V.THE GROWTH OF RADIO STATION

V.THE GROWTH OF RADIO STATION

2. 
   Early Days of Broadcasting
   

On May 20 1920, XWA in Montreal (owned by the Marconi Company) airs the first scheduled radio broadcast – a musical program to the Royal Society of Canada in Ottawa. XWA later changes its call name to CFCF, and still operates under that name today. 

The race for the first broadcast is a close one, and is won by Pittsburgh's KDKA, which transmits election results on November 2, 1920

But, if voice transmission is the defining factor, there are several claimants to the "first broadcaster" title prior to KDKA in 1920.

Dr. Lee DeForest claimed to have begun a regular series of voice transmissions from an experimental station in New York in 1907, and was inarguably active in promoting special broadcasts of voice and music throughout the decade. He tended to use a series of special "remote" stations, however, and wasn't based in a single location. His earliest broadcasts preceded the issuance of the first radio licenses by the Department of Commerce.

Charles Herrold of San Jose began his voice transmissions in the spring of 1909, using the self-assigned call sign of "FN." By 1912-13, he was self-identifying as "SJN," and was offering a regular -- but limited -- schedule of voice and recorded music.

Herrold's amateur station was licensed by the Department of Commerce in 1916 as 6XF, with an additional mobile transmitter licensed as 6XE. He was forced to close down his operations -- along with all other radio amateurs -- in 1917, as a result of wartime restrictions on the use of radio -- and he resumed operations in 1919, still as 6XF/6XE. In 1921, he was granted a commercial broadcast license as KQW. The station remains in operation to this day, having become KCBS in 1949.

Other stations active during this era included DeForest's 2XG in New York, which regularly broadcast phonograph records donated by Columbia Phonograph in exchange for promotional consideration. 2XG also presented running coverage of the results of the 1916 presidential election -- and got the outcome wrong!

There was also 1XE in Medford, Massachusetts, operated by Harold Power of the Amrad Corporation; 2XI in Schenectady NY, which was a predecessor to WGY; 2ZK in New Rochelle, NY and 9ZP in Pierre, SD -- all of which were broadcasting voice and music on a semi-regular basis in the years just before the war.

And, as mentioned, there were many other stations broadcasting "programs" in morse code. The New York Herald was broadcasting regular programs of news bulletins in code as far back as 1915, and recordings of some of these transmissions exist, thanks to amateur Charles Apgar and his cylinder recorder.

Frank Conrad of Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh received his first license in 1916, as 8XK -- and was on the air with experimental voice and music broadcasts right thru the war -- as a major defense contractor Westinghouse was the only entity whose licenses weren't suspended for the duration by the authorities.

After the war, there was a new wave of interest in broadcasting, with many of the pre-war stations starting up again, and new outlets going on the air steadily in 1919-1920. One was 8MK, operated by an employee of the Detroit News, which began an aggressive programming schedule in the summer of 1920. This station later became WWJ. 6ADZ in Los Angeles also commenced broadcasting around this time, and later evolved into KNX.

Meanwhile, the Conrad broadcasts over 8XK in Pittsburgh had generated enough interest for Westinghouse to make a permanent commitment to them. In October 1920, the company applied to the Commerce Department for a commercial broadcasting license (all broadcasters up to this point were operating as amateur class stations). The license was granted on October 27th, assigning the call sign KDKA, and operations with the new call commenced on November 2nd, with election night coverage.

So, in one sense KDKA's "First Station" claim is accurate -- it was the first commercial broadcasting license to be issued.

But KDKA wasn't the first broadcaster -- not by a long shot. Nor were the 1920 election returns the first scheduled broadcast -- several stations had announced schedules for programming prior to KDKA, notably XWA in Montreal (later CKAC), which broadcast on a scheduled basis six months before KDKA.

3. 
   Radio Boom
   

Wireless rapidly became a popular new source of home entertainment. A worldwide radio boom brings music, news and comedy into the homes of everyday people. In less than six months, over 250 new station licenses are granted in the U.S., and in three months the number of receivers nationwide increases from 50,000 to 750,000. Enjoyment of the new medium is no longer restricted to the wealthy.

With this incredible growth, the need for restraint, regulation and legislation becomes evident. In Great Britain and Canada, early broadcasting is approached with trepidation; however, in the U.S., the radio industry begins as a free-for-all. Eventually, inspectors are appointed to be responsible for the control of radio; and in 1927, the Federal Radio Commission shifts the responsibility onto five FRC commissioners. 

The U.S. government restricts broadcasting to specific wavelengths, in a bid to reduce the increasing volume of on-air traffic. 

The possibility of advertising on radio airwaves is introduced in the 1920s by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. By January 1923, demand for commercial air time is high – proving that advertising is an effective way to finance radio. It had been suggested that consumers pay a tax on each radio receiver owned; however, in 1925 Radio Broadcast magazine says that "the sponsored program is the solution." 

Dame Nellie Melba sang during Britain's first advertised public broadcast program from Chelmsford in June 1920. In 1922, programs, from a temporary studio near Chelmsford with the call sign 2MT and from 2LO at Marconi House in London, attracted so many listeners that a new subsidiary, Marconiphone, was set up to manufacture and sell broadcast receivers. Government intervention led Marconi and his largest competitors to join forces and establish the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), which, in 1927, became the British Broadcasting Corporation.

On board the Elettra, meanwhile, Marconi conducted a series of experiments on short wave which-"with one-tenth of the power required before" as he put it-increased transmission ranges dramatically. Agreement was reached in 1924 to adopt his new high-speed Beam System throughout the British Empire. The expenditure involved was a considerable drain on the Company's resources.

