Radio
The radio has been used throughout the 19th and 20th centuries to entertain, and inform the country. Although today, radio is mainly used as a music platform with the occasional sports broadcast, its history is peppered with its serious use as a news platforms during major world events and wars.
Before the idea of a radio could be contemplated, other technological advancements, such as the wireless telegraph invented in the 1830s, needed to be created to act as the foundation for all future wireless communications. These telegraphs worked through the transmission of electromagnetic waves. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz performed continued research into the electromagnetic waves, and by 1888 he had proven that electromagnetic waves could be transmitted.
The electromagnetic waves of the 19th century eventually became known as the radio waves of the 20th. The first radio wave receiver was invented in 1895 by Alexander Stephanovich Popov. However, this early design was far from being able to transmit music recordings, and instead could only accept scientific transmissions for further radio wave research.
The first transmission of the human voice occurred in Brazil by Roberto Landell de Moura in 1900. Over the next five years he worked to patent his device that could send phonetic transmissions without the use of wires.
Continued developments on this design allowed for the creation of the first commercial radio device. It was first implemented to broadcast O Holy Night to ships at sea off of the Massachusetts coast.
Within the next ten years, the first radio factory was built in Chelmsford, England to manufacture commercial radio units. By 1920, the first radio news broadcast occurred in Detroit Michigan. Numerous other radio stations following, serving their listeners solely news platforms.
Radio wasn't used for entertainment purposes until 1947, when a series of weekly concerts were first broadcast. Soon after, other radio stations followed suit, and radio became just as much of an entertainment venue as it was for news.
Today, radio permeates society and is present in homes, cars, and businesses throughout the country and world. Used for both entertainment and news broadcasts, radio will continue to be a staple form of information and enjoyment for many centuries to come.
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