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The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company
The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company is founded in Rochester, New York, which will become Western Union -- the first electronic message service (also offering the service of delivered Telegrams.) -
First Practical Typewriter
Christopher Latham Sholes of Danville, PA and his colleagues, Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé developed the first practical typewriter (and the QWERTY keyword.) -
Edison Invents the Cylinder Phonograph
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First Microphone invented by Emile Berliner
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Edison Wires Part of New York
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Gramophone is invented
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Louis Glass Invents the Modern Jukebox
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The Lumiere Brothers Use Piano Music With A Motion Picture Program
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Eldredge Johnson Perfects First System of Mass Duplication of Flat Disks
Eldredge Johnson perfects first system of mass duplication of pre-recorded flat disks -
The First Nickelodeon
"The Electric Theater" in Los Angeles is opened by Thomas L. Tally: the first Nickelodeon, a multimedia movie palace, that spawned imitators nationwide; -
First Cacuum Tube Called A "Valve."
British scientist John Ambrose Fleming develops the first vacuum tube called a "Valve." -
Charles "Doc" Herrold
Charles "Doc" Herrold begins the first regular public radio broadcasting of voice an music from his "wireless telegraph college" in San Jose, California; He calls it "The Herrold Station" and transmits to audiences from San Jose to San Francisco. -
"The Squaw Man"
Cecil B. DeMille's THE SQUAW MANCecil B. DeMille and Jesse Lasky produce the first "feature-length" film called "The Squaw Man" -
First Transcontinental Telephone
First transcontinental telephone call from New York to San Francisco on July 29th. -
The First "Jazz" Recording
The Orig. Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB) makes the first "Jazz" recording -
Commercial AM Radio Broadcasting
Commercial AM Radio broadcasting begins on KDKA, Philadelphia. -
Electrical Records Replace Acoustic Discs
Electrical records replace acoustic discs, via a process developed by Western Electric -
Moviola
Dutch-born Iwan Surrerier (a Pasadena, CA resident) re-designs his rear-projection
device for home viewing movies (invented in 1917 -- called a "Moviola") into a -
a sound system to synchronize music and sound effects
- Vitaphone introduces a sound system to synchronize music and sound effects with a motion picture; It uses a 16-inch disc turntable that is connected by gears to the projector mechanism. Operators have to continuously adjust the synchronization of the grooves to the picture, which was not perfect. Later the speed and size of these discs (16-inches running at approximately 33rpm) is utilized by some radio stations stations and networks
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"National Broadcasting Company" begins
NBC -- the "National Broadcasting Company" begins as the first radio network. -
CBS - the "Columbia Broadcasting System"
- CBS - the "Columbia Broadcasting System" begins radio broadcasting on Sept. 18
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Billboard magazine publishes its first music chart of performed songs
Billboard magazine publishes its first music chart of performed songs -
Milton Berle
In the United States, a young comedian named Milton Berle is the first person to be
seen on television, on an experimental broadcast -
Philo Farnsworth
Philo Farnsworth transmits the first TV picture of a living person - his wife - on
Oct. 19, in his San Francisco laboratory; the picture is only about 3 1/2 inches square. -
German scientist Fritz Schroeter
To improve TV pictures, German scientist Fritz Schroeter applies for a patent on interlaced scanning. -
"It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"
Duke EllingtonThe Duke Ellington recording of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"
starts the "swing music" dance craze. -
The first Drive-In Movie Theater in Camden, NJ
Richard M. Hollingshead opened the first Drive-In Movie Theater in Camden, NJ on
June 6...his company was called "Park-In Theaters, Inc." But the part which the public
remembered was that you "Drive-In", and so that name stuck -
The first "singing telegram" service.
Western Union introduces the first "singing telegram" service. -
"The Lone Ranger"
- The first episode of "The Lone Ranger" radio series debuts on radio station WXYZ in Detroit.
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The NBC Symphony Orchestra premiere
Christmas Night on the NBC Radio Network - The NBC Symphony Orchestra premiere
broadcast begins a 17-year run under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. -
Pepsi-Cola Hits The Spot
PepsiNational radio hit advertising jingle "Pepsi-Cola Hits The Spot" is written by
Eric Siday and Ginger Johnson, adapted from the tune of an 18th-century
English hunting song titled "John Peel". -
Regular FM Radio broadcasting begins in New York City.
