor lectures, the weather, and bedtime stories.
Edwin ArmstrongInventor is credited with developing many of the features of radio as it is known today. Armstrong patented three important inventions that made today's radio possible., the circuit and wide-band or FM. Regeneration or the use of greatly increased the amplitude of received radio signals to the point where they could be heard without headphones.
The superhet simplified radio receivers by doing away with the need for several tuning controls. It made radios more sensitive and selective as well. FM gave listeners a static-free experience with better sound quality and fidelity than AM.Wavelength (meters) vs.
Frequency (kilocycles, )In early radio, and to a limited extent much later, the transmission signal of the radio station was specified in meters, referring to the, the length of the radio wave. This is the origin of the terms, and radio. Portions of the radio spectrum reserved for specific purposes were often referred to by wavelength: the, used for, for example.
The relation between wavelength and frequency is reciprocal: the higher the frequency, the shorter the wave, and vice versa.As equipment progressed, precise frequency control became possible; early stations often did not have a precise frequency, as it was affected by the temperature of the equipment, among other factors. Identifying a radio signal by its frequency rather than its length proved much more practical and useful, and starting in the 1920s this became the usual method of identifying a signal, especially in the United States. Frequencies specified in number of cycles per second (kilocycles, megacycles) were replaced by the more precise designation of (cycles per second) about 1965.Audio broadcasting (1919 to 1950s).
In the 1920s, the, ' Construction and Operation of a Simple Homemade Radio Receiving Outfit', showed how almost any person handy with simple tools could a build an effective receiver.The most common type of receiver before vacuum tubes was the, although some early radios used some type of amplification through electric current or battery. Inventions of the, and enabled audio radio. The use of , with which more than one station can simultaneously send signals (as opposed to spark-gap radio, where one transmitter covers the entire bandwidth of spectra) was pioneered by Fessenden and.The art and science of crystal sets is still pursued as a hobby in the form of simple un-amplified radios that 'runs on nothing, forever'. They are used as a teaching tool by groups such as the to introduce youngsters to electronics and radio.
As the only energy available is that gathered by the antenna system, loudness is necessarily limited.The first vacuum tubesDuring the mid-1920s, amplifying (or thermionic valves in the UK) revolutionized. Developed a vacuum tube. Placed a screen, added a, creating the. The Dutch company Nederlandsche Radio-Industrie and its owner engineer, made the first regular wireless broadcast for entertainment from its workshop in on 6 November 1919. The company manufactured both transmitters and receivers. Its popular program was broadcast four nights per week on AM 670 metres, until 1924 when the company ran into financial troubles.On 27 August 1920, regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in, pioneered by and his associates, and telegraphy stopped. On 31 August 1920 the first known radio news program was broadcast by station 8MK, the unlicensed predecessor of in.
In 1922 regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in the UK from the Research Centre at near. Early radios ran the entire power of the transmitter through a. In the 1920s, the bought 's and 's patent. During the mid-1920s, Amplifying (US)/ (UK) revolutionized.
Westinghouse engineers developed a more modern vacuum tube.Political interest in the United KingdomThe British government and the state-owned postal services found themselves under massive pressure from the wireless industry (including telegraphy) and early radio adopters to open up to the new medium. In an internal confidential report from February 25, 1924, the Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee stated:'We have been asked 'to consider and advise on the policy to be adopted as regards the Imperial Wireless Services so as to protect and facilitate public interest.' It was impressed upon us that the question was urgent. We did not feel called upon to explore the past or to comment on the delays which have occurred in the building of the Empire Wireless Chain. We concentrated our attention on essential matters, examining and considering the facts and circumstances which have a direct bearing on policy and the condition which safeguard public interests.' Licensing of radio stations in the U.S.
Under the, licensing was the authority of the (after 1913, the ). There is no known comprehensive record of the stations licensed under this act. The department had no authority to withhold a license from anyone who requested one, and did not regulate frequencies or power. Beginning in 1926, the regulated radio use in the United States.
The gave the Federal Radio Commission the power to grant and deny licenses, and to assign frequencies and power levels for each licensee. In 1928 it began requiring licenses of existing stations and setting controls on who could broadcast from where on what frequency and at what power. Some stations could not obtain a license and ceased operations. There was no control of the content being broadcast. The abolished the Federal Radio Commission and replaced it with the, giving it authority over broadcast television, then the subject of experiments, and the new (and famously contributing to the breakup of the for reasons).Licensed commercial public radio stationsThe question of the 'first' publicly targeted licensed radio station in the U.S. Has more than one answer and depends on semantics.
