INTRODUCTION
The most powerful medium in the history of broadcasting, that has captured the essence of entertainment, education, and information in our global community from the day of its inception over a century ago to the present digital age, has been by all counts, the medium of Radio. Radio has an emotive value that moves the spirits of people and influences their livelihood in every way imaginable. It is a medium that brings ethnicity of urban and rural areas together in its quality of being intrinsic - and the ability to cover all areas of its target listeners. In its evolution, the element of Radio, which is communication, has been effective in manipulating the political agendas in the whole world by so doing charging the out view of governmental policies in different countries. From the days of the First World War to the Palestine-Lebanon war against Israel, in this present day. Radio is at the forefront of technological advancement globally and has helped in the inventions of other broadcast Mediums (i.e. Television, internet and Cinema).
The discovery of Radio catapulted humankind to another domain of intelligentsia, erasing the world of telegraphy, because of its unreliability and ineffectiveness in hash conditions. Without radio, communication was impossible between marines at seas and its command base on the land. News took time to travel to different racial populations and areas, because of the vastness of our geographical separation and the undiscovered terrain at the time, which hindered and delayed the development of humankind for over centuries. The nature of history around the world was charged, because of this new tool of communication. The power that was held solely by the leaders of the day through propaganda was transferred to the common people and created transparency in the hierarchies of society. The fundamental position of radio was and still is to educate people about the nature of their environment.
The forefathers of radio technology had no idea of what their invention would do to the world, as Joseph Conrad articulates, “We live in the flicker may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.” (Heart of Darkness:14, 1999) So is the nature of Radio broadcast, for it has to move with the times and trends of that particular era. Radio is unpredictable, it is said to be, “The Theatre of the mind.” For it creates pictures in the mind through the element of sound and fulfils people’s needs of entertainment, education and information. To understand the centre of Radio history in our world, let us take a look at, ‘The Beginning of Radio’.
The discovery of electromagnetic waves by a German physicist, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz led to the development of radio and television, not excluding radar technology. Hertz’s research was base on the work of James Clerk Maxwell’s mathematical equations, who was a British scientist and a Professor at Cambridge University. Maxwell was interested in the fundamentals of electromagnetic waves in 1873, from the journals of Michael Faraday who first found the existence of electrical and magnetic fields. Maxwell then predicted the existence of these waves which were recorded in his journals. It was only a decade and a half later in 1887, that Hertz began testing Maxwell’s theories regarding electromagnetic radiation in his laboratory, using an apparatus called, an ‘Oscillator’ in his laboratory. Hertz’s apparatus was connected between two copper knobs that created electronically charged sparks that could pass through water and reach each other when placed at a distance from one another. The speed of the waves could travel at the speed of light at long periods of time and space, ultimately creating a connection of invisible air wires. These waves Hertz called, Hertzian waves, which were recognized as radio waves. (The Investions-: 1982; 226-229)
The whole theory of radio is base on the Hertzian waves that enabled the creation or invention of radio. This discovery sent the world to its feet and inspired a lot of scientists to try and outwit Hertz and improve on his detection of radio waves, from Lord Kelvin and Sir Oliver Lodge of British origin to Professor E. Branly of France. Professor E. Branly improve the detection in radio waves by inventing a device called the ‘Coherer’. The Coherer was to prove to be effective. It was a little tubular container of iron filings that where made by the Hertzian waves to combine and created a frugal electrical conductor. Sir Oliver Lodge used the dot and dashers of the Morse code, to create a first radio transition, therefore became the first person in history to receive a radio message, in the year, 1894, thus creating the earliest radio called ‘Wireless Telegraphy’. (Wymer: 1981; 43-46)
The tubular conductor was not that reliable, because of the inefficiency it showed in transferring signals. It was discovered that the filings became locked in their low resistance and prevented the waves from reaching its target. Professor Alexandra Popov‘s invention, of Russian descent pave the way to the improvements of the Coherer. Popov created the electrical bell that was used to shake the filings apart and, therefore it was instrumental in achieving its goal. Popov then attached a wire to the coherer and improved the reception quite extensively and that wire was the first receiving aerial. He recorded lighting using the coherer and aerial in the year, 1895, and his ideas where learnt by an Italian electrician, on how to send and receive electromagnetic signals. (De Bono: 1976; 57-58)
The development of radio was on its way in improving the lives of millions of people around the globe and making a scientific break-through in communication science and technological advancement. A young man who was interested in the experiments of science from an early age was to be the leader of radio discovery and enlighten the scientific fraternity of his discovery. (His age of discovery disputed in various books)
THE FATHER OF RADIO
A man who was to become a leader in wireless telegraphy was, Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi was half British and half Italian, son of Annie Jameson, who was encouraged by his mother to delve into the world of scientific research. Marconi spent most his life in Bologna, Italy where, he was born in the year, 1874. His discovery came after the death of, Heinrich Hertz, when Marconi was inspired to advance on the work of the late scientist. The discovery of radio came after several failed experimental trials, when Marconi, assisted by his sibling made a connection between two receivers with a hill separating the receivers and the year was, 1895. He then tried to persuade the Italian government to fund his discovery but, the government refused to help him develop his invention. (The Inventive Genius-: 1966; 46-49)
In the year, 1897, Marconi and his British relatives developed a ‘Wireless Telegraph and Signals Co.’; three years after the French government refuse to fund his initiative. The company he started was to be later called, ‘Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co.’ The Company concentrated in helping communications in civilian vessels by installing radio technology. On the 12th, December, 1901 three dots of the letter S were received by Marconi from a civilian vessel carrying about, 1,650 passengers, proving Marconi deductions about radio gliding wave theory. This ‘transatlantic radio short wave’ (HF), occurred at the bay of Newfoundland from Poldhu, Cornwall England were he deduced: “waves do not propagate in the same manner as free radiation from a classical Hertzian oscillator, but glide along the surface of the Earth.” (www.wikipedia.com). In the course of that year Marconi wrote a publication about, the “Syntonic Wireless Telegraphy”, giving his views about the topic of radio and communication. In the year, 1902, Marconi explored the possibility of commercial radio when all of his rivals were still behind in scientific discoveries. Marconi became a Noble Prize Laureate sharing the prize with Karl Ferdinand Braun. One of Marconi’s rivals Nikola Tesla was the first to predict the four tuned system that was developed by Marconi. Marconi’s work was derived from a lot of models done by different scientists. (Cavedish: 1974; 118-121)
Tesla was said to have held a number of patents in the development of radio and Marconi’s claims of having patent rights of certain designs that were similar to Tesla’s. Marconi’s reputation was dented when some of his colleges questioned the nature of his experiments and going so far as to claiming that some of his work was based under fails pretenses. Tesla took Marconi to task by conducting a lawsuit against him regarding the rights of radio discovery. Marconi was very much loved by his supporters who defended him against the onslaught of Tesla and his claims. At the turn of the century the US Patent Office made its decision and gave the patent of radio to Marconi and the other rights were solved by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the year, 1943 after the United States Army was involved in a lawsuit against Marconi’s company involving radio. The lawsuit was finally awarded to Marconi therefore, cementing his throne as the ‘Father of Radio’. (De Bono: 1976; 57-58)
THE PRETENDERS AT THE THRONE
Nikola Tesla was an inventor and an electrical engineer. He was born in the year, 1856, July 9th, in Croatia. In 1880, Tesla graduated from the University of Prague, and then moved to Budapest, Hungary to work as a Telephone engineer, because of his new AC power system that was to replace the old direct-current or DC system. Later in 1884, Tesla migrated to the United States were he met Thomas Edison and become his assistant. In 1886, Tesla lost his job due to a friction that developed between the two men. He finally was recognized as a U.S. citizen in 1889. (Compton’s, 1995, :230)
After building his own laboratory in 1893, Nikola Tesla designed a number of electrical tools and presented his designs to the Franklin Institute and the National Electrical Light Association, in Philadelphia. This was before the discovery of the vacuum tube and Tesla’s findings were later included into radio systems. An enigmatic man Nikola Tesla was, for he explored all the possibilities that were presented before him and came up with new solutions. His field of pioneering went towards magnetic receivers, choosing to not follow the functions of the coherer, ultimately making a break-through for being the first to have used the mechanism of electrical conduction.
