HISTORY OF THE CAR RADIO Seems like cars have always had radios, but they didn't. Here's the story: One evening, in 1929, two young men named William Lear and Elmer Wavering drove their girlfriends to a lookout point high above the Mississippi River town of Quincy , Illinois , to watch the sunset. It was a romantic night to be sure, but one of the women observed that it would be even nicer if they could listen to music in the car. Lear and Wavering liked the idea. Both men had tinkered with radios (Lear served as a radio operator in the U.S. Navy during World War I) and it wasn't long before they were taking apart a home radio and trying to get it to work in a car. But it wasn't easy: automobiles have ignition switches, generators, spark plugs, and other electrical equipment that generate noisy static interference, making it nearly impossible to listen to the radio when the engine was running. One by one, Lear and Wavering identified and eliminated each source of electrical interference. When they finally got their radio to work, they took it to a radio convention in Chicago . There they met Paul Galvin , owner of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. He made a product called a "battery eliminator", a device that allowed battery-powered radios to run on household AC current. But as more homes were wired for electricity, more radio manufacturers made AC-powered radios. Galvin needed a new product to manufacture. When he met Lear and Wavering at the radio convention, he found it. He believed that mass-produced, affordable car radios had the potential to become a huge business. Lear and Wavering set up shop in Galvin's factory, and when they perfected their first radio, they installed it in his Studebaker. Then Galvin went to a local banker to apply for a loan. Thinking it might sweeten the deal, he had his men install a radio in the banker's Packard. Good idea, but it didn't work – Half an hour after the installation, the banker's Packard caught on fire. (They didn't get the loan.) Galvin didn't give up. He drove his Studebaker nearly 800 miles to Atlantic City to show off the radio at the 1930 Radio Manufacturers Association convention. Too broke to afford a booth, he parked the car outside the convention hall and cranked up the radio so that passing conventioneers could hear it. That idea worked -- He got enough orders to put the radio into production. WHAT'S IN A NAME That first production model was called the 5T71. Galvin decided he needed to come up with something a little catchier. In those days many companies in the phonograph and radio businesses used the suffix "ola" for their names - Radiola, Columbiola, and Victrola were three of the biggest. Galvin decided to do the same thing, and since his radio was intended for use in a motor vehicle, he decided to call it the Motorola. But even with the name change, the radio still had problems: When Motorola went on sale in 1930, it cost about $110 uninstalled, at a time when you could buy a brand-new car for $650, and the country was sliding into the Great Depression. (By that measure, a radio for a new car would cost about $3,000 today.) In 1930, it took two men several days to put in a car radio -- The dashboard had to be taken apart so that the receiver and a single speaker could be installed, and the ceiling had to be cut open to install the antenna. These early radios ran on their own batteries, not on the car battery, so holes had to be cut into the floorboard to accommodate them. The installation manual had eight complete diagrams and 28 pages of instructions. Selling complicated car radios that cost 20 percent of the price of a brand-new car wouldn't have been easy in the best of times, let alone during the Great Depression – Galvin lost money in 1930 and struggled for a couple of years after that. But things picked up in 1933 when Ford began offering Motorola's pre-installed at the factory. In 1934 they got another boost when Galvin struck a deal with B.F. Goodrich tire company to sell and install them in its chain of tire stores. By then the price of the radio, with installation included, had dropped to $55. The Motorola car radio was off and running. (The name of the company would be officially changed from Galvin Manufacturing to "Motorola" in 1947.) In the meantime, Galvin continued to develop new uses for car radios. In 1936, the same year that it introduced push-button tuning, it also introduced the Motorola Police Cruiser, a standard car radio that was factory preset to a single frequency to pick up police broadcasts. In 1940 he developed the first handheld two-way radio -- The Handy-Talkie – for the U. S. Army. A lot of the communications technologies that we take for granted today were born in Motorola labs in the years that followed World War II. In 1947 they came out with the first television for under $200. In 1956 the company introduced the world's first pager. In 1969 came the radio and television equipment that was used to televise Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon. In 1973 it invented the world's first handheld cellular phone. Today Motorola is one of the largest cell phone manufacturers in the world. And it all started with the car radio. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO the two men who installed the first radio in Paul Galvin's car? Elmer Wavering and William Lear, ended up taking very different paths in life. Wavering stayed with Motorola. In the 1950's he helped change the automobile experience again when he developed the first automotive alternator, replacing inefficient and unreliable generators. The invention lead to such luxuries as power windows, power seats, and, eventually, air-conditioning. Lear also continued inventing. He holds more than 150 patents. Remember eight-track tape players? Lear invented that. But what he's really famous for are his contributions to the field of aviation. He invented radio direction finders for planes, aided in the invention of the autopilot, designed the first fully automatic aircraft landing system, and in 1963 introduced his most famous invention of all, the Lear Jet, the world's first mass-produced, affordable business jet. (Not bad for a guy who dropped out of school after the eighth grade.) Sometimes it is fun to find out how some of the many things that we take for granted actually came into being! AND It all started with a woman's suggestion!!