Settlement of this 'first' question may hang largely upon what constitutes 'regular' programming. It is commonly attributed to in, which in October 1920 received its license and went on the air as the first US licensed commercial broadcasting station on November 2, 1920 with the presidential election results as its inaugural show, but was not broadcasting daily until 1921. (Their engineer had been broadcasting from on the two call sign signals of 8XK and 8YK since 1916.) Technically, KDKA was the first of several already-extant stations to receive a 'limited commercial' license. On February 17, 1919, station 9XM at the in broadcast human speech to the public at large.
9XM was first experimentally licensed in 1914, began regular transmissions in 1916, and its first music broadcast in 1917. Regularly scheduled broadcasts of voice and music began in January 1921. That station is still on the air today as. On August 20, 1920 8MK, began broadcasting daily and was later claimed by famed inventor as the first commercial station. 8MK was licensed to a teenager, Michael DeLisle Lyons, and financed. In 1921 8MK changed to WBL and then to in 1922, in. It has carried a regular schedule of programming to the present and also broadcast the 1920 presidential election returns just as KDKA did.
Inventor claims to have been present during 8MK's earliest broadcasts, since the station was using a transmitter sold by his company. The first station to receive a commercial license was, then in. Lists provided to the by the showed that WBZ received its commercial license on 15 September 1921; another Westinghouse station, then in, received its commercial license on November 7, the same day as KDKA did.
What separates WJZ and WBZ from KDKA is the fact that neither of the former stations remain in their original city of license, whereas KDKA has remained in Pittsburgh for its entire existence.: Launched by in the section of New York City, that station began daily broadcasts in 1916. Like most experimental radio stations, however, it had to go off the air when the U.S. Entered World War I in 1917, and did not return to the air.: Launched by in, 1XE was an experimental station that started broadcasting in 1917. It had to go off the air during World War I, but started up again after the war, and began regular voice and music broadcasts in 1919. However, the station did not receive its commercial license, becoming, until 1922., broadcasting from the., broadcasting in., the U.S. Government time service, which was believed to have started 6 months before KDKA in Washington, D.C.
But in 1966 was transferred to Ft. Collins, Colorado., located on in; was launched as W2XQ., located at the,; was launched as 9XM., one of Pittsburgh's five original AM stations, signed on as amateur station '8ZAE' on November 19, 1919, but did not receive a commercial license until January 9, 1922.Outside the United States there are also claims for the first radio stations:., 's broadcast station in, since 1919 (was CFCF, later and shut down in February 2010). On August 27, 1920 the Argentina Station started the first transmission from Coliseo Theatre at Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Later that station received the name LOR Radio Argentina, and finally LR2 Radio Argentina. That station was in service until 31 December 1997 at 1110 kHz. Further information:Broadcasting was not yet supported. The stations owned by manufacturers and department stores were established to sell radios and those owned by newspapers to sell newspapers and express the opinions of the owners.
In the 1920s, radio was first used to transmit pictures visible as television. During the early 1930s, (SSB) and (FM) were invented by amateur radio operators. By 1940, they were established commercial modes.Westinghouse was brought into the patent allies group, which included, and, and became a part owner of RCA.
All radios manufactured by GE and Westinghouse were sold under the RCA name, 60% GE and 40% Westinghouse. ATT's would build radio transmitters. The patent allies attempted to set up a monopoly, but they failed due to successful competition. Much to the dismay of the patent allies, several of the contracts for inventor's patents held clauses protecting 'amateurs' and allowing them to use the patents. Whether the competing manufacturers were really amateurs was ignored by these competitors.These features arose:. Commercial (United States) or governmental (Europe) station networks.
Birth of the. Race towards shorter waves and FMFM and television start. Further information:In 1933, was patented by inventor. FM uses of the radio wave to reduce and from electrical equipment and the atmosphere. In 1937, the first experimental FM radio station, was granted a construction permit by the US (FCC). In the 1930s, regular broadcasting began in some parts of Europe and North America.
By the end of the decade there were roughly 25,000 all-electronic television receivers in existence worldwide, the majority of them in the UK. In the US, Armstrong's FM system was designated by the FCC to transmit and receive television sound.FM in EuropeAfter World War II, broadcasting was introduced in Germany. At a meeting in in 1948, a new wavelength plan was set up for Europe. Because of the recent war, Germany (which did not exist as a state and so was not invited) was only given a small number of frequencies, which were not very good for broadcasting. For this reason Germany began broadcasting on UKW ('Ultrakurzwelle', i.e. Ultra short wave, nowadays called ) which was not covered by the Copenhagen plan.
