Radio History Trivia

1. What does the "AM" in AM radio represent?

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: Amplitude Modulation

The three incorrect answers are pure fabrication. The other type of commercial broadcast radio is Frequency Modulation (FM).

From Quiz An Early History of Radio

Answer: Heinrich Hertz

German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) proved in 1887 that energy is transmitted through a vacuum by electromagnetic waves. (In other words, radio waves exist and move at the speed of light.) In his honor, the unit of frequency is now called the hertz, abbreviated Hz. One Hz is one cycle per second. Hertz died young, at 36, before fully comprehending the practical applications of his experiments. Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was a good guess. In 1895, Marconi demonstrated the controlled transmission and reception of long-range or groundwave radio signals, which is why he is often called the inventor of radio or at least long-distance radio. He founded a telegraph and signal company in 1897 in Britain that for a long time pioneered wireless long-distance communication. Samuel Morse invented a signal code adopted internationally for use in telegraphy.

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: Pittsburgh

Still operating in the new millenium, KDKA in Pittsburgh is the acknowledged grandfather of commercial radio, although earlier broadcasts have been documented in San Diego, CA and Madison, WI as far back as 1909. By 1932, there was at least one radio station in every state.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: KDKA

Dr. Frank Conrad broadcast from his Wilkinsburg, PA garage.

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: 1909

1903 was the Wright Brothers flight; 1912 was the Titanic sinking; 1954 gave us the first commercial transistor radios. See how the correct answer fits in? Beginning regular weekly broadcasts in 1909, a San Francisco area station became KQW in 1921. Relettered as KCBS in 1949, the station claims to be the oldest broadcasting station in the world. The claim may be arguable; early radio was experimental, and even the term 'regular broadcast" is subject to interpretation. Other cities - such as Montreal and Pittsburgh - also lay claim to "seniority" status.

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: AT and T

AT and T began broadcasting July 1, 1923. It was here that the first commercial network program, 'The Eveready Hour', was broadcast. When AT and T decided not to remain in the broadcasting business, the network was sold to NBC in 1926. RCA formed in December, 1923, CBS in 1927 and NBC in 1929.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: Edwin Howard Armstrong

A genius who is now relatively unrecognized.

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: 535-1700 KHz

550-1650 Hz is within the range of human speech and hearing. And most of us know that 88-108 MHz is the FM band, simply because we listen to FM so often. Finally, 50 or 60 Hz relates to electrical power source frequencies, not to broadcast bands. You can often hear that ugly "60 cycle hum" when you turn on a fluorescent light.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: agriculture

As in broadcasting seeds on plowed ground.

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: W & K

In the early 1900s, American vessels were assigned W or K call signs by the Bureau of Navigation. When the US government started licensing commercial radio, the same letters were retained; eastern stations were assigned W; western locations got the K. The exact demarcation point varied until 1923, when the Mississippi River became the dividing line. Even so, there were exceptions: Pittsburgh PA's KDKA; Fargo ND's WDAY. If you noticed that the alternate choices are all former US railroads: Norfolk & Western, Chesapeake and Ohio, and Baltimore and Ohio - you should be taking train quizzes!

From Quiz An Early History of Radio

Answer: vacuum-tube transmitters

Vacuum-tube transmitters provided amplification necessary to use audio (voice/sound) rather than merely signaling the dots and dashes for Morse code. These transmitters along with new compact radio receivers increased speculation about personal telephones and concomitant worries about always being connected. The 'London Spectator' predicted in 1901 that "Some day men and women will carry wireless telephones as today we carry a card case or camera." The 'New York Times' in 1906 wondered, "How will it be when we're told, not that somebody's 'on the wire', but that somebody's 'on the air', and we are exposed to answer calls from any part of the atmosphere?" Again, I leave it to the reader to assess these prognostications!

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: CBS

CBS earned the nickname from the color coding on the AT and T telephone diagrams. Originally called United Independent Broadcasters, the company was bought out by the Columbia Phonogragh Co. in 1927.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: as long as a football field

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: avoid interference with distant stations

Although the incorrect answers might be beneficial outcomes of reducing power, the primary reason is to avoid interference. AM radio signals travel much further at night ("sky wave propagation"), and have the potential to "jam" signals from distant AM stations on the same frequency. As a part of their licensing agreement, many AM stations are required to reduce power or shut down at night, in order to avoid this situation.

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: Maj. Edwin Howard Armstrong

Armstrong, a holder of 42 patents and a professorship at Columbia University, also invented the superheterodyne circuit, allowing for automatic tuning of a radio signal, while a Captain in the US Signal Corps in World War I. This invention helped get him promoted to Major in 1919. The technology for FM (static free) broadcasting was a success in 1933, but would be years before its feasibility was recognized (it wan't till 1978 that FM stations outnumbered AM). By that time, Armstrong was divorced and broke from losing a long-running patent feud with DeForest. He committed suicide in 1954.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: line of sight (horizon)

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: disc jockey

The term "disk jockey" was created in 1935 by the famed radio commentator Walter Winchell. The DJ has evolved over time: starting out with 78 and 33 RPM phonograph records, transitioning to 45 RPM "vinyls," audio tapes, and then CD's. With the "retro" attraction of new vinyl records Is that an oxymoron?), DJ's may really be spinning platters again. I don't have a clue what the next advance in entertainment media will bring!

