History of the Radio-Part Two-The Golden Age

The invention of amplifying vacuum tubes was one of the main things that helped to move the radio from military use to civilian use in the mid-1920's. When the government allowed civilians to broadcast on the airwaves after World War I, many radio stations were formed across the United States.

In 1920, the first news program was broadcast over the radio from Detroit, Michigan, station 8MK. This program covered the results of the local election. Later that year, the first United states commercial radio station, KDKA was established, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in 1922, the first entertainment programs were broadcast on the radio. In 1923, Los Angeles radio station, KHJ, broadcast the Rosebowl for the very first time.

More and more Americans were buying radios and by 1938, four out of five homes had a radio. During World War II, the radio helped to keep up the morale of the country and to keep up to date with the latest happenings of the war. The radio was always a great source for news, but during the troubled and worrisome days of the war, the radio helped to ease that burden a bit.

There were five major networks that were popular during the golden age of radio. These stations were:

National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Mutual Broadcasting System
Armed Forces American Forces Radio Service
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

The networks were broadcasting live throughout the 1930's and early 1940's because the recording techniques up until that time, just weren't any good. It wasn't until the 1940's, when magnetic wire started being used for recording, which was more cost effective and had better sound quality. Very soon after, magnetic tape recording took over as the main way to record shows for the radio because of the ease in editing this type of medium. Most of these shows though, were delivered to local radio stations on a 33 1/2 rpm vinyl phonograph record.

Many recordings that have survived today are re-recordings of the vinyl phonograph records onto reel-to-reel or cassette tape recordings. Much of the noise, change in quality and other defects is the natural degradation of the materials that the collector had available at the time to record on. It is very hard to find original tapes of radio shows because this tape could be reused and recorded over.

The soap opera began in the 1930's, with the serial, Clara, Lu and Em. Most radio serials that ran a continuing story targeted housewives as the main audience. These show were 15 minute shows that ran in the daytime hours and were sponsored by cleaning products. Thus, the name soap opera was derived.

Musical shows were very popular, as were comedies, featuring the top vaudeville stars and comedians of the time. Anything that was considered entertainment was tried out on the radio, from films to Broadway plays to comic strips being adapted for this medium. Many great radio programs were broadcast during these years. Be sure to check out, http://oldtimeradiolover.com for many of the best shows from the Golden Age of Radio.

The peak of the Golden Age of Radio was in the 1930's. Other venues of entertainment actually scheduled around popular radio shows, otherwise, no one would fill their seats. The radio shows that were produced had to take the listener into the show by relying on sound effects.  These old time radio programs used some very innovative ways to get the sound they needed. Check out this video to see the behind the scenes of an old time radio show.

Many of the radio programs that were written during the golden age of radio were became classics and were really the pioneers of television entertainment. Much of the success of the television resulted from using the same formats that those old time radio shows used. In the 1950's, the popular radio shows of the day, successfully moved to the small screen and continued on.

Radio continued to thrive after the Golden Age, but it became mostly a medium for music, news and sports. When rock and roll began in the 1950's, the radio had a huge part in its success. FM radio became popular for music in the 1960's because there was less static and provided a much better quality of sound. All cars come standard with a radio and although there is now satellite radio that people can purchase, FM radio is still thriving and AM radio has become known for talk shows.

The History of the Radio-Part One

History of the Radio

Part One

Marconi Radio Receiver

There has always been some debate about who the inventor of the radio is. Therefore, it might be best to say that several people were responsible for the invention of the radio that we know and love today. Radio was first developed for a means of communication between two people who are in different places. An effective means of communication between people at different locations has been sought after since the beginning of civilization.

When Benjamin Franklin discovered that there were negative and positive charges in electricity, the search to use electricity as means for communication was started. Radio signals were sent through the many cables of the telephone network and were used mainly for the military.

Heinrich Hertz

Nikola Tesla

During the 1860's, radio waves were shown to exist by James Clerk Maxwell, who was a Scottish physicist. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell sent a message using an electromagnetic signal. In 1886, Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be transmitted and received. He had no idea that this would be a very important building block for the development of the radio.

Nikola Tesla was the inventor of the model for radio, but only in theory. However, Tesla's invention of transformers and the Tesla coil helped in the production of radios. These were some of the core components used in radios.

Guglielmo Marconi 1901

Guglielmo Marconi was a physicist from Italy and in 1896, he sent coded signals about a mile. He instantly saw the potential for this type of communication and tried to give this invention to the government of Italy but they weren't interested. He decided to move to England and continued to experiment with this wireless technology and to patent his invention. In 1898, he broadcast the winners of the Kingstown Regatta to a Dublin newspaper. This was the first public sporting broadcast. Marconi built a radio factory and joined Britain And France with a telegraphic link. In 1901, the United States was linked by telegraph radio to Britain.

J.C. Bose

In 1896, a scientist from India, J.C. Bose, showed the British Governor General that a radio transmission could be sent over three miles away. In 1899, Bose once again demonstrated this for the Royal Society in London. While at this event, his notebook that included a drawing illustrating a Mercuri Cohere with a telephone detector, was stolen. Marconi happened to be at this event and when Marconi developed his own Coherer, it was an exact copy of Bose's.

Bose did apply for a patent as the inventor of the radio, in 1901 and was awarded it in 1904. However, Marconi by this time had already received the recognition and patent for being the inventor of the radio.

The first wireless transmission of voice, however, was not made until 1895, when Russian, Aleksander Poppov sent a secret message to a ship on the ocean. This was kept secret and the Russian government only recently has given Poppov this credit.

Reginald Fessenden

In 1904, Ernst Alexanderson was the first to make an alternator that made it possible to transmit speech, instead of dots and dashes. Reginald Fessenden is usually credited with the first voice transmission that was made in 1906, when he used Alexanderson's alternator. This alternator enabled him to make the first long range transmission of something other than dots and dashes.  Ships out at sea could hear Fessenden playing the violin and reading a Bible verse.

Lee De Forest

The Audion Triode Vacuum Tube

In the early 1900's, this technology was used mostly as a radio telegraphy system using Morse Code. In 1907, an American inventor by the name of Lee De Forest patented the electronic device, the Audion, which was a vacuum tube that amplified radio waves. This vacuum tube enabled music, voice or other broadcast signal to be heard clearly. These tubes detected different frequencies so that different channels could be detected and used.

In 1912, the American airwaves became regulated by the Federal government. All ships had to include a radio and a trained operator. Any amateur radio operators needed to be licensed. As other inventors and businessmen were beginning to see the potential for these amplified radio waves, World War I broke out and the government took over all radio broadcasts and closed down any other radio stations that were not needed.