| The invention of radio is perhaps one of the | | | | radio would really begin to be used as a |
| most important innovations of the last | | | | source of entertainment. The first radio |
| century. Not only did the radio become a | | | | news broadcast was sent in August 1920 from a |
| focal point of entertainment, it was a news | | | | station in Detroit, MI called "8MK." A |
| source, an information source, and even a | | | | station in Buenos Aires broadcast opera music |
| source of community involvement. | | | | in August 1920. |
| | | | |
| Although you may think of radio as being | | | | A few months later, in October 1920, Union |
| something that started in the 1900's, you may | | | | College in New York started a college radio |
| be surprised to learn that, like so many | | | | station, the first ever, in fact. A station |
| things in the 20th Century, radio technology | | | | called "2ADD" that same month broadcast a few |
| was a product of experimentation and | | | | concerts on a Thursday night (that could be |
| discovery in the 1800's. | | | | heard from up to 100 miles away). It is |
| | | | believed that this was the first |
| A dentist in America named Mahlon Loomis | | | | entertainment broadcast in the US. |
| exhibited a process called "wireless | | | | |
| telegraphy" by connecting two kites to each | | | | In Writtle, England at the Marconi Research |
| other without wires, making one move by the | | | | Centre in 1922, regular radio broadcasts |
| force of the other. This was the first time | | | | began airing. In the 1920's, radio |
| that wireless aerial communication was | | | | technology was also used to broadcast |
| recorded in history. | | | | pictures (early television). FM radio was |
| | | | invented in the 1930s by amateur radio |
| Radio waves themselves were predicted to | | | | station operators, but FM stereo broadcasting |
| exist by James Clerk Maxwell, a physicist | | | | would not become the norm until the 1960's. |
| from Scotland, in the 1860's. Later that | | | | |
| decade, Heinrich Rudolph Hertz of Germany | | | | Color television went into regular |
| showed that fast changes in electrical | | | | broadcasting in the early 1960's. TELSTAR |
| current were able to be transmitted through | | | | (the first radio communication satellite) was |
| the air in a way that mimicked heat and | | | | set up in 1963. LORAN radio navigation |
| light. | | | | system was the first of its kind, which |
| | | | started in the 1970s, followed by GPS |
| By the end of the 19th century, Guglielmo | | | | technology launched in 1987. |
| Marconi (an inventor from Italy) demonstrated | | | | |
| that radio communication was possible. The | | | | Today, there are countless applications of |
| first radio signal was transmitted and | | | | radio technology, including wireless internet |
| received by Marconi in the year 1895 in | | | | found in routers and wi-fi hotspots. |
| Italy. In 1899, he was able to successfully | | | | According to predictions by researchers, |
| send a wireless transmission straight over | | | | internet radio is poised to replace both |
| the English Channel. In 1902, the first | | | | terrestrial (AM/FM) radio and satellite radio |
| transatlantic radiotelegraph message was sent | | | | by 2020. |
| and received in Newfoundland (sent from | | | | |
| England). | | | | The advent of Wi-Max or other widespread |
| | | | broadband wireless internet ("internet |
| 1901 was the first year when wireless | | | | everywhere") could impact the proliferation |
| communication really started gaining | | | | of many new radio wave based and internet |
| momentum. It was set up and used for | | | | based technologies and entertainment sources. |
| telegraphs being sent between five Hawaiian | | | | Many major US cities are already |
| Islands that year, as well as used by the | | | | experimenting with blanketing their entire |
| Navy for homing pigeons and visual signals. | | | | city with internet access carried by radio |
| | | | frequency. |
| It would be a couple more decades before | | | | |