Wednesday, January 10, 2024

January Highlights of Radio Tech History


 
What were radio people talking about 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago this month?

BY JAMES E. O'NEAL
PUBLISHED: JANUARY 8, 2024

With January 2024 well underway, let’s look back at “the way we were” 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago. What developments were helping to shape radio broadcasting at each of those temporal waypoints?

100 Years Ago — January 1924: The radio craze that began three years ago is showing no signs of slowing down. Broadcasters are wondering how they can cash in on the boom, as are receiver manufacturers and distributors, service shops and suppliers of tubes and other components. The idea of broadcasting commercial messages appears too crass for this new medium (such advertising is better left to the newspapers and magazines), and some are now proposing a government-mandated tax, albeit a small one, to put broadcasting on a paying basis.