In 1896 Marconi was certified a patent for, ‘IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING ELETCRICAL IMPULSES AND SIGNALS AND IN APPARATUS THERE-FOR” (British patent 12039: marconi.com), in the field of radio. Marconi went on to open the first radio station in the history of the world. Tesla realised that he was treading behind in the field of discovery of radio, and then in 1900, Tesla emulated Marconi’s advancement by opening his first radio tower called the Wardnclyffe Tower that utilized to advertise services in his community. Tesla was quoted making claims that his radio tower was superior, because of its ability to: “secure multichannel transceiving of information, universal navigation, time synchronization, and a global location system.” (Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia-website)
Nikola Tesla’s inventions helped develop an alternative to Marconi’s way of doing things and formed a competitive and embarrassing theatre of discovery that was to prove to be fruitful for the development of radio for many centuries to come. Marconi’s pretenders all missed the vital parts in the development of radio, even Tesla after the lawsuit was left bankrupt and unable to carry his later inventions to life. However, Nikola Tesla achievements in the field of science are not overlooked for he was a man of many talents.(De Bono, 1976, p 56-58). Hertz initiated the spheres of radio wave that enabled the world to find a substitute to Telegraphy. Marconi advance on that discovery, so did Tesla. What was to follow in the game of radio advancement was beyond the dreams of Marconi, thanks to his foundation work in the history of radio. (Wymer: 1981; 43-46)
OTHER PLAYERS IN THE FIELD OF RADIO
After Nikola Tesla’s demonstrations of “Alternatives in Currents of High Potential and High Frequency” in 1892 of a remote controlled boat (U.S. patent 613809). It was certain that radio could be taken to another level as Tesla himself maintained that his ‘transverse electromagnetic waves’ was better than Marconi’s system of radio. Other inventors that were instrumental in the development of radio were; Georg von Arco a European pioneer, Edouard Branly with the invention of the Branly coherer in 1890, Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti who designed a tuning tube, Amos Dolbear with his earth transmission (U.S. Patent 350299), Thomas Alva Edison on “Etheric Force” in 1875 (U.S. Patent 465971, 1891), Michael Faraday, Reginald Fessenden with is “continuous” wave transmission (wikipedia.com, 2006). In the year 1840, Hans Christian Orsted found a magnetic field that was surrounded by a wire carrying current, Joseph Henry who transmitted radiant energy from a capacitor through a coil from a distance of about a hundred feet, in December 1840. Charles Herrold who advance the broadcast of radio, David E. Hughes for the experiments he conducted in transmission and reception, Jozef Murgas (1890), William Henry Preece, Augusto Righi, Harry Shoemaker(1901-1905), Adolphus Slaby a European pioneer, John Stone Stone (1901-1904) and Nathan Stubblefield with wireless telegraphy (1902). (The Inventions-: 1982; 226-229)
Jagdish Chandra Bose discovered the ‘UHF’ phenomenon in 1894; this proved that communication can be sent to anyone without the use of wires. The Daily Chronicle report on his discovery quite extensively of him, using gun powder in his experiment, beating Marconi by three years in his discovery; however Bose was not a business minded person and did not claim patents for his developments. In the year 1895, Bose went to Calcutta, India to showcase some of his experiments; however Tesla’s work was predated only by half a decade. The only work that Bose got credited for was his progress on the “iron-mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector” which presented at the Royal Society in London, 1899 (U.S. Patent755840) and the “Detector for electrical disturbance” in 1904. Bose was an invisible man in the world of science; however his work did help in the contribution and the technological advancement of radio.
The men who transmitted his radio signal a year before Marconi was, Oliver Lodge. At the Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford University, in 1894, Lodge made improvements on Edouard Branly’s coherer by adding a device called the ‘trembler’. He was awarded a patent for the work on “Electric Telegraphy” that was able to make wireless communication signals using other inventor’s coils. Lodge sold his patent to Marconi in 1912. (De Bono: 1976; 57-58)
The invention of radio had many people who claimed to have been the first to discover radio signals. A man called Mahlon Loomis of West Virginia, in the United States was such a man, with the oldest patent dating from 1872, predating all the other discoveries. His design used for atmospheric electricity, which was similar to works of other inventors. Ernest Rutherford improved the development of radio by scientific research in 1895, with a Research Scholarship to Cambridge by detecting electromagnetic waves, thus contributing to the world of radio history. (The Inventive Genius-: 1966; 46-50)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADIO NETWORKS
The development of radio networks brought about technological advancement in the field of Warfare and improved communication networks amongst the Allied forces. Radio networks were developed after Marconi founded or produced a radio beam in 1922. The national networks controlled all the radio industry, during 1900 and 1920, however in 1926; the ‘National Broadcasting Company’ was founded. The company had two distinct ways of broadcasting communication; it had the Blue Network and the Red Network thus, enabling the network companies to produce much needed business through advertising. Other developers like, Ronald M. Foster and George C. Southworth, improved on the methods of developing field patterns. (Cavedish: 1975; 118-121)
In the year 1926, the new powering system for radio was discovered and it was called the ‘All-electric’ which changed or altered the alternating current into direct current that was useful for radio and erased the need for batteries. This development led to the formation of the United Independent Broadcasters, Inc., in 1927 and later developing the Colombian Broadcasting System. The Mutual Broadcasting Company came into existence in 1934, however in 1942, the original network companies were disbanded at the orders of the Federal Communications Commission, and the Blue Network Company became independent which, in later years changed its name to the ‘American Broadcasting Company’. (Compton’s: 1995; Volume20; 60)
In the First World War radio played a significant part during the battle of Jutland when naval ships fought against the enemy and were commanded through a radio communication system, in 1916. But earlier radio had played a major part when the Titanic was sunk in 1912, alerting other ships to be cautious on their route they were travelling in. This prompted the authorities to enforce a twenty-four hour radio watch on every ship because of the amount of people that were lost at seas during the disaster. (www.bbc.com)
In the Cold War radio was used by the Americans and their nemesis, Russia to promote propaganda in the interest of their countries respectively. This was to manipulate public opinion by ‘Radio Moscow’ and ‘The Voice of America’ in order to push their mandate and justify their actions to their nations and this was due to the amount of time spent developing radio networks. Countries were beginning to see the advantage of radio to their political aspirations by using radio for deception and distortion of the truth. This led to the laws of censorship and place boundaries in the amount of speech allowed on radio. (The World Book, 2000, Volume 15)
During the war in Europe a man called Edwin Armstrong, an engineer, advanced the functionalities of radio by creating the FM band although, it was not welcomed by network companies because of the AM band that was in existence at that time. Soldiers could listen to the developments of war in their compartments and be entertained, that was also available on aircrafts which used radio technology for navigation. (Americana, 1992, p.882)
RADIO IN AFRICA
In Africa the development of radio came about after improvements were made in the way power was distributed. The technological change to a battery powered transistor in the early 1900, gave radio a new footing in the “Dark Continent”. In 1972 the United Nations was involved in the development of radio in the whole of Africa yet, the niche of radio in these countries was very fair from being achieved, with a number of about twenty-seven countries unable to keep up with the communication systems that were in place at that time. Nigeria has a developed system of communication distribution and social listening with an average of six sets out-of a hundred which, provides a broadcast network of about seven regional services in fifteen languages.(Schirmer:1980; 54-55)