I guess I've been spoiled, I'd not call what most vehicles came with up until the 70's car audio. an am radio, mono with a center dash speaker. fm if you paid extra. audio. I'd call it a basic radio tuner. not much else. The stuff from the 20-30- you didn't hear it while vehicle was moving, The wind noise at 25mph was nuts. and if it was an open car, forget it. waiting in the tubes to warm up. but, when driving and had to work the timing, ign advance, throttle and brakes, and look at where your going, I doubt the person driving cared about the radio while driving.
The gimmic's 50's The reverb rear speaker on a mono radio. the in vehicle record players.
[This message has been edited by E.Furgal (edited 06-25-2019).]
Had a 64 Grand Prix that had the reverb feature. Was a metal box with springs in it attached to the rear package tray. Could hear the springs bounce around when you hit a bump.
Had a 61 and a 62 Cadillac that was equipped with the "Wonderbar" self tuning radios. I thought they were pretty cool for the times.
Had a 64 Grand Prix that had the reverb feature. Was a metal box with springs in it attached to the rear package tray. Could hear the springs bounce around when you hit a bump.
Had a 61 and a 62 Cadillac that was equipped with the "Wonderbar" self tuning radios. I thought they were pretty cool for the times.
In the '60s & '70s, guitar amps used to use those spring reverbs. You could thump the cabinet and get all kinds of noise.
This story has big problems in the end... Because Motorola has been broken into different operations and sold. Some divisions sold several times now. Like Moto Mobility (Cell phones etc.) was bought by Google to get the IP and gutted then sold again to Lenovo in China and Arris.
IOW In the end Motorola is just another Brand Name to put on Cell phones for US and a few other markets. Most of the rest of things Moto made are gone for ~ 20 years now, some sold or died a lot earlier then that.
Who is Arris? Arris makes many Cable Modems/Gateways already w/ nearly all branded as Comcast/XFINITY etc. Then got Moto too have rebranded Moto to Arris and dropped Moto name quickly. Unless you have basic Internet from Comcast et al, you have little choice getting a Gateway you must "rent" from Cable Co because You can't get a customer owned modem/gateway and get home security services and other functions. You could get modem w/ phone but your only choice is Arris modem/gateway at $200+ and been so for 10+ years now. And Arris Phone Backup Battery Not Included. That cost $60 more if you want the phone to work when your power is out and that's only good for a few hours. Only in last few years you can get Netgear modem w/ phone (like C7100V CM1150V) but are > $200 too and CM1150V is without Router and WiFi.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
Had more than a few of those old amps with the springs suspended in the back.....buddy had a great big "Silvertone" he used for his bass that had one it it. No...he didn't use "reverb" on his bass....ran the vocal mikes through the same amp! (separate channel..) LOL
Were those actually the "good ole' days"?
Very interesting article...
History is always "interesting"....to me anyway. We take soo much for granted today. I think it's great to find where things came from and/or how they got to be what we accept today as "standard" or "normal".
HAGO!
[This message has been edited by Sage (edited 06-25-2019).]
Good googaly moogaly!!! I used to use a Fender "Twin Reverb" head with a Fender Baseman bottom that had two 12" (or were they 15's?) JBL's in it. Sold the entire setup to a guy for $200, of which he only paid me $100!
Also used to have a Guild "Slave" that had a 100watt preamp in it and two 12" JBL also. Bought the Guild from the bass player of the original James Gang in Cleveland, right after Joe Walsh started playing with them, taking over for Glenn Schwartz on lead. Tom Kriss, I think was his name. Ok..starting to "ramble" now....outahere!
Originally posted by E.Furgal: That is illegal here. you can't hear the emt/fire/police sirens. big ,costly ticket.
unless you are talking the blue tooth things that only go in one ear.
Yup and often w/ Points attach to it that affects Car Insurance cost and not just in most or all US States. Yet plenty of fools whine about the cops for their illegal actions.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
unless you are talking the blue tooth things that only go in one ear.
I kinds do this. I commonly drive with 1 ear bud in my ear on the way to work and often on the way home. I load a 8ish hour segment from a audio book on mi ipod to listen to while working. I often start it playing otw to work and then will listen to it otw home if I have not reached the end of what I loaded on it yet. Only in one ear while I am driving or operating a tractor. Plus I figure if a person with a cell can have their bluetooth in there engaging in a phone call while driving, I should be able to have 1 ear bud in my ear. Who's to say it's not plugged in to my phone for calls?
Strangely enough, I would say I can hear better with the one ear free and the book in the other than I could listening to the stereo. Four 10" woofers in the Mazda, two 12" woofers in the Hyundai and a couple thousand watts of power in each. When I listen to the stereo I don't hear much but the music (exception for neighborhood streets and at street lights. I turn it down those places.).
That is illegal here. you can't hear the emt/fire/police sirens. big ,costly ticket.
unless you are talking the blue tooth things that only go in one ear.
I just got a Bluetooth device that has 4 small speakers in it and is shaped in a horse shoe design. That fits on my shoulders just below my ears and it allows me to listen to music, talk shows or to use the phone all while not blocking out outside sounds. It works pretty neatly and can play for about 12 hours on a charge. Bose makes a really nice one, but I can't afford to spend $300 on something like this. I chose to go this way since I now have hearing aids and cannot put ear buds in my ears. And even though I can use my hearing aids to listen to my cell phone the sound is much better with this device.
Best quote of the day...
