Radio timeline

By lockhartellie

  • 1880's

    1880's
    Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was able to conclusively prove transmitted airborne electromagnetic waves in an experiment confirming Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism.

  • 1890's

    1890's
    In 1896, Marconi was awarded British patent and in 1897 he established a radio station in England.

  • 1900's

    1900's
    Roberto Landell de Moura, who transmitted the human voice wirelessly for a distance of approximately a half mile, received his first patent from the Brazilian government.

  • 1910's

    1910's
    Maconi opened he world's first purpose-built radio factory at New Street Works in Chelmsford, England.

  • 1920's

    1920's
    The first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920 by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan

  • 1930's

    1930's
    In the early 1930s, single sideband and frequency modulation were invented by amateur radio operators.

  • 1940's

    1940's
    Commercial television transmissions started in North America and Europe in the 1940s.

  • 1950's

    1950's
    In 1955, the newly formed Sony company introduced its first transistorized radio.

  • 1960's

    1960's
    By 1963, color television was being broadcast commercially.

  • 1970

    1970
    In the 1970s, LORAN became the premier radio navigation system.

  • 1980

    1980
    The U.S. Navy experimented with satellite navigation, culminating in the launch GPS constellation in 1987.

  • 1990

    1990
    On November 7, 1994, WXYC became the first traditional radio station to announce broadcasting on the Internet

  • 2000

    2000
    Many US Internet broadcasters participated in a "Day of Silence" on June 26, 2007.