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Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
Timeline of Events
1893
3.1.1893
Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.
1896
3.24.1896
A. A. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history.
6.2.1896
Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his newest invention: the radio.
1897
7.2.1897
Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.
1901
12.12.1901
Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
1906
12.24.1906
Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
1908
1.12.1908
A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
1920
5.20.1920
Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
7.25.1920
Telecommunications: the first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place.
8.20.1920
The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
8.31.1920
The first radio news program is broadcast by 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.
1922
2.8.1922
President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
11.14.1922
The BBC begins radio service in the United Kingdom.
1923
12.31.1923
The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
1924
2.12.1924
Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
2.22.1924
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
1926
11.15.1926
The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations.
1927
2.23.1927
The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
12.10.1927
The Grand Ole Opry premieres on radio.
1936
2.29.1936
Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air''.
1947
2.17.1947
The Voice of America begins transmitting radio broadcasts to the Soviet Union.
1948
8.10.1948
''Candid Camera'' makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as ''Candid Microphone''.
1955
6.7.1955
Lux Radio Theater signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1969
11.3.1969
Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.
1970
4.1.1970
President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States, starting on January 1, 1971.
1978
2.8.1978
Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
1987
8.4.1987
The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly".
1994
10.12.1994
NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere).