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Post by billhammond on Nov 2, 2017 9:46:59 GMT -5
From today's Writer's Almanac:
On this day in 1920, the KDKA radio station in Pittsburgh sent out the first-ever regular radio broadcast in the United States. According to the jargon of the day, the Harding-Cox presidential election results were sent out “over the ether.” At the time, only 5,000 Americans owned radios. In its early days, no one could imagine how radio might be lucrative. As media moguls began to get creative, a mad grab began for control of the airwaves.
Some wanted radio to be a public good, used for education and enrichment, and funded by the government. These early proponents of public radio didn’t get their wish until 1967, when Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law that created NPR. Commercial radio won out initially, when, in 1922, New York station WEAF (later known as WNBC) began selling on-air advertising.
While companies were initially skeptical, radio advertising soon proved wildly effective. This was the first time in history when advertising could enter private places without being deliberately carried inside, such as in the pages of a newspaper. A listener might tune in to hear the first broadcast of a baseball game, for example — also compliments of KDKA, in 1921 — and would have no way of evading advertisements, short of switching off the dial.
The result was a totally new relationship between the American public and consumption. Suddenly, private life was punctuated with reminders about product options, and the ability to purchase more and better goods increasingly defined American success. Commercial broadcasting successfully linked status, self-worth, and identity with shopping.
Radio changed culture in many additional ways, from the introduction of instantaneous news, to providing a platform for politicians, to shaping the way Americans thought about important current events, such as World War II, the first major war in the era of broadcasting. Radio also paved the way for other media. Once Americans grew accustomed to the voices of radio advertisers in the home, it was easy to invite television, and then internet ad banners, into the family.
In 1906, American inventor Lee de Forest created an amplifier that made broadcasting possible. Of commercial radio, De Forest said: “What have you done with my child? You have sent him out on the street in rags of ragtime to collect money from all and sundry. You have made of him a laughingstock of intelligence, surely a stench in the nostrils of the gods of the ionosphere.”
Broadcasting has expanded American thinking and reminded listeners and viewers of our potential outside of the mall. Yet we can trace our modern shopping habits all the way back to that first Pittsburgh broadcast, 97 years ago today.
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Post by Marshall on Nov 2, 2017 9:56:55 GMT -5
. . . , The result was a totally new relationship between the American public and consumption. Suddenly, private life was punctuated with reminders about product options, and the ability to purchase more and better goods increasingly defined American success. Commercial broadcasting successfully linked status, self-worth, and identity with shopping. . . . , . . . , In 1906, American inventor Lee de Forest created an amplifier that made broadcasting possible. Of commercial radio, De Forest said: “What have you done with my child? You have sent him out on the street in rags of ragtime to collect money from all and sundry. You have made of him a laughingstock of intelligence, surely a stench in the nostrils of the gods of the ionosphere.” . . . , Amen ! And Amen. ! |
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Post by godotwaits on Nov 2, 2017 12:06:55 GMT -5
Sounds like the founding father of the nattering nabobs of negativity we've been listening to all these years...
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Post by fauxmaha on Nov 2, 2017 12:19:50 GMT -5
Marshall remembers this like it was yesterday.
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Post by brucemacneill on Nov 2, 2017 14:17:19 GMT -5
I used to teach a class I called "How Dirt Works" because it was about the basic electronics of computer processors. One of the opening lines of a lecture was that "In 1906, Lee DeForest invented a way to control electricity using electricity and no important technological change has happened since. Stuff just got smaller". That was followed by a brief explanation of electron tubes and how they worked followed by the invention of solid state equivalents made of dirt, as in silicone. Then it progressed through diodes and transistors and the few basic circuits needed to build processors. Everything else is software, which was a different class.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Nov 2, 2017 15:52:07 GMT -5
Today is also the (70?) year anniversary of the one and only time the Spruce Goose flu.
Mike
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Post by mnhermit on Nov 2, 2017 16:36:02 GMT -5
Today is also the (70?) year anniversary of the one and only time the Spruce Goose flew. Mike was it broadcast on the radio? |
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Post by billhammond on Nov 2, 2017 16:58:40 GMT -5
Today is also the (70?) year anniversary of the one and only time the Spruce Goose "flew."