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: East of the Mississippi River

Beginning in 1913, the original policy was that radio stations in the west normally got K-- call letters, while W-- calls were issued to stations along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard. The original K-W boundary ran north from the Texas-New Mexico border. However, in late January, 1923, the K-W boundary was shifted east to the Mississippi River, with 'W' on the east side and 'K' on the west.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: amplitude modulation

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: transistor

Resistors, capacitors, and coils were essential parts of even the earliest radios. The Hindenburg tragedy was in 1937; Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. The transistor wasn't developed until the late 1940's. Transistors were smaller, needed far less electrical power, and began operating instantly. The first portable AM transistor radio sets came out in 1954; by 1955 they began appearing in car radios. A lot of us still remember the long slow wait for an old tube style radio (or TV) to warm up. And a so-called "portable" radio of the era might weigh many pounds - mostly batteries! Those vacuum tubes absolutely devoured power!

From Quiz An Early History of Radio

Answer: The Federal Government took control.

Congress gave the Federal Government a monopoly. All commercial and amateur radio use and development ceased. In fact, it was illegal for individuals to possess or operate a radio transmitter or receiver. Amateur stations were closed and commercial ones nationalized. Many technical advances developed during this period, such as direct communication with airplanes. Opportunities in the industry for African-Americans increased as the Army's demands for wireless operators grew, and there were training camps specifically for "coloreds". The U.S. government held its monopoly on radio for the duration of war. Linwood S. Howeth documents in 'History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy' (1963) how the Navy plotted to maintain a government monopoly on radio after World War I. The Navy quietly bought the Federal Telegraph Company and most of the Marconi stations in the USA. Congress intervened and forced the Navy to return the stations.

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: Warren G. Harding

Republican candidate Harding defeated Democrat James M. Cox. The results were broadcast on KDKA on Nov. 2, 1920.

From Quiz An Early History of Radio

Answer: RCA

Because Marconi Wireless was foreign-owned, the Federal Government pressured it to sell its American holdings to General Electric. From these transactions emerged the Radio Corporation of America, or RCA. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company purchased the struggling International Radio Telegraph Company and began broadcasting from its first station, KDK, then WJZ in New Jersey. It eventually merged its radio holdings into RCA, which became jointly owned by GE and Westinghouse.

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: Sherlock Holmes

Oct. 20, 1930. The detective story format is ideally-suited for radio, and the program proves to be one of the most successful dramas of the Depression era. Gillette's Holmes will eventually be overshadowed by the better known Basil Rathbone.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: Electromagnetic radiation

From Quiz On Your Standard AM Dial

Answer: civil defense

The triangles were small, so the "CD" letters inside could scarcely be read. During the 1950's the fear of atomic war with the USSR was very real. There was a great concern that Soviet bombers could easily target major cities simply by homing in on AM radio signals. To foil this plan, the "CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation" (CONELRAD) program was developed. Very basically, ALL AM stations would go off the air. Then - one at a time - different radio stations - at different locations - would take turns broadcasting emergency warnings ONLY on the 640 and 1240 frequencies. The bad guys would lose their homing beacons, be unable to find Chicago or New York, and would have to go home. Extremely accurate ICBM's and MIRV's made CONELRAD merely a "pleasant" memory!

From Quiz An Early History of Radio

Answer: AT&T

Surprise! AT&T had long been experimenting with public address systems, long-distance (trunk) lines, and vacuum-tube radio transmitters. Thus they were quickly able to use telephone lines, amplified with vacuum tubes, to interconnect radio stations in the early 1920s and provide simulcasting. RCA, along with Westinghouse and GE, tried to form their own network by boosting their stations' transmitter outputs, by using leased telegraph lines, and by sending shortwave transmissions (which can travel farther than longwave). But they just could not compete with a telecommunications giant like AT&T. In 1926, however, RCA bought out AT&T's network, which then became the National Broadcasting Company, or NBC.

From Quiz The History Of Radio

Answer: Walter Winchell

Winchell was the most influential newspaperman in the country at the dawn of the forties, plus his Sunday night news-and-comment program was by far the most popular news program on the air in the last months before US involvement in World War 2. Early TV viewers will recognize his voice as the narrator of 'The Untouchables'.

From Quiz History of Radio

Answer: The election results for 1920.

Harding and Cox won that election.

From Quiz An Early History of Radio

Answer: commercials & commercial & advertisement & advertisements & ads

During the boom, not only were broadcasts commercial-free, but the performers performed without fee because of their excitement over the new invention. Interestingly, in an October 1921 memo from engineers that outlined AT&T's new network, it was assumed that the new network would be supported by advertising, a revolutionary idea that would remain controversial through most of the 1920s. During this decade the notion of government sponsorship radio was initially more popular. Indeed, the Postmaster General, Will Hays, wanted to develop a Department of Communications for free, tax-supported radio, a "newspaper without paper". Throughout the 20th century the government provided weather reports and other public services over the airwaves. Hays's dream was partially realized through the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and provided funding for what became the Public Broadcasting Service (TV) and National Public Radio.

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