Radio History

2000's - Radio's Replacements

2000 BCE

Soon, radio started getting replaced with many more things. In 2000, Pandora Radio was created and released to the public. In 2001, iTunes was made. In 2005, YouTube was introduced. And in 2006, Spotify was produced.

1990 - Sirius XM

1990 BCE

The time came when radio was being replaced again. Sirius XM, a satellite radio, came along to replace the normal radio. Although it is a radio, it still is not the same thing as it uses satellite.

1930-1940's - Golden Era

1940 BCE

This age was known as the Golden Era for radio. It was in the midst of the Great Depression and WWII. For most people, the radio was an escape, as times were hard and you could drift off into another world. A plus was it being a family medium; the entire family could listen to the radio because everything was kid friendly. There was music, story hour, dramas, and sit coms.

Late 1930's - TV & Radios Comeback

1930 BCE

Eventually, TV was created and started hurting the radio industry. Everybody switched from radio to TV, meaning so did the advertisers. And the radio lost money, big time. So they needed a way to come back, thus bringing music onto the radio. The adding of music saved the radio industry.

1927 - The Radio's Money

1927 BCE

The FRC (Federal Radio Commission) was created in 1927 due to the fact that people could make their own radio stations that created chaos in the radio industry. FRC organized the licensing of advertisers, so therefore they could receive money. This was also the invention of call letters; anything with a W in front of it is east of the Mississippi River, and anything with a K is west of it.

1920 - First Radio Station

1920 BCE

This was the year the first radio station was invented by a man named Frank Conrad.. It used to be titled 8XK, but the name has been replaced with KDKA. It is still around today in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1906 - Audion

1906 BCE

Lee DeForest made the Audion, which was a vacuum tube that amplified the signals of radio waves. He got the idea from the Canadian Reginald Fessenden.

1900 - Voice Transmission

1900 BCE

Reginald Fessenden, in 1900, made one of the biggest moves in radio history. He was able to get his voice through a radio transmission. This was the first time it had ever happened.

1899 - Another Planet? Aliens? What?

1899 BCE

Tesla was in Colorado Springs experimenting with wireless power when he heard signals he believed were from aliens on a separate planet. He was trying to listen to the static from thunderstorms to try and determine values for what he had believed was a native electrical charge. Another explanation was he was hearing Marconi's wireless telegraphy in Europe.

1898 - Radio Factory

1898 BCE

This was the year of the first radio factory. Marconi opened in it on Hall Street, Chelmsford, England. Fifty people were employed.

1897 - English Station

1897 BCE

Marconi established a radio station on the Isle of Wight, England. meanwhile, in the U.S. during 1897, Tesla was applying for several wireless power patents. Those two patents were issued in early 1900.

1897 - Tesla's Proposal

1897 BCE

Tesla first patented the idea for the radio. His proposal was in 1897, and it didn't passed till later. In the future, Marconi would steal the title of inventor.

1896 - Marconi's British Investment

1896 BCE

In 1896, the British had an interest in Marconi's wireless communication through radio. So they rewarded him with a patent. This made the idea Marconi's.

1894 - Bye Bye Hertz

1894 BCE

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz died in 1894. His contribution to radio involved him proving the existence of electromagnetic waves. They were a theory previously made by James Clerk Maxwell.

1895 - First Signal

1855 BCE

Marconi sent and received the first ever radio signal, but it is rumored that he is not the first to do so. Later on, Marconi sold the idea to the marine industry. He did this because at sea there was no possible way for ships and land to communicate. Without this invention, there would be no survivors and they would have no idea when/where it sank.