In South Africa like many other countries, most Broadcasting networks are controlled by the government of those countries; these countries include Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Tanganyika. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was given life on July 1st, 1924, at the Johannesburg Post Office, corner of Pritchard and Rissik Streets. This birth was not the actual rise of the SABC; however this gave South Africa a network that would later develop the radio industry in this country. Springbok radio became a prominent figure with the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which was a public utility, under the control of a board of nine governors who commercialized the services of the station, together with the national service, regulated by English and Afrikaans languages. Springbok radio generated enough revenues to keep the operation alive and the SABC maintained a wired network service to the then ‘Bantu’ towns, however with limited radio. In South Africa FM stations have been leading the pack with almost 57FM stations, with the network able to carry about 123 stations and more. The SABC broadcast about 23 radio services in 19 languages, which six are nationally beamed via Intelsat satellite. The regional services host stations such as Good Hope Radio, Highveld Stereo, Jacaranda, Radio Algoa and 5FM. Nine services from the SABC broadcast programmes to the black populous, now including the privately owned YFM. The SABC has other external services that it provides from the short-wave network with other languages such as French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and Lozi. South Africa radio is a powerful medium with extensive coverage of news from all the national regions and international countries. It has about three-hundred news bulletins a day in a network that consists of about 30 editorials offices, 1300 correspondents, 20 foreign correspondents and 2000 news monitoring studios with representative in Washington, London and Windhoek. The SABC maintains an amount of 12 million listership that starts in South Africa and all of Africa. (Rosenthal: 1976; 1-5/ Schirmer: 1980; 55). Egypt is also a country with a highly developed network system of communication with a state owned UAR Radio that provides seven national programs of services which six are in Arabic languages. The have a niche of about 60% for entertainment, 19% for cultural affairs, 16% for news and information with 5% religion. And in Ghana most of the national networks are wired. (America: 1992; 422)
Ultimately, Africa utilizes its network system to educate, inform and entertain the populous regarding issues that affect the niche in particular areas and countries. Radio has played a vital part in broadening social and political awareness in our continent and this tool will continue to open digital spheres for our world.
RADIO AND AUDIO FORMATS
Radio uses varies ways of getting massages across the globe and that is all derived under audio which, is sound. Sound is transmitted in different modes of bands and these bands are also referred to as frequency. The first band is the AM band that is used to broadcast or send music and voices in the Medium Frequency (MF-0.300 MHz to 3 MHz) radio rays. The AM band uses “amplitude modulation” that increases the sound through the microphone to the transmitter without altering the course of the frequency. The FM band also functions the same way that the AM band does, however the speed is much more advanced and clearer than the AM band. FM (Frequency modulation) bands are louder on the microphone and create a leveled powered mode. FM is at High Frequency (VHF-30 MHz to 300MHz) rays that are meant to cover long distances between fifty and a hundred kilometers with it being the most protected mode or band. Another radio mode is, ‘Aviation Voice Radio’ or VHS AM. This band is used by aircrafts to communicate with other aircrafts and radio-control or towers which can be received hundreds of kilometres away from the airbase or airport. The VHS band uses AM so it can receive multiple channels without blocking other communicators within the stream. (Cavedish: 1975; 118-121)
The military has been using radio ever since it was introduced by Marconi to military fleets as the ‘S’ code in 1926 and during World War One. Civil and Military HF or high frequency voice services use the SW or shortwave to communicate with other military vessels and aircrafts when their out at seas or inland. They use the ‘single sideband voice’ or SSB that is lesser in width than the AM band and is referred to as the ‘Duck Quaking Band’. The Marines use AM in shortwave High Frequency band that utilizes, 3 MHz to 30 MHz in narrow bands which is used by government officials, police, fire, and commercial voice services. Then the TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) that is a digital cell phone system used by the military, police and the ambulances to communicate and receive alerts. Commercial services also use this service in a form of digital Satellite radio.(Wymer:1981;.43-46/ www.bbc.com)
Microwave radio is used by the cell phone format to transmit and receive messages through the telephone networks. The cell phones used the FM band to transmit its band that was later changed to digital encoding. INMARSAT and Iridium are forms of satellite phones that provide world-wide reception and coverage. Navigation satellite system which where developed in 1950s, but where much used in the 1960s to locate commercial radio stations at AM bands that is also use by amateur radio stations. Aircraft navigation apply the VOR system of navigation that sends two signal at the sometime that works according to the range from the base of the signal rays. This system uses the DME or the Distance Measuring Equipment to locate its source therefore, providing a fixed position hence the name ‘fix’ that the system is referred to. The base or the stations that provide this service are known as VOR/DME stations. A system called TACAN that is incorporated into the VOR base is utilized by the military’s civil aircrafts and combined; the systems are called VORTAC communication systems. Radar is another form of audio format that uses GPS positions to detect objects under water in a form of a ‘Doppler Effect’. The EPIRB system or Emergency Position- Indicating Radio Beacons, Emergency Locating Transmitters, and Personal Locator Beacons are also use to locate position of objects in a time of need or emergency. Radio technology also includes video and television.
THE DIGITAL AGE OF RADIO
The advancement of radio into the digital format took radio into the universal age of discovery. Satellite radio, Digital Television and Digital Audio Broadcast replaced Marconi’s spark-gap telegraphy that is the oldest form of digital format that was used to send messages in Morse Code. However these types of transmitters were outlawed because of the power intake and radio frequency needed to transmit spark-gap format. Data took a turn into the future by utilizing the continuous wave telegraphy or CW (Continuous Wave) that needed a key to be switched on and off. This component applied radio frequency that used vacuum tube electronic oscillator and a receiver that created a whistle-like radio tone, in a power of One Hundred Hertz. The Continuous Wave format has not been eradicated from the networks. In the years 1925 to 1975 massages were sent by radio teletypes that operated on short-wave. The military also used this format as a speciality to create scripted information in the form of bits that were transmitted in one or two tones which formed a whole or body in groups of five or seven fragments to create a teletype message. This was also used extensively by intelligence agencies during the Second World War and is still in use for the military and weather predictors. (Compton’s, 1995, Volume 23, p.116)
Radio teletypes utilize VHF to send identity, altitude, and positioning, to communicate across the spectrum of formats in connecting flight-data. Telephone and television use quadrature amplitude modulation or QAM that sends data through changes of the phase and amplitude of the radio signals. QAM is use mostly by engineers that favour the structure of how the system packs the bits in frame format.
