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Universities, public service experimentation, and the origins of radio broadcasting in the United States, 1900–1920

2006; Routledge; Volume: 26; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439680600916777

1465-3451

Hugh Richard Slotten,

ICT Impact and Policies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. For the early history of broadcasting, see especially Susan J. Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899–1922 (Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987); Hugh G. J. Aitken, Syntony and Spark: the origins of radio (New York, Wiley, 1976); Hugh G. J. Aitken, The Continuous Wave: technology and American radio, 1900–1932 (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1985); Christopher H. Sterling and John Michael Kittross, Stay Tuned: a history of American broadcasting (3rd edn; London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 5–51; Erik Barnouw, A Tower in Babel: a history of broadcasting in the United States to 1933 (volume 1, New York, Oxford University Press, 1966), 7–74. This study is informed especially by recent work in the history of technology that emphasizes the complex interaction between technological development and social change, in particular the social construction of technology. Recent studies in the history of broadcasting that follow this approach include Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting; Ronald R. Kline, Consumers in the Country: technology and social change in rural America (Baltimore, MD, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 113–127; Hugh R. Slotten, Radio and Television Regulation: broadcast technology in the United States, 1920–1960 (Baltimore, MD, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000). 2. Robert W. McChesney, Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: the battle for the control of U.S. broadcasting, 1928–1935 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1993); J. Wayne Rinks, Higher education in radio, 1922–1934, Journal of Radio Studies 9 (2002), 303–315, statistic on 304. 3. Aitken, Continuous Wave, 28–249. 4. Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 35, 44, 48–50, 169–170, 244–245; Aitken, Continuous Wave, 28–249. 5. For example, the University of Nebraska reportedly ‘initiated wireless studies in 1899.’ See Robert Earl Lee, A History of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Nebraska (MA Thesis, University of Nebraska, 1952), 2. This assertion is based on a 1934 unpublished paper dealing with the history of radio at the university. Also see S. E. Frost, Jr. Education's Own Stations (Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1937; reprinted by Arno Press, 1971). Frost's book, however, does not reference primary sources to support its assertions. 6. The public universities listed in the Radio Service Bulletins of the US Department of Commerce (Bureau of Navigation) issued during this period include University of Arkansas, State College of Washington, University of Virginia, University of Washington, Cornell University, Montana State College, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the State University of Iowa, Ohio University, University of California, University of Maine, Pennsylvania State College, University of Missouri, University of North Dakota, Ohio State University, Kansas State Agricultural College, North Dakota Agricultural College, the University of Kansas, and the University of Wisconsin. The private schools that received special licenses during this period and listed in the Radio Service Bulletins include Harvard University, Washington University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, the University of Pittsburgh, Beloit College, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Union College, Saint Joseph's College, Miami University, and St Louis University. 7. John Stanley Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1959), 66, 80–81. 8. Weather Forecasts Sent by Wireless, 13 December 1916, The University of Wisconsin Press Bulletin [clipping], folder WHA–Historical, box 49, McCarty Papers, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (hereafter SHSW). 9. John C. Schmidt, Radio's Last Pioneer, Baltimore Sun (newspaper clipping), folder 11, box 1, Engel Papers, SHSW. 10. Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 71–72, C. T. Schrage quoted on 72. 11. Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 77–81. 12. C. M. Jansky, Jr. to J. M. Mack, 13 November 1958, folder WHA-Historical, box 49, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 13. Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 92–120, F. W. Nolte quoted on 104. 14. Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 125–137, L. L. Call quoted on 133. 15. Ann M. Velia, KOB, Goddard's Magic Mast: fifty years of pioneer broadcasting (Las Cruces, NM, New Mexico State University Press, 1972), 6–20, 48–70, newspaper story quoted on 9. 