The History of Radio at a Glance
including elecronics and computers

A Timeline in the History of Radio 1757-1775 Benjamin Franklin works in London 1799 Volta invents electrical battery 1838 Morse demonstrates telegraphy 1861 Transcontinental telegraph by wire 1866 Transatlantic cable 1866 County Kerry transatlantic cable station 1876 Bell invents telephone 1883 Edison invents the Edison effect 1886 Hertz produces and detects electric waves 1894 Lodge invents Coherer with 200 mile range 1897 J.J.Thompson discovers the electron 1899 Wireless telegraphy 1901 Reception of transatlantic radio signals in Newfoundland from Marconi in the U.K. 1902 Poulsen-Arc radio transmitter 1903 Triode invented 1904 Radio alternator designed 1906 Catwhisker crystal detector invented 1906 Sound broadcast combines voice and music 1906 RF Continuous-wave alternator developed 1909 Shoshone transmission line 1912 RF generator invented 1914 American Radio Relay League founded 1918 Superheterodyne receiver invented 1920 Westinghouse radio station KDKA broadcasts at Pittsburgh 1924 RCA superheterodyne sold in stores 1924 Directive shortwave antenna invented 1925 Human features transmitted by television 1925 Pioneers work on radar 1927 Working television demonstrated 1928 One-way police radio communication 1931 Radioastronomy founded by detection of radio waves from the center of our Milky Way galaxy. 1931 Voice of Australia first broadcaster in Southern Hemisphere 1932 Radio is important in U.S. Hoover vs. Roosevelt presidential campaign 1933 Two-way police radio communication 1933 German Ministry of Popular Education and Propaganda controls broadcasting 1933 FM invented 1934 Long range shortwave voice transmission from Byrd Antarctic Expedition 1934 Law limits broadcasting in India 1934 U.S. Federal Communications Act sets up FCC 1935 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay radio agreement 1935 International Wireless Committee code of good conduct for international broadcasts 1935 Japan broadcasts to America 1936 BBC airs first news story -- fire at London's Crystal Palace 1937 Radio has pushbuttons 1937 Radiotelescope used to find the first discrete radio sources beyond Earth and map the natural radio signals across the Milky Way 1937 U.S. Radio Code 1938 CBS broadcasts Orson Welles' "Invasion From Mars" from H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds" 1939 Baseball televised 1939 Germany transmits internationally in 26 languages, while listening in Germany to foreign broadcast is a capital offense 1939 Atanasoff-Berry computer developed 1940s World War II brings radar and other electronics which stimulate radioastronomy 1940 FM police radio communication 1940 French General de Gaulle broadcasts from BBC to France 1940 Sudan radio serves World War II Allies 1940 News broadcasts in six languages on African Gold Coast 1941 U.S. Col. W. Donovan commission combats Axis radio propaganda 1941 Switzerland broadcasts support International Red Cross 1941 Opana radar site built 1942 Voice of America shortwave broadcasts in English, French, Italian, German 1942-1945 US Naval Computing Machine Laboratory 1943 BBC broadcasts English lessons 1943 American Forces Network on the air 1944 BBC broadcasts coded messages to Fench resistance before D-Day 1945 Yugoslavia broadcasts 1945 Military controls broadcasting in Soviet-occupied Germany 1945 Astronomers develop radioastronomy 1945 Japan's Emperor announces his country's surrender in his first radio broadcast 1946 First and brightest radio source beyond our galaxy, Cygnus A, discovered 1946 U.S. Army Signal Corps bounces radar beam off Moon 1946-1953 U.S. develops monochrome-compatible electronic color television 1946 Transistor invented will make small radios commercially feasible 1946 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) turned on 1950-1969 Electronic technology applied to spaceflight 1951 Color television introduced in U.S. 1951 Transistors manufactured 1951 Electromagnetic radiation discovered coming from interstellar hydrogen at a radio wavelength of 21 cm 1953 First amateur radio moonbounce 1956 Germanium transistor commercialized 1957 Beeping radio signal from Sputnik 1, Earth's first artificial satellite 1959 Radio signal from first human-made object to leave Earth, USSR probe Luna 1 1959 Radio signal from first human-made object to reach another world, USSR probe Lunik 2 on the Moon 1959 Radio-photos from first spacecraft to go behind the Moon, USSR probe Lunik 3 1959 The integrated circuit (IC) is introduced 1959 First communication satellite, Echo, launched by US 1960 First radio-photos of Earth weather from orbit 1961 First human communication from space 1961 First amateur radio satellite 1962 Transatlantic reception of television signal via satellite 1962 Radio signal from first human-made object to reach another planet, Mariner 2 at Venus 1962 Telstar communications satellite 1963 First female human communication from space 1963 Arecibo radiotelescope 1965 Radio signal from human-made object at Mars, Mariner 4 1969 Human communication from the Moon 1969 Internet 1971 Human communication from a space station 1973 Radio signal from human-made object at Jupiter, Pioneer 10 1974 Radio signal from human-made object at Mercury, Mariner 10 1976 Personal computer market is born 1979 Radio signal from human-made object at Saturn, Pioneer 11 1981 Human communication from a space shuttle 1981 Sony introduces consumer synthesized radio receiver 1983 Radio signal from spacecraft leaving the Solar System, Pioneer 10 1983 Direct broadcast TV 1986 Cellular phones become international business 1986 Radio signal from human-made object at Uranus, Voyager 2 1989 Radio signal from human-made object at Neptune, Voyager 2 1991 World Wide Web 1992 XM Satellite Radio 1994 Internet radio broadcasting Internet television broadcasting 1995 Digital signal processing receiver introduced 1999 Sirius Satellite Radio 2001 Software Radio chips available 2003 Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) – digital AM radio with FM-quality sound 2004 Podcasting begins Sources:   ARRL,   IEEE,   Monitoring Times,   Popular Communications,   K3RXK

FDR at network radio microphones 2002 digital receiver by Motorola Space satellite 2006 satellite radio receiver boombox by Sirius

Learn more about the history of radio:

• Early radio history
• 100 years of radio
• American Museum of Radio
• Broadcast Archive Radio History
• Halper's History of Radio
• Old Time Radio Soundbites
• History of Radio 1895-1945
• World of Wireless History
• Digital Radio Mondiale,