1910-1919 - Technical Advances
... or ..can you say, "Armstrong"?
1915
Human voices are first broadcast across the Atlantic ocean, between Arlington, Virginia and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.1916
David Sarnoff -an employee of the Marconi Company- reportedly proposes 'radio music boxes' for the home as a potential business opportunity... and was ignored.
D. Sarnoff
Wireless is used by the New York city police department.
Wireless telegraphy is made compulsory on all British vessels over 3,000 tons.
....25 minutes of scratching on a crystal with the cats-whisker to hear a station 50 miles away....Success!
1917
America enters the First World War, and all patent protection is set aside for the duration. Many advances are made in manufacturing and design due to this measure.Amateur radio experimenters pull down their antennas and pack away their equipment by government order.
1918
Radio technology is used in detection of submarines, and by the US Signal Corps in France.5700 ships are now equipped with wireless telegraphy worldwide.
Special 'Hard' high vacuum tubes are designed for the Navy.
1919
The War is over!Spark transmitters are being replaced by vacuum tube oscillators, and amateurs are beginning to switch to phone operation from CW (code)
Owen D. Young starts the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) - an offshoot of General Electric. Within the year he has an agreement with GE, RCA, and AT&T for sharing all radio patents between themselves.
Dr. Frank Conrad , a Westinghouse engineer, broadcasts a regular schedule of records from his garage in Pittsburgh, and begins to take requests from the avalanche of mail he receives. A local department store mentions those broadcasts in one of their newspaper advertisements, and promptly sells out of its radio equipment. Westinghouse takes notice, and begins to see the possibilities for broadcasting.
Dr. Frank Conrad
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