I believe that technological changes from men like Marconi and Sarnoff are what helped shaped the radio industry in the 1920’s.
The technological changes started back when Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless radio telegraph that carried messages in Morse code. “This was the first practical use of the radio” (Media Now). Another major technological change came about in 1916 when David Sarnoff “proposed a plan of development which would make radio a ‘household utility’ in the same senses as the piano or phonograph” (Media Now).
These two developments shaped the radio industry significantly. Marconi’s invention of the radio telegraph played a key role in the Titanic disaster. When the Titanic struck the iceberg it had to send calls for help over the wireless system. “Not only was radio crucial to saving many passengers, but it became central to reporting news about the disaster, which riveted people on both sides of the Atlantic” (Media Now). Sarnoff’s proposal changed the way radio was used in the 1920’s. It brought the radio into people’s homes in the sense of keeping them connected with the outside world whether it was with news, music, or entertainment.
Without the technological changes brought about by these two men the radio industry would have been very different in the 1920’s and I believe these men were also the foundation of the radio and how it has developed today. You have to start somewhere with inventions and I believe that this is where the radio industry started.
Cites: Media Now Joseph Straubhaar / Robert LaRose / Lucinda Davenport: Updated 2010
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