Broadcasting Timeline

1835 Charles Babbage invented computational storage device for organizing information as data.
1837 Morse & Vail telegraph uses open/close circuitry, with an audible dih-dah sounder, to send message data.
1844 Morse transmits first telegraphy content : "What hath God wrought?"
1873 James Clerk Maxwell puts forth modern concept of electromagnetic energy.
1876 Alexander Graham Bell applies for first telephone patent.
1887 Heinrich Hertz discovers he can project a magnetic field into the air.
1892 Nathan B. Stubblefield broadcasts speech and music short distance via magnetic field.
1895 Marconi, Bose, & Popov, independently transmit and receive a signal using electromagnetic waves through the ether.
1901 Marconi sends signal across the Atlantic, from Newfoundland to England, for British government.
1906 Fessenden transmits the human voice.
1907 Lee de Forest patents the audion tube, sets up radio communications for US Navy.
1910 Passenger ships required to carry standardized radio equipment.
1912 Titanic broadcasts CQD; Radio Act of 1912 passes- radio station licenses now required;
1914 WWI-- US and UK restrict commercial development of radio frequencies for reasons of national security.
1916 First broadcast of presidential election returns
1917 The United States enters World War I; the Navy takes over radio frequency spectrum.
1919 Radio returns to private sector as RCA is formed.
1920 Frank Conrad sets up KDKA in Pittsburgh for Westinghouse, considered the first commercial radio facility.
1922 WEAF broadcasts first commercial called a "toll cast"; ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) formed.
1923 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) formed to fight ASCAP fees.
1924 First network experiment links 26 stations.
1925 Radio sets become available.
1926 RCA forms two networks: NBC Blue and NBC Red.
1927 Radio Act of 1927 declares public ownership of airwaves; Federal Radio Commission (FRC) created to regulate radio.
1928 CBS is created.
1929 Walter Winchell begins with CBS; Amos 'n’ Andy begins on NBC
1931 Philo Farnsworth demonstrates image dissector which leads to television.
1932 Zworkin further develops television technologies.
1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcasts Fireside Chats; Armstrong demonstrates FM.
1934 Communications Act of 1934 replaced the FRC with the FCC; Philo Farnsworth conducts first public demonstration of television
1935 Edward R. Murrow joins CBS as director of talks and education.
1938 Orson Welles's "War of the Worlds" program creates panic; first FM station, W2XMN, in New Jersey.
1939 Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) formed as a competitor to ASCAP.
1941 FCC authorizes commercial FM operations
1943 NBC Blue forced to divest, creating ABC.
1944 Disc jockey programming begins appearing.
1945 Tape recorder appears.
1947 Commercial television broadcasting begins.
1948 Vinyl records and jukeboxes appear
1949 Todd Storz buys KOWH Radio in Omaha, Nebraska, develops top-40 format.
1950 Uncle Milty aka Mr. Television: Milton Berle becomes first TV superstar.
1951 Soap Opera's move to TV.
1952 I Love Lucy; channels set aside for educational broadcasting.
1953 FCC approves RCA standards for color television.
1954 Public blame levied on media for influencing juvenile delinquency
1955 Popular evening radio programming disappears rapidly as television evolves; game show scandel.
1960 FCC approves stereo broadcasting on FM.
1962 Telstar satellite--live worldwide broadcasting possible.
1964 Cable, known as CATV, and subscrioption TV debut.
1965 Payola scandel hits radio.
1966 Nearly half of the homes in the United States have FM radio receivers; 90% have television.
1967 Camegie Report helps establish public radio and television; underground radio emerges.
1968 ABC organizes four radio networks.
1969 AARPAnet establishes wired network of military and science community via computer mainframes and phone lines.
1971 FCC bans advertising of cigarettes; programmingbrings counterculture ideals and images to mainstram culture.
1974 90% of television viewers watch network TV.
1975 HBO established.
1976 WTBS Atlanta gets national distribution via cable, markeing it as a superstation.
1979 FM becomes the dominant force in radio; cellular telephone tests began in Tokyo.
1980 Cable TV programming develops from format radio concepts; Compuserve offers email.
1982 FCC approves AM stereo broadcasting.
1985 Infomercials and program-length commercials become mainstay on cable television.
1986 FOX Nework debuts.
1987 Cellular radio, which became known as "cell phone" standardized.
1989 www. developed by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in Switzerland.
1990 Digital audio broadcasting is introduced at the NAB Convention.
1994 DBS beigins, Internet and online communications reach beyond academia and government; PCS band authorized by FCC.
1996 New Telecommunications Act eliminates national ownership limits on radio.
1997 FCC approves satellite radio stations; micro-radio movement established.
1998 HDTV broadcast of John Glenn STS-95 Space Shuttle Mission; radio accepts pay-for-play; BEA History Division Web Site launches.
1999 Media companies begin widescale mergers.
2000 Internet increases broadband delivery via cable, ISDN, DSL; PCS devices proliferate; television viewership down as new media increase consumer choice.