16. Adrian E. Dalen, A History of KUSD: the University of South Dakota Radio Station, 1949 (unpublished manuscript), 1–3, University of South Dakota Archives, Vermillion, South Dakota. For further evidence of Lawrence's leadership role, see Ernest Orlando Lawrence to H. O. Peterson, n.d. (probably 1921), folder 2, box 1, John A. Boye Papers, University Archives/Special Collections—University of Nebraska-Lincoln (hereafter UofNeb). 17. KSAC and 9YV Revisited, K-Stater, May 1982 (clipping), Kansas State University Archives, Manhattan, Kansas (hereafter KSU). 18. James M. Rosene, The History of Radio Broadcasting at Auburn University (1912–1961) (MA thesis, Auburn University, 1968), 13–30, Auburn University Archives, Auburn, Alabama. 19. Marie Perkins Rachut, History of the State University of Iowa: the radio station WSUI (MA thesis, University of Iowa, 1946), 6–12, 18; Carl Menzer, Fifty Years of Broadcasting at the University of Iowa, folder Menzer, Carl Vignettes, 1968, box 2, WSUI Collection, University of Iowa Archives, Iowa City, Iowa; Broadcasting Since 1917, Menzer Will Retire in July, 15 February 1968, The Daily Iowan (clipping), Carl Menzer subject file, University of Iowa Archives. The station was first assigned the call letters WHAA in June 1922; after January 1925, it was licensed as WSUI. 20. Robert Morton quoted in Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 195. 21. Clinton B. DeSoto, Two Hundred Meters and Down: the story of amateur radio (West Hartford, CT, American Radio Relay League, 1936), 16–37; Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 187–215; Michele Hilmes, Radio Voices: American broadcasting, 1922–1952 (Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 35–46. For ‘imagined community’ concept, see Benedict R. O’G. Anderson, Imagined Communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (London, Verso, 1991). 22. DeSoto, Two Hundred Meters and Down, 38–50; Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 206, 233–239, 293–296. 23. Amateurs made numerous requests for technical assistance from the operators of the University of Nebraska radio station, for example. See radio station 9YY operator to Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company, 8 December 1921, folder 1, box 2, Boye Papers, UofNeb. 24. The story about the first station at the University of Nebraska is told in F. C. Holtz to Ferris Norris, 26 July 1933, folder 1, box 1, Boye Papers, UofNeb. For example of high school student working with the University of Wisconsin, see W. H. Lighty to W. Patrick, 18 February 1925, folder Correspondence—1925, February, box 21, W. H. Lighty Papers, SHSW. 25. On experimenters at universities using reports from amateurs to conduct their research, see Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 83. 26. For discussion by an amateur about having a discussion with the professors from these universities at an ARRL meeting in Chicago, see O.M. to H. O. Peterson, 31 October 1921, folder 2, box 1, Boye Papers, UofNeb. 27. One of Terry's students at the university, R. J. Oetjen, quoted in Penn, The Origins and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 74. 28. Velia, KOB, Goddard's Magic Mast, 54, 65. 29. Adrian E. Dalen, A History of KUSD: the University of South Dakota Radio Station, 1949 (unpublished manuscript), 1–2, University of South Dakota Archives. 30. Velia, KOB, Goddard's Magic Mast, 56. 31. Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce, Radio Service Bulletin, no. 27, 1 March 1917. 32. On the objectives of rural reform during this period, see especially Kline, Consumers in the Country. For an analysis of the reform objectives of University of Wisconsin station WHA, see Derek Vaillant, ‘Your Voice’ came in last night … but I thought it sounded a little scared: rural radio, listening and ‘talking back’ during the progressive era in Wisconsin, 1920–1932, in Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio (eds) Radio Reader: essays in the cultural history of radio (New York, Routledge, 2002). 33. For early history of radio regulation in the United States, see Slotten, Radio and Television Regulation, 1–20. On the early relationship between amateurs and the federal government, see Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 216–239; Philip T. Rosen, The Modern Stentors: radio broadcasters and the federal government, 1920–1934 (Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 1980), 20–33. For quotation, see Suggestions for the Use of the Daily Market and Weather Radio Broadcasts, 9 February 1922, folder 6, box 1, WHA Records, Steenbock Library Archives, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (hereafter Steenbock, UW). 34. 1913 report in student newspaper, quoted by Kathleen Ann Moran, From a Toy to a Tool: the emergence and growth of WOI to 1940 (MS degree, Iowa State University, 1981), 7. 35. For the University of North Dakota see E. B. Calvert, History of Radio in Relation to Work of the Weather Bureau, Monthly Weather Review (January 1923), 8; Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau in Annual Reports of the Department of Agriculture for the Year ended June 30, 1915, 66. 36. A Historical Outline of Radio Station KSAC, n.d., subject file, KSU. This may be correct, but there are no surviving primary sources supporting the claim. 