-
The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company
the first electronic message service -
Telephone patent
-
Phonograph
Edison invented the cylinder phonograph on accident when he is working on the telephone and telegraph. -
First Microphone
Emile Berliner invents the first microphone and sells the rights to Bell Telephone -
Gramophone
Emile Berliner invents the flat record player ("gramophone") using acoustic horn and licenses technology to record companies who make "70-rpm" disks. -
Jukebox
Louis Glass invents the modern jukebox and installs it at the "Palais Royal" saloon in San Francisco. -
Copyright Agreement
The International copyright agreement is adopted between major countries. -
After the Ball
The first "million-seller" song hit was "After The Ball" by Charles K. Harris, who was both its composer and publisher. -
Lumiere Brothers
The Lumiere Brothers use piano with a motion picture program for the first time at a Dec. 28th
-screening at the Grand Café in Paris -
Orchestra to Picture
An orchestra is used with silent motion pictures for the first time in London. -
The Electric Theater
"The Electric Theater" in Los Angeles is opened by Thomas L. Tally: the first Nickelodeon, a multimedia movie palace, that spawned imitators nationwide; -
Vacuum tube
British scientist John Ambrose Fleming develops the first vacuum tube called a "Valve." -
First Motion Picture Star
Mary Pickford becomes the first American "Motion Picture Star" in silent films. -
The Squaw Man
Cecil B. DeMille and Jesse Lasky produce the first "feature-length" film called "The Squaw Man" -
Transcontinental Call
First transcontinental telephone call from New York to San Francisco. -
Charge Card
Western Union introduces the first consumer charge card. -
Big Telephone Reciever
AT&T engineer C. G. Hensley got the idea for the loudspeaker when he thought about what would happen if he made a telephone receiver really big. -
KDKA
Morning radio broadcasting begins on KDKA, Philadelphia. -
Teletypewriter
Western Union introduces teletypewriters, joining branches and individual companies. -
Electrical Records
Electrical records replace acoustic discs, via a process developed by Western Electric. -
Orange Network
The NBC Pacific Coast "Orange network" debuts -
Talking Theartical Newsreels
"Movie-Tone News" talking theatrical newsreels debut in New York City. -
First Electric television
Philo Farnsworth transmits the first "electric television" picture (about as big as a postage stamp) in San Fransisco. -
CBS Radio Broadcasting
CBS - the "Columbia Broadcasting System" begins radio broadcasting -
"Mr. Television"
First person to be seen on television. Comedian. Became known as "Mr. Television". -
Billboard
Billboard magazine publishes its first music chart of performed songs. -
Sound Recording
The Edison Co. ceases the manufacturing of sound recordings. -
Don Lee
The West Coast "Don Lee" chain of radio stations joins the CBS radio network -
Binaural
An experimental "binaural" phonograph system is created by Bell laboratories -
Swing Music Dance Craze
The Duke Ellington recording of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" starts the swing music dance craze. -
The Lone Ranger
The first episode of "The Lone Ranger" radio series debuts on radio station WXYZ in Detroit. -
Drive In
Richard M. Hollingshead opened the first Drive-In Movie Theater in Camden, NJ -
Singing Telegram
Western Union introduces the first "singing telegram" service. -
3 Strip Technicolor
The first "3-strip Technicolor" feature-length motion picture -- "Becky Sharp" -
CBS World News Round-Up
The CBS radio network debuts the "CBS World News Round-Up" -
FM
Regular FM Radio broadcasting begins in New York City. -
American Broadcasting Network
The American Broadcasting Network officially began -
Transistor
Bell Laboratories assembles the world's first transistor -
AES
The Audio Engineering Society (The AES) is formed -
Cable
The first cable TV systems appear called Community Antenna Television systems -
First color tv program
CBS television broadcast the first color TV program to five cities -
William Golden
The "CBS Eye" network logo debuts. Designed by network art director William Golden -
I Love Lucy
The first episode of "I Love Lucy" aired on the CBS Television Network -
RCA
The First public RCA "compatible-color" TV broadcast was an episode of NBC's "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" -
First Tv Set
The first color television sets rolled out of the RCA Victor factory in Bloomington, Indiana -
