History of Computers - Radio

Radio is a transmission of wireless signals from one place to another in atmosphere or space.

Overview

The radio was basically invented theoretically, by people wanting to communicate over a distance without telephone lines, so in 1906, the first radio was basically invented by Reginald Fessenden, when he transmitted music and a talk show for the first time, but only a few listened. The radio gained popularity during WWI, when it was used to communicate with people without telephone lines, but after some time, the popularity declined. It gained popularity in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on November 6, 1919, when there was the first scheduled broadcast service. That "created" an idea for Americans to start broadcasting through different stations around the world in the 1920s. The Westinghouse company then started to commercially manufacture radio transmitters commercially a bit later, and it turned out to be a success. With people buying the receivers, companies started to compete with each other on how to monopolize people into listening to their station, thus different types of stations were created. The radio basically works by recording an audio file and coding it into an electric signal. Then the transmitter sends the signal in a form of an electromagnetic wave of a specific frequency, and the signal is received by a receiver which searches for the frequency and receives the signal through it. The receiver then translates the signal into the original sound.

Significance

Ever since the radio was invented, it was used by many types of people in different situations. It was used in war, for example, to be able to direct planes, as well as to be able to send the enemy's intel to the allies. The radio was and used now by politicians to gain power by directing people in their own favor, which is one of the cons of the radio for some people. One of the main significances of the radio is that it and its concept is used everyday by everyone. The radio itself is used for listening to different types of channels in the modern world which transmit different sorts of information like music and news. The concept of the radio's frequency is used for example connecting to a specific server on the internet, which sends specific signals on a frequency, like the radio, and is received by one or more users.

References

http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4396202/2/Nikola-Tesla-slideshow--Images-and-articles-from-Tesla-s-writings http://www.oldradio.com/toc.htm

Links

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/488788/radio http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-radio-who-invented-the-radio.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2014/02/interactive-radio-history-201421310356539864.html http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3833?e=lulemedia_1.0-ch07_s03