Regular FM Radio broadcasting begins in New York City. -
"Hank McCune Hall"
A local Los Angeles filmed TV sitcom which will air in 1950 on the full NBC network
called "Hank McCune Hall", -
Zenith introduces the "Lazy Boy"
Zenith introduces the "Lazy Boy" -- the first television remote control (it had a cable.) -
The NBC-TV series "Hank McCune Hall" used laugh tracks from other shows on
1950 - The NBC-TV series "Hank McCune Hall" used laugh tracks from other shows on
its soundtrack since it was filmed without a studio audience, and the era of "canned
laughter" began; later that year a CBS-TV engineer named Charlie Douglas made a
device that could produce a "laugh track" using multiple tape loops, which could be
played like a "laugh organ", and began a company to supply this service to producers -
CBS television broadcast the first color TV program to five cities on June 25th;
1951 - CBS television broadcast the first color TV program to five cities on June 25th; the CBS
color system was not compatible with black & white signals as was the RCA system
developed for NBC, which eventually was approved for use throughout the U.S. in 1953. -
The first pre-recorded reel-to-reel tape (at 7 1/2 ips) is offered for sale.
The first pre-recorded reel-to-reel tape (at 7 1/2 ips) is offered for sale. -
Swanson employee Gerry Thomas invents the frozen "T. V. Dinner"
Swanson employee Gerry Thomas invents the frozen "T. V. Dinner" to get rid of extra
turkey. He received a $1000 bonus from the company and a pay increase to $300 per month.
At first the company received letters from irate husbands who wanted their wives to continue
"cooking from scratch" like their mothers. But soon the idea was widely accepted, and the
segmented aluminum dinner compartments (inspired by airline food containers) fit nicely -
The first color television
- On March 25, the first color television sets rolled out of the RCA Victor factory in Bloomington, Indiana; (The model CT-100 had a 12-inch screen, and a suggested retail price of $1000. A total of 5,000 model CT-100 sets were made.)
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NBC debuts a weekend radio network format called MONITOR on Sunday, June 12th,
NBC debuts a weekend radio network format called MONITOR on Sunday, June 12th,
a creation of Pat Weaver, who also created NBC's Today and Tonight Shows. -
NBC Peacock
The "NBC Peacock" logo (symbol of compatible "Living Color") debuts in July,
designed by Fred Knapp and the NBC graphics department under John J. Graham. -
Douglas C. Engelbart demonstrates the first computer mouse (made of wood.)
Douglas C. Engelbart demonstrates the first computer mouse (made of wood.) -
A T & T introduces the PicturePhone at the Worlds' Fair
A T & T introduces the PicturePhone at the Worlds' Fair, but it doesn't catch on -
The first Microprocessor (computer on a chip) is introduced by Intel -- the 4004
The first Microprocessor (computer on a chip) is introduced by Intel -- the 4004 -
First Internet
The first ARPANET (later Internet) EMail program called "SNDMSG" -- short for
"Send Message" -- was created by Ray Tomlinson working at BBN Technologies
(Called BBN because it was founded by Bolt, Beranek and Newman.) -
Atari of Santa Clara, CA develops "Pong" -- the first electronic computer arcade game.
Atari of Santa Clara, CA develops "Pong" -- the first electronic computer arcade game. -
The first cellular phone
Martin Cooper of Motorola conceived the first cellular phone system, and led the
10-year process of bringing it to market. -
Solid-state video cameras
The first all solid-state video cameras are introduced using Bell Labs "CCD"
(charge-coupled device) instead of an Image Orthicon or Plumbicon camera tube -
MONITOR
NBC's weekend radio format MONITOR is cancelled after nearly 20 years -- It's final broadcast airs on Sunday, January 26th. -
"Rapper's Delight"
The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", is the first hip-hop record to reach Top 40 radio. -
The MTV Music TV Cable Network debuts
The MTV Music TV Cable Network debuts on the air at Midnight, August 1st. -
Compact Disc (CD)
The digital Compact Disc (CD) is introduced by a Japanese conglomerate. -
The first CD released (in Japan) is Billy Joel's "52nd Street" (October, 1982.)
The first CD released (in Japan) is Billy Joel's "52nd Street" (October, 1982.) -
NBC broadcasts the first television programs with stereo sound.
NBC broadcasts the first television programs with stereo sound. -
Phillips introduces a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) using a digital casette.
Phillips introduces a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) using a digital casette. -
Compressed audio MP3
The Moving Picture Experts Group MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3) compressed audio
file format becomes an international standard, and eventually the most popular format
for distributing digital audio over the Internet. -
Faster Web page
Broadband Internet service providers begin to be offered to consumers faster Web page
downloads and smoother and faster streaming media.