Transistor Radio
The First "transistor radio" went on sale in the U.S. named The Regency TR-1 -
Analog Tape
Multitrack analog tape recording starts being used in recording studios. -
Mouse
Douglas C. Engelbart demonstrates the first computer mouse (made of wood.) -
PicturePhone
A T & T introduces the PicturePhone at the Worlds' Fair, but it doesn't catch on -
Dolby A
The "Dolby-A" professional noise reduction system is used in some recording studios -
Dolby B
The "Dolby-B" noise reduction system is introduced for consumer reel-to-reel and cassette tape recorders -
Microprocessor
The first Microprocessor (computer on a chip) is introduced by Intel -
UNIX
At AT&T Bell Labs, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie begin developing the UNIX "portable" operating system -
First Record on the Radio
Gloria Gaynor records "Never Can Say Goodbye" -- the first disco record on US radio -
Surround Sound
The first consumer effort in surround sound -
Arpanet
The first ARPANET (later Internet) email program called "SNDMSG" short for "Send Message" Created by Ray Tomlinson -
Micro-computer
New Mexico calculator company MIPS introduces the first "micro-computer" -
Pong
Atari of Santa Clara, CA develops "Pong" -- the first electronic computer arcade game. -
First Cellphone
Martin Cooper of Motorola conceived the first cellular phone system, and led the 10-year process of bringing it to market. -
Video Cameras
The first all solid-state video cameras are introduced using Bell Labs "CCD" -
MTV
The MTV Music TV Cable Network debuts on the air at Midnight -
First PC
The first IBM-brand "PC" (for "Personal Computer") is released -
CD
The first CD titles are released in the US -
First Computer Virus
In November, U.S. computing student Fred Cohen created the very first computer virus -- as a research project. -
Stereo Sound
NBC broadcasts the first television programs with stereo sound -
DAT
Phillips introduces a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) using a digital casette -
SoundScan
The "SoundScan" barcode tracking system of reporting music recording sales begin to bring accurate sales figures to record charts; Country music is now a bigger segment. -
PC vs. TV
Personal computers outsell TV sets for the first time in the United States. -
Junkmail
Junk Email begins as internet popularity increases. -
Ebay
The online auction community eBay starts out as AuctionWeb.com -
DVD
The DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) increases capacity of digital storage of audio and video on a CD (Compact Disc) medium; can store on to 4.7 GigaBytes per side -
ClassicThemes.com
The Internet Web site "ClassicThemes.com" debuts -
HDTV
First regular transmissions of HDTV (High-Definition Television) begin in major cities -
Mutual Broadcasting Station
The Mutual Broadcasting System is a victim of consolidation -- absorbed into Westwood -
CD-R in PC
Recordable CD-R digital audio disc technology becomes part of personal computer systems. -
E-books
Digital electronic books (E-Books) become a small part of the publishing industry, and several competing companies attempt to introduce the standards for them. -
DVD vs. VHS
DVD players outsell VHS players for the first time. -
DVD
DVD are introduced -
Ipod
Apple Computer introduces the iPod -
Recievers
The F.C.C. (U.S. Federal Communications Commision) requires all new U.S. television TV sets to include digital receivers -
Digital Audio Broadcasting
The F.C.C. approves a digital radio broadcast standard developed by iBiquity Digital Corp -
Itunes
Apple introduces Itunes -
Youtube.
Youtube discovered by three men in a garage. -
VHS downfall
Retailers Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Circuit City announce stopped selling VHS tapes since DVD's are now the medium of choice for most consumers -
Telegram downfall
Western Union stopped delivering telegrams -
Apple Update
Apple Computer's online music store integrated into its iTunes software and iPod hardware, sold it's one-billionth song on this date, proving that digital music can be accepted by the public when distributed across a network in a virtual form, as opposed to inscribed only in discrete tangible media. -
Iphone
First Iphone is introduced -
Iphone 3G
Iphone 3G introduced -
Iphone 3GS
The Iphone 3GS is introduced -
Iphone 4
Iphone 4 introduced. "This changes everything...again" -
Justin Bieber
He charted 15 hit songs from 2009-2011. He became the Teen Sensation. -
Iphone 5
Iphone 5 expected introduction