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issued first phone
Alexander Graham Bell issued a patent for the Telephone on March 7th. By the early
1800's many experimental uses were attempted for this invention including what was -
first telegraph
1844 - May 24th - In the United States, Samuel Morse begins his first telegraph line.
The wires run 39 miles from Baltimore, MD to Washington, D.C.
The first message sent by Morse is: "What hath God wrought?" -
printed telegraph founded
1851 - The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company is founded
in Rochester, New York, which will become Western Union -- this major
message service also offered delivery of Telegrams. -
changes the printing name
1856 - The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company acquires several
competing companies and changes its name to Western Union; its service of delivering
Telegrams will continue until January 27, 2006 -- 150 years after the name change. -
completed telegraph line
1861 - Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line -- providing fast,
coast-to-coast communications during the U.S. Civil War -
first practical typewriter
1866 - Christopher Latham Sholes of Danville, PA and his colleagues, Carlos Glidden and
Samuel Soulé developed the first practical typewriter (and the QWERTY keyword.) -
sign a deal to typewriter
1873 - The Remington Arms company signs a deal to market Sholes' Typewriter under their
name; later they merge with the Rand company to form Remington-Rand -
phonograph
1877 - Edison invents the cylinder "phonograph" used to record and playback sound. Originally
thought to be useful as a business machine for dictation (like the dictaphone which would
come later.) Other uses: recordings of plays pre-dating Radio Drama nearly 50 years. -
emile builds first micrphone
1877 - Emile Berliner invents the first microphone and sells the rights to Bell Telephone -
light bulb
1880 - Edison issued a patent for the electric incandescent light bulb; wires part of New
York with DC current to power street lights and lights in wealthy homes. -
gramophone
1887 - Emile Berliner invents the flat record player ("gramophone") using acoustic horn
and licenses technology to record companies who make "70-rpm" disks -
wire sond recording
1889 - Danish inventor Valdemar Poulson invents magnetic wire sound recording -
modern jukebox
Louis Glass invents the modern jukebox (coin-operated phonograph) and installs
it at the "Palais Royal" saloon in San Francisco where it is an immediate hit. -
copy right agreement
1891 - The International copyright agreement is adopted between major countries -
popular music
Popular music becomes a serious business; Music Publishers begin renting
office space on 28th street in New York City, near vaudeville theatres in an -
first million seller
1892 - The first "million-seller" song hit (sold via sheet music) was "After The Ball"
by Charles K. Harris, who was both its composer and publisher. -
piano and motion picture
1895 - The Lumiere Brothers use (piano) music with a motion picture program (of
short subjects) for the first time at a Dec. 28th -screening at the Grand Café in Paris -
first sound motion picture
1896 - An orchestra is used with (silent) motion pictures for the first time in April in London -
Shellac gramophone disks
1897 - Shellac gramophone disks developed by Emile Berliner - speeds will vary on discs
issued by companies in different countries (80 rpm was used on some British recordings) -
scientist john thompson
1897 - British scientist Joseph John Thompson discovers the electron particle within cathode rays. -
first british patent reward
1897 - Guglielmo Marconi is granted his first British patent for wireless telegraphy. -
first system mass duplication
1900 - Eldredge Johnson perfects first system of mass duplication of pre-recorded flat disks. -
electric theatre
1902 - April 16 - "The Electric Theater" in Los Angeles is opened by Thomas L. Tally: the
first Nickelodeon, a multimedia movie palace, that spawned imitators nationwide; -
Valve
1906 - British scientist John Ambrose Fleming develops the first vacuum tube called a "Valve." -
RCA
1906 - RCA Victor's "Victrola" model record player is introduced. It has a variable turntable
speed control to accomodate the wide range of phonograph records produced at that
time; Victor's speeds ranged from 71 - 76 rpm. Columbia was producing discs as 80rpm.
Some British disks even rotated between 66rpm - 90rpm; Although U.S. phonograph
manufacturers agreed in 1928 to standardize on the rate of 78.26 rpm, it still took
decades -
first (three-element)
1907 - Lee de Forest is granted a patent on January 15 for the first triode (three-element)
vacuum tube which he calls the "Audion". It was similar to Flemings diode (two-element)
vacuum tube called a "Valve". But de Forest's third element (called a "grid") allowed
the Audion tube to amplify signals -- which made radio with voice and music practical. -
first phonograph introduced by columbia
1908 - The first double-sided phonograph records are introduced by Columbia. Soon its
competitors follow suit; Prior to this time, all records had sound only on one side;
the back side was a blank (un-grooved) side. -
first double sided phonograph
1908 - The first double-sided phonograph records are introduced by Columbia. Soon its
competitors follow suit; Prior to this time, all records had sound only on one side;
the back side was a blank (un-grooved) side. -
Vitaphone
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 to the projector. Operators have to continuously adjust the synchronization of the grooves to the picture, which was not perfect. -
NBC
1975 - NBC's weekend radio format MONITOR is cancelled after nearly 20 years --
It's final broadcast airs on Sunday, January 26th. -
Mving pictures
1991 - 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. -
DVD
1996 - 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; double-sided
disks are possible though rare.. -
"classic themes.com"
1998 - The Internet Web site "ClassicThemes.com" debuts on January 26th, 1998; Founded
by former Radio/TV composer/producer and Macromedia software engineer David Shields,
who wanted to consolidate his research into classic television themes and old-time radio (OTR)
themes, that he had been researching, collecting and publishing since 1960; Over the
years biographies about the better composer-arrangers of Light (Easy Listening) music -
napster
2000 - Internet music-swapping site "Napster" is created, and alarms the recording industry
which mounts a massive campaign to shut it down despite First Amendment concerns -
apple computer download music
2003 - Apple Computer introduces a downloadable music service via its iTunes music application,
which proved that people would pay 99-cents-per-tune to download music legally in the
wake of peer-to-peer free (but illegal) file swapping -
apple
2006 - February 22 - 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
