THE HISTORY OF RADIO

THE INVENTION

The idea comes from the experimentation with wireless telegraphy in the 1830’s. People experimented in the water, ground and on electrical tracks. However, it was said the first intentional electromagnetic wave was created in the 1880’s by David Edward Hughes. His experiment was based on James Clerk Maxwell who mathematically proved the existence of waves moving through free space. However, the experiment was considered induction at the time. In 1888, Heinrich Hertz was able to prove the theory of electromagnetism created by Maxwell. After the discovery of ‘Hertzian waves’ many scientists attempted to create a wireless connection for communication purposes. Maxwell’s theory showed that both light and these waves were on a different level of spectrum. Scientists like John Perry, Frederick Trouton and Alexander Trotter assumed they would be analogous to optical signalling. Nickola Tesla considered it useless because light did not carry any transitions through communication.

THE INVENTION

In 1892, William Crookes wrote on the possibilities of communication through Hertzian waves and in response a year later, Tesla proposed a system to transmit waves using the earth as a medium. Other scientists such as Oliver Lodge and Alexander Popov were also involved in the development of airborne electromagnetic wave theorem but worked independently. In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, built the first wireless telegraphy system based on Hertzian waves. He demonstrated the use through military communication and started a company for radio service and equipment.

HERTZIAN WAVES

Between 1886 and 1888, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz published his experimental results on electromagnetic wave transition following Maxwell’s theory of airborne waves. A lot of scientists – William Crookes, John Perry, observed the Hertzian waves and based their developments on potential communication and navigation aid. Nikola Tesla based the idea behind Hertzian waves to develop his ideas in wireless lighting and power distribution. Tesla decided that Heinrich’s observations were false and went on to experiment with what he thought was the main conductor, earth. Tesla proposes wireless technology can also incorporate the system of telecommunication. In 1894, Lodge and Muirhead demonstrated signalling through Hertzian waves at Oxford University. The signal was sent to the building neighbouring and was received by apparatus in the lecture.

HERTZIAN WAVES

Building on the demonstration at Oxford, physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose ignited gunpowder and rang a bell from a distance using millimetre range microwaves in 1894. He wrote that the visible light can pass through brick and building so wireless communication can be possible without interception. His observations were communicated in 1895, a second paper the same year. In 1895, Alexander Popov followed Heinrich’s research and built his first radio receiver. Further refined a lightning detector, it was printed in the Journal of Russian physical and chemical society the same year.

MARCONI

Began working on the telegraphy system based on Hertzian waves in 1894. He noticed no one else was pursuing these experiments. He dedicated a lot of his work to developing portable transmitted and those that could be received over a long distance. Turning an experiment to a useful system of communications. After much development, Marconi could only produce signals by 1895 that span a one half mile radius – Oliver Lodge predicted this was the maximum distance possible. Marconi raised his antenna and grounded his receiver and transmitter, improvements meant it could reach 2 miles over hills. His apparatus was proved to be the first complete commercially successful transition system. It was credited to save 700 people aboard the titanic. In 1896, he was awarded British patent for his Hertzian wave work. In 1897, he established his first station on the Isle of Wight and his first factory in Chelmsford, 1898. Shortly after, he had all the rights to radio. He won the physics Nobel prize in 1909. His commercialised radio became a global business. However, some of his patented refinements would be turned in Court, 1935.

20TH CENTURY

In 1900,  Roberto Landell de Moura transmitted the first human voice wirelessly. He conducted his first public experiment in June in front of Journalists and the General consul of Britain. The transition was approximately 5 miles(8km.) A year after he received a patent from the Brazilian Government. He then left Brazil and went to America with his new product which he knew now had value. Patents were given in 1904, the precursor to the ‘wireless telegraph.’In 1906, 24th December, Reginald Fessenden used a rotary-spark transmitter for the first radio program broadcast. It read a passage from the bible and a playing of ‘O Holy Night.’ This was the first transmission of what is now known as amplitude modulation.

BEGINNING

The first radio came in the early 1920’s in the United Kingdom. The BBC began this station, the first broadcast in 1922. More broadcasts travelled through the country right through the 1920’s. This channel allowed no adverts.The company were the only ones allowed a station, they set the standard in radio and had strict rules on what was allowed to be broadcasted.The first station was very much based around old, classical music for a younger audience, a lot of talking, discussions and news.The station did not appeal to the younger audience, although it was widely listened to because no other entertainment existed at the time. It was an exciting new technological jump, the first introduced. The potential it held was enticing, to listen to someone else in a different place speak to you, inform you of current affairs.

PIRATE RADIO

The term ‘pirate radio station’ came from the stations which were set up on boats in the middle of the ocean. They were, technically legal, which is why it was on a boat. The law was that there was not allowed to be any other stations in England. The creators went a certain distance away so that they could bypass the law. ‘Pirate radio generally describes the unlicensed broadcast of FM radio, AM radio, or short wave signals over a wide range.’In some cases radio stations are deemed legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially when the signals cross a national boundary.These channels were a lot different to the usual BBC channels. They shared contradictory information, opened up interesting, political discussions that would have not been allowed on the BBC. They also appealed to the younger audience. Talking about fashion, playing new music, at the time rock and roll, pop. It was the 1960’s and new, different music like Elvis Presley and The Beatles were introduced to society.The most popular were called ‘Radio Caroline’ and ‘Radio Luxemburg.’The Government struggled to prevent these Pirate stations from broadcasting.