technological developments 7

Question 1

When was the Radio invented/released?

Answer 1

1920s?

Question 2

How was the Radio originally used?

Answer 2

• Radio was used to pass on orders and communications between armies and navies on both sides in World War I.
• The United States passed on President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points to Germany via radio during the war.
• Following the war many people realized that radio could be used to spread music to many people who were not attending concerts increasing the popularity of new music.

Question 3

Radio popularity?

Answer 3

• By the 1920s, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) began to mass-produce commercial radios. KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pa. became the first commercial radio station to receive call letters and began regular broadcasts by announcing the returns of the presidential election.
• Although the sound quality could not rival discs at the time, the record companies rushed to draw up contracts to forbid major artists from working in the radio
• Radio then made improvements in refining the sound quality and reception, resulting in record sales plummeting.

Question 4

describe FM Radio?

Answer 4

• Frequency-modulated (FM) radio, once believed to be an impossibility, became reality in 1933. FM radio, as opposed to amplitude-modulated (AM) radio, offers higher fidelity sound with less static, and it requires less transmittal power.
• Edwin Armstrong, who invented FM radio, worked at RCA when he presented the technology at a meeting of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

Question 5

How did the Radio develop?

Answer 5

• Edwin Armstrong, who invented FM radio, worked at RCA when he presented the technology at a meeting of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
• By 1925 it was broadcasting to the whole of the UK.
• The BBC received its Royal Charter in 1927. When World War II began the BBC stopped TV broadcasting so that transmissions could not be used as a beacon by enemy aircraft; only radio covered the war.
• By the late 1960s and early 1970s FM commercial, national and regional radio stations started broadcasting, providing more programme choices for the listener.
• By 2000 radio had expanded into the satellite and internet markets.

Question 6

Radio key features?

Answer 6

Radio is a means of broadcasting audio to a large audience through Frequency Modulation (FM radio).

Question 7

When was the Gramophone record invented/released?

Answer 7

1887

Question 8

What is a gramophone record?

Answer 8

A gramophone record, “a record” or “vinyl” (after the material it was made from), is a flat disc with an inscribed spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the edge and ends near the centre of the disc.

Question 9

Gramophone record key innovator?

Answer 9

Emile Berliner

Question 10

Describe the Gramophone records key innovator?

Answer 10

• German-born American Emile Berliner is granted a patent for the first gramophone, the first flat disc (whereas the phonograph features a cylinder) recording device, which enables the production of multiple copies.

Question 11

The first gramophone record?

Answer 11

• Berliner’s earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 5 inches (13cm) in diameter, and were played with a small hand-propelled machine.
• After the war, Columbia Records continued research and development of affordable playback equipment and released its 33 rpm long-play(LP) 12-inch vinyl record in 1948.
• Stereo recording on LPs was introduced in 1957 and led to the demise of the traditional monaural format by 1968.

Question 12

How the gramophone records developed?

Answer 12

• The earliest form of recording on flat disc was made from Shellac resin from 1898 to the 1950s.
• Gramophone records evolved to be played at 78rpm (revolutions per minute).
• Emile Berliner patented the gramophone in 1887 – which set up the foundations for the record’s rise in popularity.
• Berliner’s key innovation was recording sound on to a disk, rather than a cylinder like Eddison. This difference helped improve sound quality considerably.

Question 13

Gramophone key features?

Answer 13

• The disc came in two sizes:
• 12-inch disc playtime was 4-5 minutes per sid.
• 10-inch disc playtime was 3 minutes per sid.
• The 10 inch record was the most common.
• The sound quality was characterised by the limited frequency range recorded.
• Lower frequency instruments were not reproduced very well in gramophone recordings.

Question 14

Audio/MIDI interface invented/released?

Answer 14

1983

Question 15

What is an audio/MIDI interface?

Answer 15

• Before MIDI, a musician couldn’t switch from one specific set of tones and sounds to another on the same synthesiser without taking valuable time.
• They would have to use multiple different machines – keyboard, drums, organ, piano, or whatever they required to get the different sounds they needed.
• MIDI allowed them all to be connected and controlled through a single keyboard, giving the musician unprecedented ability to develop the sound they wanted.