After some experience with VHF, it was realized that FM radio was a much better alternative for VHF radio than AM. Because of this history FM Radio is still referred to as 'UKW Radio' in Germany. Other European nations followed a bit later, when the superior sound quality of FM and the ability to run many more local stations because of the more limited range of VHF broadcasts were realized.Later 20th-century developmentsIn 1954 Regency introduced a pocket radio, the, powered by a 'standard 22.5V Battery'. In 1960 introduced their first transistorized radio, small enough to fit in a vest pocket, and able to be powered by a small battery.
It was durable, because there were no tubes to burn out. Over the next twenty years, transistors displaced tubes almost completely except for and very high power or very high frequency uses.In the early 1960s, systems finally became widespread for navigation; before that, aircraft used commercial AM radio stations for navigation. (AM stations are still marked on U.S. Charts).Color television and digital.
1953: compatible color television introduced in the US. 1962:, the first, relayed the first publicly available live transatlantic television signal. Late 1960s: The US long-distance telephone network began to convert to a digital network, employing for many of its links. 1970s: became the premier radio navigation system.
Soon, the US Navy experimented with. 1987: The constellation of satellites was launched. Early 1990s: experimenters began to use personal computers with audio cards to process radio signals. 1994: The US Army and launched an aggressive successful project to construct a that could become a different radio on the fly by changing software. Late 1990s: Digital transmissions began to be applied to. 2015: The first all-digital radio transmitter, called Pizzicato, was introduced.Telex on radiodid not go away on radio.
Instead, the degree of automation increased. On land-lines in the 1930s, automated encoding, and were adapted to pulse-code dialing to automate routing, a service called. For thirty years, telex was the cheapest form of long-distance communication, because up to 25 telex channels could occupy the same bandwidth as one voice channel. For business and government, it was an advantage that telex directly produced written documents.Telex systems were adapted to short-wave radio by sending tones over. R.44 (the most advanced pure-telex standard) incorporated character-level error detection and retransmission as well as automated encoding and routing. For many years, telex-on-radio (TOR) was the only reliable way to reach some third-world countries.
TOR remains reliable, though less-expensive forms of e-mail are displacing it. Many national telecom companies historically ran nearly pure telex networks for their governments, and they ran many of these links over short wave radio.Documents including maps and photographs went by, or wireless photoradiogram, invented in 1924 by of (RCA). This method prospered in the mid-20th century and faded late in the century.Mobile phones.
Main article:In 1947 AT&T commercialized the. From its start in St.
Louis in 1946, AT&T then introduced Mobile Telephone Service to one hundred towns and highway corridors by 1948. Mobile Telephone Service was a rarity with only 5,000 customers placing about 30,000 calls each week.
Because only three radio channels were available, only three customers in any given city could make mobile telephone calls at one time. Mobile Telephone Service was expensive, costing US$15 per month, plus $0.30–0.40 per local call, equivalent to (in 2012 US dollars) about $176 per month and $3.50–4.75 per call. The mobile system, developed by, was introduced in the in 1978, gave much more capacity. It was the primary analog mobile phone system in (and other locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s.Broadcast and copyrightWhen radio was introduced in the early 1920s, many predicted it would kill the industry.
Radio was a free medium for the public to hear music for which they would normally pay. While some companies saw radio as a new avenue for promotion, others feared it would cut into profits from record sales and live performances. Many record companies would not license their records to be played over the radio, and had their major stars sign agreements that they would not perform on radio broadcasts.Indeed, the music recording industry had a severe drop in profits after the introduction of the radio. For a while, it appeared as though radio was a definite threat to the record industry. Radio ownership grew from two out of five homes in 1931 to four out of five homes in 1938.
Meanwhile, record sales fell from $75 million in 1929 to $26 million in 1938 (with a low point of $5 million in 1933), though the economics of the situation were also affected by the.The copyright owners were concerned that they would see no gain from the popularity of radio and the ‘free’ music it provided. Luckily, what they needed to make this new medium work for them already existed in previous copyright law. The copyright holder for a song had control over all public performances ‘for profit.’ The problem now was proving that the radio industry, which was just figuring out for itself how to make money from advertising and currently offered free music to anyone with a receiver, was making a profit from the songs.The was against Department Store in in 1922.
The store was broadcasting music throughout its store on the radio station WOR. No advertisements were heard, except at the beginning of the broadcast which announced 'L. Bamberger and Co., One of America's Great Stores, Newark, New Jersey.' It was determined through this and previous cases (such as the lawsuit against Shanley's Restaurant) that Bamberger was using the songs for commercial gain, thus making it a public performance for profit, which meant the copyright owners were due payment.With this ruling the (ASCAP) began collecting licensing fees from radio stations in 1923.
