Radio History

This page first contains information on radio history, and at the bottom you will find photos of various radios over the years.

Pre-1900 Period

This section is under construction.

1900-1935 Period

Early Radio Stations at Union College
Union College in Schenectady was a premeire place for the study of electrical engineering in the 20th century. Student radio began there in 1910. The first "wireless telegraph" was set up there by Howard Olwin Thorne aand Gustave Huthsteiner. They created a 180 ft. high antenna pole. It had an antenna 225 ft. long and 15 feet wide.

In 1916 a radio shack was built on the side of the Electrical Engineering Building. It was registered with the Radio Association of America. In 1917 it was shut down due to the war but resumed in 1919. The call letters were 2YU. It had the call letters 2XQ for experimental work and 2ADD in 1920. Wendell King was the chief engineer.

FIRST RADIO STATIONS: The first regular voice broadcasts August 20, 1920 - Detroit: 8MK owned by the Detroit News (now WWJ) began regular nightly broadcasts October 14, 1920 - Union College, Schenectady: 2ADD used a 150 watt transmitter and played photographs into a microphone. It was heard as far away as Hartford, CT. The club promised to air music every Thursday night for the rest of the academic year. They did, H.S. Barney department store lend the records for broadcasts in return for mention on the air. November 2, 1920 - Pittsburgh: KDKA makes its first regular broadcasts. KDKA is owned by Westinghouse. February 20, 1922 - Schenectady: WGY, owned by General Electric goes on the air. Source: the book "Encyclopedia of Union College History" by Wayne Somers 2003

We recommend you read our page on Ernst F. Alexanderson.
Ernst Alexanderson and Dr.W.R.G.Baker worked out equipment for WGY. WGY became an experimental lab for Alexanderson.

Significant improvements in radio transmission were made by Irving Langmuir with his pliotron tube.
We also recommend you also read about Albert W. Hull. Hull worked on high frequency radio, and created the magnetron. The magnetron allowed for transmission at microwave frequencies and lead to radar.

1919 - Formation of RCA

The U.S. Navy initiated efforts during World War 1 to keep vital radio patents in the hands of U.S. companies alone. They saw this as a matter of national security. General Electric owned the patents of Ernst F. Alexanderson, who until that point was the only engineer to create long distance voice transmission. The Radio Corporation of America was formed in 1919 as a collaboration of technology between General Electric, Western Electric, Westinghouse, United Fruit Company, and AT&T.

Amateur Radio History

Below is a passage by Dan W. Whelan on the Schenectady Amateur Radio Association. Many of SARA's members included notable GE engineers over the years.

SARA HISTORY - April 1930 From the Schenectady Union Star newspaper Saturday April 5, 1930 "RADIO AMATEURS TO MEET MONDAY" "The monthly meeting of the Schenectady Amateur Radio Association will be held at the YMCA Monday at 8 P.M. A feature o fthe meeting will be a talk by Maurice L. Prescott of General Electric Company an authority on shortwave propagation. The talk is titled "Amateur Waves and How to Use Them." and will be a non-technical discussion covering wave assignments available for amateur use, how to choose the proper wave, and when to use it. A short business session and a surprise programwill complete the meeting. All interested amateur radio (operators) are invited." It should be noted that this SARA meeting announcement was located right next to the newspaper's radio program listings for the premiere radio station of the region WGY, who produced most of their own programming live in those days. Radio program listings on that particular Saturday included several live dramas, a how-to-do-it show on "building codes", a string trio music program and major live music shows such as the "General Electric Symphony Orchestra" at 9 pm and a local remote broadcast of Saturday night dancing music from the Hotel Ten Eyck from 11 pm to midnight. Oh and right above the SARA meeting announcement is a article stating "17 in Troy Brewery Case Plead Not Guilty" which of course was about arrests made by prohibition officers during a raid on the Fitzgerald Brothers brewery in Troy the summer before. It should be explained to those who may not be aware of the history, that all drinking, manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal due to Federal Prohibition at that time, something that was eventually repealed. Elsewhere in the paper there are several large ads for Atwater Kent radios including one from the H.S. Barney department store on lower State Street for the Atwater Kent Model 1055 for the price of $121.00 "less tubes". That was a lot of money and would come to better than half a months salary for most families back then. The Schenectady Union Star and the competing Schenectady Gazette were one of the two major newspapers in Schenectady of that era. Times were certainly different in 1930! This article was written by Daniel W. Whelan, call sign WB2WHD, N2UD

 

1960-2000 Period

Roy E. Anderson at General Electric conducted experiments in space communication. His first work was in listening for Sputnik in 1956. In the 1960's he worked in an effort to transmitt live television images from the Apollo space craft.

See the video below to learn about his experiments:

This video is under construction

 

Microwave Transmissions:

Klystrons Video: How a klystron tube works, klystrons were used to generate radio waves in powerful radar systems as well as TV transmission:

 

Microwave Oven Video: How it works, by one of the inventors Rudy Dehn:

Photos of Radios in our collection:

Peerless Preproducer Radio

We will have more information on radio in the future

Visit our displays in person Click here for directions

 

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