Mike |
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Post by Village Idiot on Nov 2, 2017 17:37:58 GMT -5
The call letters of most of our radio stations in Iowa start with K. The ones that have been on since the dawn of radio time, however, begin with W. I understand that in the beginning radio stations east of the Mississippi River were required to start their call names with 'W', and stations west of the Mississippi River were required to start their call names with 'K'. I also understand our proximity to the Mississippi meant that there would be exceptions.
My question is, is anyone further west than me aware of any stations that being with 'W'? I'm assuming that larger cities like Omaha, Dallas, Denver or San Francisco might have a station with call letters that start with a W.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Nov 2, 2017 19:14:29 GMT -5
Here is a map of all the current exceptions to the K=west, W=east rule. (Click)  |
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Post by Village Idiot on Nov 2, 2017 19:26:22 GMT -5
Interesting how most of the exceptions are within the Louisiana Purchase. Just shows how Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark were years ahead of their time.
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Post by Doug on Nov 2, 2017 19:32:56 GMT -5
I think they were all W at the first (hell there couldn't be but a few). And when they added the K for the west those in DC had no idea where the west started.  |
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Nov 2, 2017 21:29:03 GMT -5
Today is also the (70?) year anniversary of the one and only time the Spruce Goose flew. Mike was it broadcast on the radio? Beats me. The only reason I knew about this is the local Fox affiliate sent there roving man on the street guy to the Evergreen Aviation Museam where the Spruce Goose is located to do a story on it. www.evergreenmuseum.orgMike |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Nov 2, 2017 21:34:28 GMT -5
I saw the Spruce Goose a couple of times when it was still at Long Beach. Don't know where the Evergreen Avaition Museum is. Maybe Washington
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Post by Chesapeake on Nov 2, 2017 22:10:32 GMT -5
We just missed the 76th anniversary of the sinking of the first U.S. warship in the European theater during World War II: the USS Reuben James. Woody Guthrie gave the ship everlasting fame (among folkies, anyhow) with his song.
I've always loved the story of how Woody, who along with his friend Cisco Houston had enlisted in the Merchant Marine when Germany invaded Russia, sang the song in a show they put on for fellow sailors aboard a ship cruising those very same U-Boat-infested waters of the North Atlantic. And, while they were at it, they single-handedly desegregated the ship. They were told they would have to put on two shows, one for whites and another for "coloreds." They said no way.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Nov 2, 2017 22:33:44 GMT -5
I saw the Spruce Goose a couple of times when it was still at Long Beach. Don't know where the Evergreen Avaition Museum is. Maybe Washington McMinville, Oregon, Dub. Wine country. There is a regional airport across the street from the museam, and McMinville has lots of good restaurants, wine bars, wine tastings, it's pretty much a foodie/wino paradise. About 45 minute drive west of Portland. Mike |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Nov 2, 2017 23:24:15 GMT -5
I saw the Spruce Goose a couple of times when it was still at Long Beach. Don't know where the Evergreen Avaition Museum is. Maybe Washington McMinville, Oregon, Dub. Wine country. There is a regional airport across the street from the museam, and McMinville has lots of good restaurants, wine bars, wine tastings, it's pretty much a foodie/wino paradise. About 45 minute drive west of Portland. Mike That's great news. Fiddlerina now has two sisters and their husbands living near Florence. We're overdue for a visit (one of these first days). |
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Nov 3, 2017 11:03:53 GMT -5
If you let David or I know when you come, I'm sure we could invest some time in guitar/uke fondling.
Mike
Ps Florence is on the coast, about 2-3 hours from Portland.
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Dub
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I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Nov 3, 2017 11:06:33 GMT -5
If you let David or I know when you come, I'm sure we could invest some time in guitar/uke fondling. ,ike We'll definitely do that. We wouldn't consider being out there and not letting you both know. |
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Nov 3, 2017 22:04:12 GMT -5
Today is also the (70?) year anniversary of the one and only time the Spruce Goose "flew."
Mike Ya never heard of bird "flu?" |
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