The systems that share their frequency with other services in order to encode digital signal into an array of a thousand sub-channels, include such a system as the COFDM OR “corrected orthodogonal frequency-divisional multiplexing’. This system makes digital decoding through a micro computer to form ‘digital signal processing’ that is easy to use and less expensive compared to older systems that where in operation during the separate electronic channels. COFDM can be sent in slow mode to prevent voice modules for fading when emitted from the source using the narrow channels of QAM signals. Other systems that use this system are Wifi, cellphones, Digital Radio Mondiale, Eureka 147 and digital television and of cause radio networks. (www.inventors.com/http/home.luna/history/Early-radio,html)
Heating also uses radio to generate microwave ovens energy else well as tractor beams which use radio waves around the electrostatic and magnetic forces. These tractor beams are use through space explorations. Radio remote control transmits control data to guide objects in the direction or course that is met to be taken. The military apply this technology to guide missiles to their targets. And as we all know our television sets use remote control radio technology too. (Wymer:1981;43-49)
RADIO AMATEURS IN S.A.
Going back in history wireless broadcasting dominated the airspace in a number of countries. In South Africa John Samuel Streeter, a Cape Town resident that was born in London, Hackney in 1884, was very instrumental in during the 1920s, in developing amateur radio. He provided entertainment broadcasting from Sea Point in Bernard House by featuring regular gramophone concerts on weekly bases and moved to Observatory to pursue this venture. Reginald Hopkins also became synonymous with amateur radio in the early 1920s; his was a man from Wynberg and used an instrument called the Pianola to reproduce musical sounds. Hopkins and Streeter worked together as partners producing and broadcast material that received a lot of publicity in newspapers, giving other youngsters a way of building their own amateur radio transmitters. They used a system called the ‘cat’s whisker’ that used a crystal detector and their popularity grew from the Western Cape to the Karoo. (Rosenthal: 1974; 8-19)
It was not long after that the Transvaal pioneers were following in the footsteps of the of the Cape amateurs developed by Arthur Sydney Innes who was well known by the name Tony Innes. Innes used wireless telephony like the other entire amateur radio enthusiasts, as a member of Corps (South African Air Force) in Johannesburg he was in charge of the Wireless Section of the military. When he left the military he started announcing by the name 2 OB, then met up with Streeter through his contacts in the Cape. Tony Innes also played a lot of gramophone records. Amateur radio led to the improvements that were made in radio. (Joyce:1989; 289)
Amateur radio communication was inspired by the father of radio himself, Guglielmo Marconi in 1901, who considered himself an amateur through his Atlantic Ocean radio signal experiment. Even Percy Maxim also a radio amateur conducted experiments in the United States. Amateur radio uses FM, single-sideband AM, digital packet radio and satellite beams. (America: 1992; 156-157)
TIMELINE
1864: James Clerk Maxwell exploit the theory of radio waves in his journals.
1888: Heinrich Hertz discovers and exhibits the theories of radio waves guided by Maxwell’s journals.
1890: Professor Edouard Branly of France invents a device that detects radio waves
1894: Marconi discovers radio by using Hertz’s theory and designs and sends the first signal.
1896: Marconi migrates to England and applied for British patent for his designs on the improvements he made.
1899: Marconi uses a new device to send signals across the English Channel and the first message ever.
1900: Marconi discovers wave length tuning by realizing that energy stored in circuits will give radio more power.
1901: Marconi discovers the Morse letter ‘S’ in his first transatlantic radio signal in Newfounland.
1906: Reginald Aubrey Fessenden makes the first public broadcast in history at a wireless station and H.H.C. Dunwoody discovers a more efficient way to detect radio waves.
1915: The first speech in the history of radio across the Atlantic between France and America using the Eiffel Tower.
1917: Marconi uses the VHF transmission for the first time.
1918: Major Edwin Armstrong discovers the superheat radio receiver.
1923: Dr. Frank Conrad applies the short wave system for long distance communication for the first time in history.
1924: Edward Victor Appleton solves the mystery of how radio travels and radio touches the shores of South Africa for the first time.
1935: Edwin Armstrong improves on the techniques of reducing static on the AM band.
1954: The first transistor was developed by an American company, Regency.
1961: America makes their first stereo broadcast, developed by a company called Zenith.
1963: AM stations lost touch in the United States but, later saved by new music from the British group the Beatles.
1970: Radio breaks new by making more money in history from the FM band and advertisers use the medium at their advantage.
1980: Satellite technology improves the number of stations available.
1980-1990: The dark years of radio broadcast around the world as the medium grows in South Africa.
1990-2000: South Africa sees the growth of radio as new radio station that carter to the youth is discovered called YFM and automation in the work environment of radio saves the integrity of radio.
2000-2006: South Africa offers more radio licenses and improves the structure of radio by breaking new grounds in radio broadcasting techniques.
CONCLUSION
The history of radio is a complex and structured development that took many years to accomplish and for it to reach its technological pinnacles all around the world. The transient nature of radio is what makes this medium unique in its totality from the days of Marconi to the world we live in today, and its simplicity, is what makes it the world’s number one medium. Radio transmits waves of information, education and entertainment in our chaotic, loud society with complex personalities, and has no boundary of niche or target in any structure of our nation. People can choose to listen to any radio broadcast that suites their taste or lifestyle in the South Africa microcosm. And create their own theatres of perception through sound and voice. Radio enriches lives and protects those who are blinded in this world through discussions that concentrate on the psychographics and environmental change. Radio is life, as Anthony Ackerman of S.A FM says: “Radio is the only medium, apart from television that can showcase soap operas through sound.” (Interview on SABC NEWS) The future of radio in this country is limitless and will go beyond the current presentation that radio offers today. (Manual, 2006, Boston Media House)
Radio captures the essence of what we really are and forms people’s behavior overtime and space. It creates villains and heroes in the airwaves break and mend hearts of mutual relations, radio is life. So, switch on my brother!
The most powerful medium in the history of broadcasting, that has captured the essence of entertainment, education, and information in our global community from the day of its inception over a century ago to the present digital age, has been by all counts, the medium of Radio. Radio has an emotive value that moves the spirits of people and influences their livelihood in every way imaginable. It is a medium that brings ethnicity of urban and rural areas together in its quality of being intrinsic - and the ability to cover all areas of its target listeners. In its evolution, the element of Radio, which is communication, has been effective in manipulating the political agendas in the whole world by so doing charging the out view of governmental policies in different countries. From the days of the First World War to the Palestine-Lebanon war against Israel, in this present day. Radio is at the forefront of technological advancement globally and has helped in the inventions of other broadcast Mediums (i.e. Television, internet and Cinema).