The beginning sum was $250 for all music protected under ASCAP, but for larger stations the price soon ballooned to $5,000. Edward Samuels reports in his book The Illustrated Story of Copyright that 'radio and TV licensing represents the single greatest source of revenue for ASCAP and its composers and an average member of ASCAP gets about $150–$200 per work per year, or about $5,000-$6,000 for all of a member's compositions.' Not long after the Bamberger ruling, ASCAP had to once again defend their right to charge fees, in 1924. The Dill Radio Bill would have allowed radio stations to play music without paying and licensing fees to ASCAP or any other music-licensing corporations.
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K/W Call Letters in the United States K/W Call Letters in the United StatesThomas H. White - January 1, 2019This is a comprehensive review of K and W call letter assignments for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations in the United States, with an emphasis on stations that are on the 'wrong side of the Mississippi'.Sections.BackgroundThe United States federal government began licencing radio stations in late 1912, and from the beginning it has assigned call letters starting with K and W to commercial and broadcasting stations. Moreover, from the start the policy has been that stations in the west normally got K- calls, while W- calls were issued to stations in the east. (Initially ship stations were the reverse, with W assignments in the west, and K in the east).The original K/W boundary ran north from the Texas-New Mexico border, so at first stations along the Gulf of Mexico and northward were assigned W calls. It was only in late January, 1923 that the K/W boundary was shifted east to the current boundary of the Mississippi River. With this change, K's were assigned to most new stations west of the Mississippi, however, existing W stations located west of the Mississippi were allowed to keep their now non-standard calls.NOTES: The source of the Mississippi River is in upper Minnesota, so using it as the K/W boundary leaves a gap in the northern part of the state.
In 1987 the Federal Communications Commission noted that the current staff practice was to define the remainder of the boundary as 'a line from the headwaters of the Mississippi to a point at the Canadian border just east of International Falls'. This review generally omits stations in Louisiana and Minnesota, because the boundary has not been very strictly followed in those two states. Finally, this review lists stations according to their 'community of licence', and does not include stations which only had transmitters on the other side of the divide.
(Call letters are assigned according to the station's community of licence-the location of the station's transmitter, even if it is on the other side of the divide, does not matter).For more detailed information on early U.S. Call letter practices, see and.Reasons For The ExceptionsReviewing the stations on the AM band, many people have noticed that some of them have the 'wrong' first letter for the side of the Mississippi River on which they are located. During the ninety years of call letter assignments for AM stations, I came up with six categories of non-conforming stations:. Stations located east of the Mississippi which were assigned calls from the KD- ship block, instead of W-, during a June 1920 to April 1921 anomaly.
(For some reason, during this anomaly almost all new land stations, east and west, got KU- or KD- four-letter calls. This included two broadcasting stations that just happened to be first licenced during this time: KDKA and KDPM). Stations west of the Mississippi River that were licenced before the late January 1923 boundary shift, and were located in the slice of W territory that existed west of the Mississippi prior to the shift. (Originally about 170 stations, not including Minnesota and Louisiana. However, due to very high deletion rates plus later call changes, only eleven of these original calls survive: WEW, WHB, WKY, WOC, WOI, WBAP, WDAY, WJAG, WNAX, WOAI, and WTAW). Portable stations (prior to 1928), which got W call letters because their original owners were located east of the Mississippi, but settled in a permanent home west of the Mississippi.
(Four stations: WBBZ, WIBW, WLBN, and WMBH. There are no examples of a portable crossing in the other direction, i.e. No K portables 'anchoring' in W territory). Regular stations that changed their community of licence to the other side of the K/W divide.
(Eight stations: KFKX, KSGM, KWEM, WKBB, WPLX, KOTC, KQQZ and WGNU. NOTE: This omits Louisiana and Minnesota.). Owner requests-examples: WACO in Waco, Texas; WDBQ in Dubuque, Iowa; WMT ( Waterloo Iowa Morning Tribune). Assigned by the Government-three stations. KTGG in Spring Arbor (later Okemos), Michigan reportedly got a 'K' callsign because someone at the FCC thought that the 'MI' postal code stood for Missouri, a west-of-the-Mississippi state. Also, two additional call assignments appear to have been selected by government regulators: KYWA Chicago, a booster station for KYW, and KOP, licenced to the Detroit Police Department.Finally, there are about a dozen stations for which I can not come up with any apparent reason-perhaps someone momentarily forgot about the policy, or where the boundary line was, or maybe I just need to do more research. The most prominent of these 'undocumented' stations are KQV Pittsburgh, KSD Saint Louis (assigned before the boundary shift-now KTRS), and KYW Chicago (later Philadelphia and Cleveland).29 Current AM-band K/W Boundary Exceptions (excluding LA & MN)The above map lists the current exceptions to the standard of 'K stations west of the Mississippi; W stations east' on the AM band.