dipity

The History of Radio from start to finish

Created by lmooney on Dec 21, 2010

Last updated: 01/04/11 at 07:51 AM

• Invasion from Mars
  1938

  Orson Wells' "Invasion from Mars." About a million listeners were fooled into believing that the planet was being invaded by aliens during a radio broadcast of War of the Worlds.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)

• Little Orphan Annie
  1931

  Birth year of Little Orphan Annie in the midst of the depression. Gasoline was a dime a gallon.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Orphan_Annie#Radio

• Longest Running Show
  1927

  Sam and Henry became Amos and Andy, which aired through 1960, making it the longest running series in radio history.
  http://www.otrcat.com/sam-henry-p-1796.html

• NBC
  1926

  National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was established by RCA. Among shows were Will Rodgers, Sam and Henry, and the Betty Crocker Show.

• Commercial Radio Station
  1920

  First commercial radio station with regularly-scheduled broadcasts - WWG in Detroit--went on air in August, followed in November by KDKA in Pittsburgh.

• First Presidential Speech Broadcast
  1918

  First broadcast of a presidential speech. President Woodrow Wilson used radio to communicate with the American people. (on the link, scroll down to where it says "First Broadcast.")
  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Presidential-Inauguration-Firsts.html

• The Invention of the "Audion" Tube
  1906

  Lee De Forest invented his "audion" tube - what we now call a triode. He used it to make possible the radio transmission of the human voice.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audion_tube