37. Report of the chief of the Weather Bureau in Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1905, 16. 38. Chief of division of the Weather Bureau to Eric Miller, 14 October 1915, folder Weather Broadcasting: Historical, box 93, McCarty Papers, SHSW. Statistics for other methods of distribution are from the report of the chief of the Weather Bureau in Annual Reports of the Department of Agriculture for the Year ended June 30, 1916, 55. 39. Eric Miller to news editor of the Milwaukee Journal, 16 December 1916, folder Weather Broadcasting: Historical, box 93, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 40. Report of the chief of the Weather Bureau in the Annual Reports of the Department of Agriculture for the Year ended June 30, 1916, 55. 41. 250 Amateurs Take Reports in Iowa, The Electrical Experimenter, September 1918, p. 548. 42. Eric Miller to the News Editor of the Milwaukee Journal, 4 December 1916, folder Weather Broadcasting: Historical, box 93, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 43. Eric Miller to chief of the US Weather Bureau, 30 September 1915, folder Weather Broadcasting: Historical, box 93, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 44. Eric Miller to the News Editor of the Milwaukee Journal, 4 December 1916, folder Weather Broadcasting: Historical, box 93, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 45. Weather Forecasts Sent by Wireless, 13 December 1916, The University of Wisconsin Press Bulletin, folder WHA–Historical, box 49, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 46. Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 87, 144–45. This practice was expanded after the war. See How to Make and Operate a Simple Receiving Outfit, Literary Digest, 17 June 1922, clipping in folder 5, box 2, series 41/6/02–5, Steenbock, UW; Richard H. Madden, Radio at the Ohio State University, 1910–1926, n.d., folder WEAO: 1922–1933, 6, information file, Ohio State University Archives, Columbus, Ohio. 47. Eric Miller to news editor of the Milwaukee Journal, 16 December 1916, folder Weather Broadcasting: Historical, box 93, McCarty Papers, SHSW. 48. Rachut, History of the State University of Iowa: the Radio Station WSUI, 5. 49. Wireless Telegraphy, The Electrician (London), 14 October 1898. 50. Hertzian Telegraphy at the Physical Society, The Electrician (London), 28 January 1898. 51. Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 156–57. 52. Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 171–77, quotation on 176. 53. Gordon Greb and Mike Adams, Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting (London, McFarland, 2003), 6–11, 64–100, 221. For published report in 1910 of Herrold's ‘wireless phone concerts’ to amateurs, see 6. Herrold apparently also broadcast news from the local paper to amateurs as early as 1914 or 1915 (99). 54. Aitken, Continuous Wave, 162–249; Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 247–248, 293–295. 55. Greb and Adams, Charles Herrold, 101–108, Newby quoted on 105. Amateurs who were not primarily motivated by commercial considerations but mainly interested in promoting their hobby also increasingly experimented with voice and music broadcasting after 1914. See Sterling and Kittross, Stay Tuned, 45. 56. Rachut, History of the State University of Iowa: the Radio Station WSUI, 3–4; Basketball Game Reported by Wireless, 19 January 1916, The University of Wisconsin Press Bulletin, folder WHA-Historical, box 49, McCarty Papers, SHSW. The University of Minnesota broadcast the results of sporting events as early as 1912 using its experimental station 9X1. See Ronald A. Smith, Play-By-Play: radio, television and big-time college sport (Baltimore, MD, the Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 14–15. 57. J. Wayne Rinks, Higher Education in Radio, 1922–1934, Journal of Radio Studies 9 (2002), 304. 58. Penn, The Origin and Development of Radio Broadcasting at the University of Wisconsin, 84–5, 89. The date refers to the time when the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed by the major electrical and communications companies in the United States. 59. On the reform goals of university stations, see Vaillant, ‘Your Voice’ came in last night … but I thought it sounded a little scared. For the reform goals of commercial stations, see especially, Hilmes, Radio Voices, 1–33. The Tri-State Talking Machine Company in El Paso, Texas loaned batches of 30 or 40 records sent through the mail to station KOB at New Mexico State during the 1920s. Goddard, the university engineer in charge of the station, wrote in 1922 that he was ‘instructing the [station] operator to announce the call and also the source of supply of records between each piece’. See R. W. Goddard to Mr. Blackwell, 14 April 1922, folder 10, box 110, Ralph Goddard Papers, Rio Grande Historical Collection, New Mexico State University, Los Cruces, New Mexico. 60. In an attempt to create a unique identity, by the 1930s, non-commercial stations operated by universities distanced themselves from this practice.