The discovery of Radio catapulted humankind to another domain of intelligentsia, erasing the world of telegraphy, because of its unreliability and ineffectiveness in hash conditions. Without radio, communication was impossible between marines at seas and its command base on the land. News took time to travel to different racial populations and areas, because of the vastness of our geographical separation and the undiscovered terrain at the time, which hindered and delayed the development of humankind for over centuries. The nature of history around the world was charged, because of this new tool of communication. The power that was held solely by the leaders of the day through propaganda was transferred to the common people and created transparency in the hierarchies of society. The fundamental position of radio was and still is to educate people about the nature of their environment.
The forefathers of radio technology had no idea of what their invention would do to the world, as Joseph Conrad articulates, “We live in the flicker may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.” (Heart of Darkness:14, 1999) So is the nature of Radio broadcast, for it has to move with the times and trends of that particular era. Radio is unpredictable, it is said to be, “The Theatre of the mind.” For it creates pictures in the mind through the element of sound and fulfils people’s needs of entertainment, education and information. To understand the centre of Radio history in our world, let us take a look at, ‘The Beginning of Radio’.
The discovery of electromagnetic waves by a German physicist, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz led to the development of radio and television, not excluding radar technology. Hertz’s research was base on the work of James Clerk Maxwell’s mathematical equations, who was a British scientist and a Professor at Cambridge University. Maxwell was interested in the fundamentals of electromagnetic waves in 1873, from the journals of Michael Faraday who first found the existence of electrical and magnetic fields. Maxwell then predicted the existence of these waves which were recorded in his journals. It was only a decade and a half later in 1887, that Hertz began testing Maxwell’s theories regarding electromagnetic radiation in his laboratory, using an apparatus called, an ‘Oscillator’ in his laboratory. Hertz’s apparatus was connected between two copper knobs that created electronically charged sparks that could pass through water and reach each other when placed at a distance from one another. The speed of the waves could travel at the speed of light at long periods of time and space, ultimately creating a connection of invisible air wires. These waves Hertz called, Hertzian waves, which were recognized as radio waves. (The Investions-: 1982; 226-229)
The whole theory of radio is base on the Hertzian waves that enabled the creation or invention of radio. This discovery sent the world to its feet and inspired a lot of scientists to try and outwit Hertz and improve on his detection of radio waves, from Lord Kelvin and Sir Oliver Lodge of British origin to Professor E. Branly of France. Professor E. Branly improve the detection in radio waves by inventing a device called the ‘Coherer’. The Coherer was to prove to be effective. It was a little tubular container of iron filings that where made by the Hertzian waves to combine and created a frugal electrical conductor. Sir Oliver Lodge used the dot and dashers of the Morse code, to create a first radio transition, therefore became the first person in history to receive a radio message, in the year, 1894, thus creating the earliest radio called ‘Wireless Telegraphy’. (Wymer: 1981; 43-46)
The tubular conductor was not that reliable, because of the inefficiency it showed in transferring signals. It was discovered that the filings became locked in their low resistance and prevented the waves from reaching its target. Professor Alexandra Popov‘s invention, of Russian descent pave the way to the improvements of the Coherer. Popov created the electrical bell that was used to shake the filings apart and, therefore it was instrumental in achieving its goal. Popov then attached a wire to the coherer and improved the reception quite extensively and that wire was the first receiving aerial. He recorded lighting using the coherer and aerial in the year, 1895, and his ideas where learnt by an Italian electrician, on how to send and receive electromagnetic signals. (De Bono: 1976; 57-58)
The development of radio was on its way in improving the lives of millions of people around the globe and making a scientific break-through in communication science and technological advancement. A young man who was interested in the experiments of science from an early age was to be the leader of radio discovery and enlighten the scientific fraternity of his discovery. (His age of discovery disputed in various books)
THE FATHER OF RADIO
A man who was to become a leader in wireless telegraphy was, Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi was half British and half Italian, son of Annie Jameson, who was encouraged by his mother to delve into the world of scientific research. Marconi spent most his life in Bologna, Italy where, he was born in the year, 1874. His discovery came after the death of, Heinrich Hertz, when Marconi was inspired to advance on the work of the late scientist. The discovery of radio came after several failed experimental trials, when Marconi, assisted by his sibling made a connection between two receivers with a hill separating the receivers and the year was, 1895. He then tried to persuade the Italian government to fund his discovery but, the government refused to help him develop his invention. (The Inventive Genius-: 1966; 46-49)
In the year, 1897, Marconi and his British relatives developed a ‘Wireless Telegraph and Signals Co.’; three years after the French government refuse to fund his initiative. The company he started was to be later called, ‘Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co.’ The Company concentrated in helping communications in civilian vessels by installing radio technology. On the 12th, December, 1901 three dots of the letter S were received by Marconi from a civilian vessel carrying about, 1,650 passengers, proving Marconi deductions about radio gliding wave theory. This ‘transatlantic radio short wave’ (HF), occurred at the bay of Newfoundland from Poldhu, Cornwall England were he deduced: “waves do not propagate in the same manner as free radiation from a classical Hertzian oscillator, but glide along the surface of the Earth.” (www.wikipedia.com). In the course of that year Marconi wrote a publication about, the “Syntonic Wireless Telegraphy”, giving his views about the topic of radio and communication. In the year, 1902, Marconi explored the possibility of commercial radio when all of his rivals were still behind in scientific discoveries. Marconi became a Noble Prize Laureate sharing the prize with Karl Ferdinand Braun. One of Marconi’s rivals Nikola Tesla was the first to predict the four tuned system that was developed by Marconi. Marconi’s work was derived from a lot of models done by different scientists. (Cavedish: 1974; 118-121)
Tesla was said to have held a number of patents in the development of radio and Marconi’s claims of having patent rights of certain designs that were similar to Tesla’s. Marconi’s reputation was dented when some of his colleges questioned the nature of his experiments and going so far as to claiming that some of his work was based under fails pretenses. Tesla took Marconi to task by conducting a lawsuit against him regarding the rights of radio discovery. Marconi was very much loved by his supporters who defended him against the onslaught of Tesla and his claims. At the turn of the century the US Patent Office made its decision and gave the patent of radio to Marconi and the other rights were solved by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the year, 1943 after the United States Army was involved in a lawsuit against Marconi’s company involving radio. The lawsuit was finally awarded to Marconi therefore, cementing his throne as the ‘Father of Radio’. (De Bono: 1976; 57-58)
THE PRETENDERS AT THE THRONE
Nikola Tesla was an inventor and an electrical engineer. He was born in the year, 1856, July 9th, in Croatia. In 1880, Tesla graduated from the University of Prague, and then moved to Budapest, Hungary to work as a Telephone engineer, because of his new AC power system that was to replace the old direct-current or DC system. Later in 1884, Tesla migrated to the United States were he met Thomas Edison and become his assistant. In 1886, Tesla lost his job due to a friction that developed between the two men. He finally was recognized as a U.S. citizen in 1889. (Compton’s, 1995, :230)
After building his own laboratory in 1893, Nikola Tesla designed a number of electrical tools and presented his designs to the Franklin Institute and the National Electrical Light Association, in Philadelphia. This was before the discovery of the vacuum tube and Tesla’s findings were later included into radio systems. An enigmatic man Nikola Tesla was, for he explored all the possibilities that were presented before him and came up with new solutions. His field of pioneering went towards magnetic receivers, choosing to not follow the functions of the coherer, ultimately making a break-through for being the first to have used the mechanism of electrical conduction.
