Derek's Radio Report

The radio as changed America in many ways. Invented in 1896 by Nikola Tesla, the radio is one of the most used inventions today. Not only for entertainment purposes, they also used them in warfare, and it made communications easier too.

Radio-telegraphy is the sending by radio waves the same dot-dash message (Morse code) used in a telegraph. Transmitters at that time were called spark-gap machines. It was developed mainly for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communication. This was a way of communicating between two points, however, it was not public radio broadcasting as we know it today.

Wireless signals proved effective in communication for rescue work when a sea disaster occurred. A number of ocean liners installed wireless equipment. In 1899 the United States Army established wireless communications with a lightship off Fire Island, New York. Two years later the Navy adopted a wireless system. Up to then, the Navy had been using visual signaling and homing pigeons for communication.

Many argue about who originally invented it. Some say Marconi, who was the first man to send music down a telephone line in 1896. This became famous because he could now send telegraph messages down a telephone wire, referring it as, "wireless telegraph."
Another man that claims he invented the radio is Nikola Tesla, who only invented a theoretical model for the radio in 1915. He became acknowledged as the inventor for the radio -- but not the working one.

J.C. Bose was noticed as the man to demonstrate radio waves through walls and over three miles in 1896. Nathan B. Stubblefield made voice transitions four years before Marconi. All in all, Nikola is the only man to be credited for the invention.

Edwin Howard Armstrong invented frequency-modulated or FM radio in 1933. FM improved the audio signal of radio by controlling the noise static caused by electrical equipment and the earth's atmosphere. Until 1936, all American transatlantic telephone communication had to be routed through England. In that year, a direct radiotelephone circuit was opened to Paris. Telephone connection by radio and cable is now accessible with 187 foreign points.

Radio technology has grown significantly since its early development. In 1947, Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor. In 1954, a then small Japanese company called Sony introduced the transistor radio.

When the United States entered the first world war in 1917, all radio development was controlled by the U.S. Navy to prevent its possible use by enemy spies. The U.S. government took over control of all patents related to radio technology.
In 1919, after the government released its control of all patents, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was established with the purpose of distributing control of the radio patents that had been restricted during the war.