March 28, 1912 Frank Lovejoy was born

On this day in 1912 Frank Lovejoy was born.

March 16: Happy Birthday Mercedes McCambridge

Today is the birthday of Mercedes McCambridge. Well know for her distinctive voice, she was usually cast on CBSRMT as an emotionally unstable character. She had quite the radio drama pedigree, having performed in dozens of shows and with a seal of approval from Orson Welles. The best bit of trivia is that she was also the voice of the demon possessing the girl in the movie The Exorcist.

March 8, 1912 David Friedkin was born

On this day in 1912, author David Friedkin was born who penned many of the great radio detective scripts including episodes Broadway is My Beat, Escape, The Line-Up, Suspense, Bold Venture, Crime Classics, Hallmark Hall of Fame, and more!

March 4, 1877: Emile Berliner Invented the Microphone

March 4, 1877: The microphone was created for telephone communications by inventor Emile Berliner.  Bell telephone later purchased the patent from Berliner for $50,000.

Berliner was awarded his patent for his "gramophone" which recorded sound on cylinders.  This same method was used by Edison.  Berliner later invented a method to record sound on discs which he marketed to toy companies.

March 1, 1941: From program service to commercial operation

 

March 1, 1941: When station W47NV in Nashville, TN started its operations on this particular day, it highlighted the start of Commercial FM broadcasting in the U.S.

Since Armstrong developed the FM Radio in the 1930’s, it focused mainly on broadcasting program services. However, this trend shifted during World War II when the FCC, a US government independent agency with regulatory authority, moved the FM frequencies. Basically, such a step made the FM radios in the pre-war era worthless. The movement to higher frequencies also cost much more for the stations, causing some to simply close their doors. This affected public confidence in FM and FM radio’s development.

Though the radio station did not completely recover from this setback, the FCC’s grant for the first commercial operation helped the radio station to align itself with development again. One of the first commercials was bought by Socony Vacuum Oil Company, now known as Mobil.