In 1896 Marconi was certified a patent for, ‘IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING ELETCRICAL IMPULSES AND SIGNALS AND IN APPARATUS THERE-FOR” (British patent 12039: marconi.com), in the field of radio. Marconi went on to open the first radio station in the history of the world. Tesla realised that he was treading behind in the field of discovery of radio, and then in 1900, Tesla emulated Marconi’s advancement by opening his first radio tower called the Wardnclyffe Tower that utilized to advertise services in his community. Tesla was quoted making claims that his radio tower was superior, because of its ability to: “secure multichannel transceiving of information, universal navigation, time synchronization, and a global location system.” (Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia-website)
Nikola Tesla’s inventions helped develop an alternative to Marconi’s way of doing things and formed a competitive and embarrassing theatre of discovery that was to prove to be fruitful for the development of radio for many centuries to come. Marconi’s pretenders all missed the vital parts in the development of radio, even Tesla after the lawsuit was left bankrupt and unable to carry his later inventions to life. However, Nikola Tesla achievements in the field of science are not overlooked for he was a man of many talents.(De Bono, 1976, p 56-58). Hertz initiated the spheres of radio wave that enabled the world to find a substitute to Telegraphy. Marconi advance on that discovery, so did Tesla. What was to follow in the game of radio advancement was beyond the dreams of Marconi, thanks to his foundation work in the history of radio. (Wymer: 1981; 43-46)
OTHER PLAYERS IN THE FIELD OF RADIO
After Nikola Tesla’s demonstrations of “Alternatives in Currents of High Potential and High Frequency” in 1892 of a remote controlled boat (U.S. patent 613809). It was certain that radio could be taken to another level as Tesla himself maintained that his ‘transverse electromagnetic waves’ was better than Marconi’s system of radio. Other inventors that were instrumental in the development of radio were; Georg von Arco a European pioneer, Edouard Branly with the invention of the Branly coherer in 1890, Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti who designed a tuning tube, Amos Dolbear with his earth transmission (U.S. Patent 350299), Thomas Alva Edison on “Etheric Force” in 1875 (U.S. Patent 465971, 1891), Michael Faraday, Reginald Fessenden with is “continuous” wave transmission (wikipedia.com, 2006). In the year 1840, Hans Christian Orsted found a magnetic field that was surrounded by a wire carrying current, Joseph Henry who transmitted radiant energy from a capacitor through a coil from a distance of about a hundred feet, in December 1840. Charles Herrold who advance the broadcast of radio, David E. Hughes for the experiments he conducted in transmission and reception, Jozef Murgas (1890), William Henry Preece, Augusto Righi, Harry Shoemaker(1901-1905), Adolphus Slaby a European pioneer, John Stone Stone (1901-1904) and Nathan Stubblefield with wireless telegraphy (1902). (The Inventions-: 1982; 226-229)
Jagdish Chandra Bose discovered the ‘UHF’ phenomenon in 1894; this proved that communication can be sent to anyone without the use of wires. The Daily Chronicle report on his discovery quite extensively of him, using gun powder in his experiment, beating Marconi by three years in his discovery; however Bose was not a business minded person and did not claim patents for his developments. In the year 1895, Bose went to Calcutta, India to showcase some of his experiments; however Tesla’s work was predated only by half a decade. The only work that Bose got credited for was his progress on the “iron-mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector” which presented at the Royal Society in London, 1899 (U.S. Patent755840) and the “Detector for electrical disturbance” in 1904. Bose was an invisible man in the world of science; however his work did help in the contribution and the technological advancement of radio.
The men who transmitted his radio signal a year before Marconi was, Oliver Lodge. At the Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford University, in 1894, Lodge made improvements on Edouard Branly’s coherer by adding a device called the ‘trembler’. He was awarded a patent for the work on “Electric Telegraphy” that was able to make wireless communication signals using other inventor’s coils. Lodge sold his patent to Marconi in 1912. (De Bono: 1976; 57-58)
The invention of radio had many people who claimed to have been the first to discover radio signals. A man called Mahlon Loomis of West Virginia, in the United States was such a man, with the oldest patent dating from 1872, predating all the other discoveries. His design used for atmospheric electricity, which was similar to works of other inventors. Ernest Rutherford improved the development of radio by scientific research in 1895, with a Research Scholarship to Cambridge by detecting electromagnetic waves, thus contributing to the world of radio history. (The Inventive Genius-: 1966; 46-50)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADIO NETWORKS
The development of radio networks brought about technological advancement in the field of Warfare and improved communication networks amongst the Allied forces. Radio networks were developed after Marconi founded or produced a radio beam in 1922. The national networks controlled all the radio industry, during 1900 and 1920, however in 1926; the ‘National Broadcasting Company’ was founded. The company had two distinct ways of broadcasting communication; it had the Blue Network and the Red Network thus, enabling the network companies to produce much needed business through advertising. Other developers like, Ronald M. Foster and George C. Southworth, improved on the methods of developing field patterns. (Cavedish: 1975; 118-121)
In the year 1926, the new powering system for radio was discovered and it was called the ‘All-electric’ which changed or altered the alternating current into direct current that was useful for radio and erased the need for batteries. This development led to the formation of the United Independent Broadcasters, Inc., in 1927 and later developing the Colombian Broadcasting System. The Mutual Broadcasting Company came into existence in 1934, however in 1942, the original network companies were disbanded at the orders of the Federal Communications Commission, and the Blue Network Company became independent which, in later years changed its name to the ‘American Broadcasting Company’. (Compton’s: 1995; Volume20; 60)
In the First World War radio played a significant part during the battle of Jutland when naval ships fought against the enemy and were commanded through a radio communication system, in 1916. But earlier radio had played a major part when the Titanic was sunk in 1912, alerting other ships to be cautious on their route they were travelling in. This prompted the authorities to enforce a twenty-four hour radio watch on every ship because of the amount of people that were lost at seas during the disaster. (www.bbc.com)
In the Cold War radio was used by the Americans and their nemesis, Russia to promote propaganda in the interest of their countries respectively. This was to manipulate public opinion by ‘Radio Moscow’ and ‘The Voice of America’ in order to push their mandate and justify their actions to their nations and this was due to the amount of time spent developing radio networks. Countries were beginning to see the advantage of radio to their political aspirations by using radio for deception and distortion of the truth. This led to the laws of censorship and place boundaries in the amount of speech allowed on radio. (The World Book, 2000, Volume 15)
During the war in Europe a man called Edwin Armstrong, an engineer, advanced the functionalities of radio by creating the FM band although, it was not welcomed by network companies because of the AM band that was in existence at that time. Soldiers could listen to the developments of war in their compartments and be entertained, that was also available on aircrafts which used radio technology for navigation. (Americana, 1992, p.882)
RADIO IN AFRICA
In Africa the development of radio came about after improvements were made in the way power was distributed. The technological change to a battery powered transistor in the early 1900, gave radio a new footing in the “Dark Continent”. In 1972 the United Nations was involved in the development of radio in the whole of Africa yet, the niche of radio in these countries was very fair from being achieved, with a number of about twenty-seven countries unable to keep up with the communication systems that were in place at that time. Nigeria has a developed system of communication distribution and social listening with an average of six sets out-of a hundred which, provides a broadcast network of about seven regional services in fifteen languages.(Schirmer:1980; 54-55)