Nonetheless Marconi's 'Beam System' proved so successful that the government intervened to prevent his monopoly developing. A new company, Cable and Wireless Ltd, was set up to take over the system.

Marconi visited England less often. In Italy he worried about II Duce, the dictator Benito Mussolini. Nominally, as president of the Italian Royal College of Science, he was a member of Mussolini's Fascist Party; privately, he thought it rowdy and opportunistic. Concern for his health grew after Marconi suffered two attacks of angina but he would not slow down. Early in 1931, having set up a short-wave station for the Vatican, he supervised the Pope's first broadcast to Catholics worldwide. And in that year, on the 30th anniversary of his first transatlantic signal, his own voice circled the world. In 1933, with Maria Cristina, he circled it in person.

Between 1931 and 1935, returning to his earliest research at Villa Griffone, Marconi experimented with microwaves. At sea, aboard the Elettra in 1934, he used this technique for blind navigation by radio beacon. This was a precursor of radar, developed, thanks to him and others, for Britain's defense in the Second World War.

In 1936, C.S. Franklin, an engineer employed by Marconi since 1899, designed the massive aerial tower at Alexandra Palace in north London, for the BBC's first high-definition television transmitter, an invention foreseen many years before by Campbell-Swinton, who had introduced Marconi to William Preece, the most influential of his supporters. Prophetic words, spoken by Preece 40 years earlier, had come true: "Marconi has produced a new system ... that will reach places hitherto inaccessible."

Guglielmo Marconi died in Rome on 20 July 1937. In a gesture that was unique among all the tributes that followed, wireless stations closed down and transmitters all over the world fell silent. The ether was as quiet as it had been before Marconi was born.

Marconi had demonstrated the principles of blind navigation in the early 193s and by 1935 Sir Robert Watson-Watt was beginning his experiments into radar off the Suffolk coast. In 1937 the Company acquired the expertise to fulfill Government orders for transmitters aerials for CH (Chain Home) stations, Britain’s air defense radar network.

4. 
   FM on the Scene
   

During the Depression, radio provided free entertainment and news, filling the public’s empathy with humors and hope. From 1927 to 1940, the number of radio receivers in the State increased from 6.5 million to 50 million. Popular shows included Amos and Andy in the United States and Woodhouse and Hawkins in the Canada.

The power of radio to reach large audiences did not go unnoticed by political leaders, many of whom have ulterior motives. What began as on-air advertising soon branched out into propaganda, especially with tension in Europe rising once again. Germany began broadcasting more English-language programs abroad to gain support; but the government banned all non-German radio programs at home. In 1938, Hitler used radio to broadcast the intentions of his Nazi government to other nations. 

The need to increase public safety was key to the genesis of today's rapidly growing wireless communications industry. In the 1920s, police departments in Detroit, Michigan and Bayonne, New Jersey and the Connecticut State Police were among the first who sought to use in their patrol cars the technology that had improved the safety of oceangoing vessels - radio telephone service.

But the technology to enable mobile communications services for public safety agencies was not yet available. Early radiotelephone systems could be housed on ships with reasonable ease, but were too large and unwieldy for cars. Also, bumpy streets, tall buildings and uneven landscapes prevented successful transmission of the radiotelephone signals on land.

The technological breakthrough came in 1935, when Edwin Howard Armstrong unveiled his invention, Frequency Modulation (FM), to improve radio broadcasting. This technology reduced the required bulk of radio equipment and improved transmission quality. Edwin Armstrong receives a patent and a license for the operation of station W9XAZ in Milwaukee. The first commercial FM radio broadcast was by W47MV (now WSM-FM) in Nashville, TN, on December 31, 1941.

During the World War II, listeners in Europe and in North America gathered around their radio receivers to hear updates from the front lines. The "every-hour-on-the-hour" broadcasts were especially popular. Never before had listeners been in such direct contact with events taking place hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Moreover, the United States' involvement in World War II created an urgent need for FM technology to take the place of Amplitude Modulated (AM) technology for higher quality, two-way mobile radio communications on the battlefield. The strategic value of wireless communication on the battlefield spurred companies like AT&T, Motorola and General Electric to focus on refining mobile and portable communications. Motorola's FM Handie-Talkie and Walkie-Talkie figured prominently among the products developed during the war years and carried over into peacetime use.

After the war, the U.S ban on broadcasting was lifted for both radio and its new rival, television – a medium experiencing incredible growth. In two years, the number of TV receivers increased tenfold. Many of the larger radio networks also owned television stations, and started to move their efforts away from radio. In many ways, the arrival of television heralded the "dark ages" of radio. 

The radio industry suffered from a decrease in public attention, as many radio personalities "graduate" to television; and a shortage of funds, as many advertisers moved their dollars to television. In Canada, the newly formed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) stayed afloat with the help of government funding, but private stations founder. 

However, radio still remained important for rescue services, such as fire and police; and it became important in communications for the new and growing space industry. 

In 1954, for the first time the number of radios in the world (257 million) exceeded the number of newspapers printed daily (256 million). 

Contrary to the industry's fears, television did not replace radio. Instead, most households owned both a radio and a television. 

For both nostalgic and practical reasons, radio remained part of life in North America and Europe. It offered listeners what early television could not: portability and variety. People could listen to radio in their bedrooms and cars, and outdoors; and new specialty stations introduced non-stop play of specific genres such as classical music or rock and roll. Talk shows also maintained a loyal following, and radio news broadcasts remained popular. 

Beginning in 1961, the development of FM stereo – which broadcasted from two speakers instead of one – greatly improves the quality of radio sound.

And in smaller, still-developing countries, radio was still emerging as an important form of communication.