In South Africa like many other countries, most Broadcasting networks are controlled by the government of those countries; these countries include Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Tanganyika. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was given life on July 1st, 1924, at the Johannesburg Post Office, corner of Pritchard and Rissik Streets. This birth was not the actual rise of the SABC; however this gave South Africa a network that would later develop the radio industry in this country. Springbok radio became a prominent figure with the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which was a public utility, under the control of a board of nine governors who commercialized the services of the station, together with the national service, regulated by English and Afrikaans languages. Springbok radio generated enough revenues to keep the operation alive and the SABC maintained a wired network service to the then ‘Bantu’ towns, however with limited radio. In South Africa FM stations have been leading the pack with almost 57FM stations, with the network able to carry about 123 stations and more. The SABC broadcast about 23 radio services in 19 languages, which six are nationally beamed via Intelsat satellite. The regional services host stations such as Good Hope Radio, Highveld Stereo, Jacaranda, Radio Algoa and 5FM. Nine services from the SABC broadcast programmes to the black populous, now including the privately owned YFM. The SABC has other external services that it provides from the short-wave network with other languages such as French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and Lozi. South Africa radio is a powerful medium with extensive coverage of news from all the national regions and international countries. It has about three-hundred news bulletins a day in a network that consists of about 30 editorials offices, 1300 correspondents, 20 foreign correspondents and 2000 news monitoring studios with representative in Washington, London and Windhoek. The SABC maintains an amount of 12 million listership that starts in South Africa and all of Africa. (Rosenthal: 1976; 1-5/ Schirmer: 1980; 55). Egypt is also a country with a highly developed network system of communication with a state owned UAR Radio that provides seven national programs of services which six are in Arabic languages. The have a niche of about 60% for entertainment, 19% for cultural affairs, 16% for news and information with 5% religion. And in Ghana most of the national networks are wired. (America: 1992; 422)
Ultimately, Africa utilizes its network system to educate, inform and entertain the populous regarding issues that affect the niche in particular areas and countries. Radio has played a vital part in broadening social and political awareness in our continent and this tool will continue to open digital spheres for our world.
RADIO AND AUDIO FORMATS
Radio uses varies ways of getting massages across the globe and that is all derived under audio which, is sound. Sound is transmitted in different modes of bands and these bands are also referred to as frequency. The first band is the AM band that is used to broadcast or send music and voices in the Medium Frequency (MF-0.300 MHz to 3 MHz) radio rays. The AM band uses “amplitude modulation” that increases the sound through the microphone to the transmitter without altering the course of the frequency. The FM band also functions the same way that the AM band does, however the speed is much more advanced and clearer than the AM band. FM (Frequency modulation) bands are louder on the microphone and create a leveled powered mode. FM is at High Frequency (VHF-30 MHz to 300MHz) rays that are meant to cover long distances between fifty and a hundred kilometers with it being the most protected mode or band. Another radio mode is, ‘Aviation Voice Radio’ or VHS AM. This band is used by aircrafts to communicate with other aircrafts and radio-control or towers which can be received hundreds of kilometres away from the airbase or airport. The VHS band uses AM so it can receive multiple channels without blocking other communicators within the stream. (Cavedish: 1975; 118-121)
The military has been using radio ever since it was introduced by Marconi to military fleets as the ‘S’ code in 1926 and during World War One. Civil and Military HF or high frequency voice services use the SW or shortwave to communicate with other military vessels and aircrafts when their out at seas or inland. They use the ‘single sideband voice’ or SSB that is lesser in width than the AM band and is referred to as the ‘Duck Quaking Band’. The Marines use AM in shortwave High Frequency band that utilizes, 3 MHz to 30 MHz in narrow bands which is used by government officials, police, fire, and commercial voice services. Then the TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) that is a digital cell phone system used by the military, police and the ambulances to communicate and receive alerts. Commercial services also use this service in a form of digital Satellite radio.(Wymer:1981;.43-46/ www.bbc.com)
Microwave radio is used by the cell phone format to transmit and receive messages through the telephone networks. The cell phones used the FM band to transmit its band that was later changed to digital encoding. INMARSAT and Iridium are forms of satellite phones that provide world-wide reception and coverage. Navigation satellite system which where developed in 1950s, but where much used in the 1960s to locate commercial radio stations at AM bands that is also use by amateur radio stations. Aircraft navigation apply the VOR system of navigation that sends two signal at the sometime that works according to the range from the base of the signal rays. This system uses the DME or the Distance Measuring Equipment to locate its source therefore, providing a fixed position hence the name ‘fix’ that the system is referred to. The base or the stations that provide this service are known as VOR/DME stations. A system called TACAN that is incorporated into the VOR base is utilized by the military’s civil aircrafts and combined; the systems are called VORTAC communication systems. Radar is another form of audio format that uses GPS positions to detect objects under water in a form of a ‘Doppler Effect’. The EPIRB system or Emergency Position- Indicating Radio Beacons, Emergency Locating Transmitters, and Personal Locator Beacons are also use to locate position of objects in a time of need or emergency. Radio technology also includes video and television.
THE DIGITAL AGE OF RADIO
The advancement of radio into the digital format took radio into the universal age of discovery. Satellite radio, Digital Television and Digital Audio Broadcast replaced Marconi’s spark-gap telegraphy that is the oldest form of digital format that was used to send messages in Morse Code. However these types of transmitters were outlawed because of the power intake and radio frequency needed to transmit spark-gap format. Data took a turn into the future by utilizing the continuous wave telegraphy or CW (Continuous Wave) that needed a key to be switched on and off. This component applied radio frequency that used vacuum tube electronic oscillator and a receiver that created a whistle-like radio tone, in a power of One Hundred Hertz. The Continuous Wave format has not been eradicated from the networks. In the years 1925 to 1975 massages were sent by radio teletypes that operated on short-wave. The military also used this format as a speciality to create scripted information in the form of bits that were transmitted in one or two tones which formed a whole or body in groups of five or seven fragments to create a teletype message. This was also used extensively by intelligence agencies during the Second World War and is still in use for the military and weather predictors. (Compton’s, 1995, Volume 23, p.116)
Radio teletypes utilize VHF to send identity, altitude, and positioning, to communicate across the spectrum of formats in connecting flight-data. Telephone and television use quadrature amplitude modulation or QAM that sends data through changes of the phase and amplitude of the radio signals. QAM is use mostly by engineers that favour the structure of how the system packs the bits in frame format.
The systems that share their frequency with other services in order to encode digital signal into an array of a thousand sub-channels, include such a system as the COFDM OR “corrected orthodogonal frequency-divisional multiplexing’. This system makes digital decoding through a micro computer to form ‘digital signal processing’ that is easy to use and less expensive compared to older systems that where in operation during the separate electronic channels. COFDM can be sent in slow mode to prevent voice modules for fading when emitted from the source using the narrow channels of QAM signals. Other systems that use this system are Wifi, cellphones, Digital Radio Mondiale, Eureka 147 and digital television and of cause radio networks. (www.inventors.com/http/home.luna/history/Early-radio,html)
Heating also uses radio to generate microwave ovens energy else well as tractor beams which use radio waves around the electrostatic and magnetic forces. These tractor beams are use through space explorations. Radio remote control transmits control data to guide objects in the direction or course that is met to be taken. The military apply this technology to guide missiles to their targets. And as we all know our television sets use remote control radio technology too. (Wymer:1981;43-49)
RADIO AMATEURS IN S.A.
Going back in history wireless broadcasting dominated the airspace in a number of countries. In South Africa John Samuel Streeter, a Cape Town resident that was born in London, Hackney in 1884, was very instrumental in during the 1920s, in developing amateur radio. He provided entertainment broadcasting from Sea Point in Bernard House by featuring regular gramophone concerts on weekly bases and moved to Observatory to pursue this venture. Reginald Hopkins also became synonymous with amateur radio in the early 1920s; his was a man from Wynberg and used an instrument called the Pianola to reproduce musical sounds. Hopkins and Streeter worked together as partners producing and broadcast material that received a lot of publicity in newspapers, giving other youngsters a way of building their own amateur radio transmitters. They used a system called the ‘cat’s whisker’ that used a crystal detector and their popularity grew from the Western Cape to the Karoo. (Rosenthal: 1974; 8-19)
It was not long after that the Transvaal pioneers were following in the footsteps of the of the Cape amateurs developed by Arthur Sydney Innes who was well known by the name Tony Innes. Innes used wireless telephony like the other entire amateur radio enthusiasts, as a member of Corps (South African Air Force) in Johannesburg he was in charge of the Wireless Section of the military. When he left the military he started announcing by the name 2 OB, then met up with Streeter through his contacts in the Cape. Tony Innes also played a lot of gramophone records. Amateur radio led to the improvements that were made in radio. (Joyce:1989; 289)
Amateur radio communication was inspired by the father of radio himself, Guglielmo Marconi in 1901, who considered himself an amateur through his Atlantic Ocean radio signal experiment. Even Percy Maxim also a radio amateur conducted experiments in the United States. Amateur radio uses FM, single-sideband AM, digital packet radio and satellite beams. (America: 1992; 156-157)
TIMELINE
1864: James Clerk Maxwell exploit the theory of radio waves in his journals.
1888: Heinrich Hertz discovers and exhibits the theories of radio waves guided by Maxwell’s journals.
1890: Professor Edouard Branly of France invents a device that detects radio waves
1894: Marconi discovers radio by using Hertz’s theory and designs and sends the first signal.
1896: Marconi migrates to England and applied for British patent for his designs on the improvements he made.
1899: Marconi uses a new device to send signals across the English Channel and the first message ever.
1900: Marconi discovers wave length tuning by realizing that energy stored in circuits will give radio more power.
1901: Marconi discovers the Morse letter ‘S’ in his first transatlantic radio signal in Newfounland.
1906: Reginald Aubrey Fessenden makes the first public broadcast in history at a wireless station and H.H.C. Dunwoody discovers a more efficient way to detect radio waves.
1915: The first speech in the history of radio across the Atlantic between France and America using the Eiffel Tower.
1917: Marconi uses the VHF transmission for the first time.
1918: Major Edwin Armstrong discovers the superheat radio receiver.
1923: Dr. Frank Conrad applies the short wave system for long distance communication for the first time in history.
1924: Edward Victor Appleton solves the mystery of how radio travels and radio touches the shores of South Africa for the first time.
1935: Edwin Armstrong improves on the techniques of reducing static on the AM band.
1954: The first transistor was developed by an American company, Regency.
1961: America makes their first stereo broadcast, developed by a company called Zenith.
1963: AM stations lost touch in the United States but, later saved by new music from the British group the Beatles.
1970: Radio breaks new by making more money in history from the FM band and advertisers use the medium at their advantage.
1980: Satellite technology improves the number of stations available.
1980-1990: The dark years of radio broadcast around the world as the medium grows in South Africa.
1990-2000: South Africa sees the growth of radio as new radio station that carter to the youth is discovered called YFM and automation in the work environment of radio saves the integrity of radio.
2000-2006: South Africa offers more radio licenses and improves the structure of radio by breaking new grounds in radio broadcasting techniques.
CONCLUSION
The history of radio is a complex and structured development that took many years to accomplish and for it to reach its technological pinnacles all around the world. The transient nature of radio is what makes this medium unique in its totality from the days of Marconi to the world we live in today, and its simplicity, is what makes it the world’s number one medium. Radio transmits waves of information, education and entertainment in our chaotic, loud society with complex personalities, and has no boundary of niche or target in any structure of our nation. People can choose to listen to any radio broadcast that suites their taste or lifestyle in the South Africa microcosm. And create their own theatres of perception through sound and voice. Radio enriches lives and protects those who are blinded in this world through discussions that concentrate on the psychographics and environmental change. Radio is life, as Anthony Ackerman of S.A FM says: “Radio is the only medium, apart from television that can showcase soap operas through sound.” (Interview on SABC NEWS) The future of radio in this country is limitless and will go beyond the current presentation that radio offers today. (Manual, 2006, Boston Media House)
Radio captures the essence of what we really are and forms people’s behavior overtime and space. It creates villains and heroes in the airwaves break and mend hearts of mutual relations, radio is life. So, switch on my brother!
Compiled by Linda Sakazi Thwala
LIST OF REFERENCES
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•ANONYMOUS, 1995. Compton’s Encyclopedia, Volume 20, Tribune Publishing Company, USA: Chicago
•ANONYMOUS, 2006. RADIO STUDY MANAUL, Boston Media House, South Africa: Sandton
•ANONYMOUS, 1982. The Inventions that changed the world- an illustration guide to man’s practical genius through the ages
•ANONYMOUS, 1966. The Invention Genius Foundations of Science- Inventions Foundation of Science Library Technology, London Press.
•CAVENDISH, M, 1975. The illustrated Encyclopedia of Technology, British Press: London.
•ANONYMOUS, 2000. The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 15, Oxford Press.
•DE BONO, E, 1976. Eureka, An illustrated History of Inventions from the Wheel to the Computer: London.
•HOLLAWAY, M, 2001. Love, Power and Meaning, Oxford University Press, Cape Town: South Africa.
•JOYCE, P, 1989. Encyclopaedia, London Press.
•ROSENTHAL, E, 1974. You Have Been Listening, Oxford Press: London
•www. bbc.co.uk(Thomson radio)
•www. google.cu.uk (How radio helps society- Google search)
•www. wikipedia.com (Website)
•WYMER, N, 1981, Inventors, British Press: London.
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