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1950 |
RCA Victor announces the manufacture of LP records. Sales of 78 rpm records decline. |
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1949 |
RCA Victor introduces the 7-inch 45 rpm record. Small independent record companies begin to proliferate in the US. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma becomes the first gold LP record.! |
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1948 |
Columbia Records introduces the 33-1/3 rpm LP microgroove record at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The new technology features 25 minutes of music per side, compared to four minutes per side delivered by the 78 rpm record, the previous standard. LP stands for long playing, so named because it really does “play long.” |
ETAF Staff |
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1945 |
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel opens on Broadway, marking a new era in the American musical stage. Big band swing becomes popular. Zoot suits make a brief appearance, reflecting the spirit of the times. The Federal Communications Commission allocates channels 2 through 13 for commercial television. Channel 1 is designated "experimental". Irish tenor John McCormack dies. |
ETAF Staff |
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1944 |
The American Federation of Musicians recording ban ends November 11, 1944. The English Decca label issues the first records made by high a fidelity technique. Glenn Miller's plane disappears on a flight from Paris to London on Christmas Eve. Johnny Marvin, popular singer of the 20s and 30s dies. |
ETAF Staff |
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1942 |
Starting August 1, 1942, James Petrillo of the American Federation of Musicians imposes a nationwide musician's strike during wartime, preventing recording and broadcasting companies from producing music accompanied by instruments, depriving military personnel and civilians alike. So-called V-Disks (V for Victory) are exempted in an effort to help the war effort, but V-Disks can only be played for troops. |
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1940 |
The US Court rules that radio stations may play records without their manufacturer's permission. Bell Telephone Laboratories develops stereophonic recording. NBC conducts the first telecast of an opera in New York. |
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1939 |
The National Association of Performing Artists is founded. The Blue Note label is launched. Edwin Armstrong conducts preliminary tests of a new type of audio radio signal called Frequency Modulation, or FM. Continuing daytime dramas become popular on radio. They are called "soap operas" because sponsor's commercials were placed within their storylines. |
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1938 |
The CBS broadcast of Orson Welles' production of War Of The Worlds causes widespread panic and a handful of suicides. The broadcast is staged as a music program interrupted by bulletins of a Martian invasion and a takeover of the Earth. |
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1937 |
Brunswick makes an historic recording of King Edward's farewell speech renouncing the British throne. Benny Goodman is labeled "the king of swing" as his big band sound becomes the rage among teenagers. |
ETAF Staff |
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1936 |
So-called Swing Music succeeds Jazz. The first pop music chart based on record sales is published by Billboard Magazine. Increasing popularity of jukeboxes creates an upturn in the U.S. record business. Composer Arturo Toscanini becomes conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. |
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1935 |
Billy Costello, the voice of Popeye in the animated shorts, produces a hit with the phonograph recording of the cartoon's theme song, I'm Popeye The Sailor Man. |
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1934 |
First Decca records appear in the U.S. RCA manufactures an inexpensive record playing attachment for radios. |
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1932 |
Caruso Records originally recorded on acoustic masters are transcribed to records made for electrical reproduction. Columbia issues the first Long-Playing record. Victor introduces Bluebird records. The British Regal Company records The Mammoth Fair Organ, claiming that, "The Regal were the first to dare record a Fair Organ." Columnist Walter Winchell begins regular news and commentary radio broadcasts. Depression era songs that bemoan poverty become hits, such as In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town and Brother, Can You Spare Me A Dime? |
ETAF Staff |
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1931 |
Victor introduces the 33-1/3 rpm LP record. The first film and phonograph machines are demonstrated for home use. The Star-Spangled Banner is chosen over America The Beautiful as the U.S. national anthem. |
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1930 |
The phonograph and record business in the US all but collapses. CBS and NBC begin regular live classical music radio broadcasts. |
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1929 |
Edison stops manufacturing phonographs and records. RCA converts most of Victor's phonograph record plant production to radio production. Amos 'n' Andy debut on network radio. |
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1928 |
RCA purchases Victor. Mickey Mouse appears in the first animated cartoon to use sound, called Steamboat Willie. |
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1927 |
The Columbia Broadcasting System is launched. The Tunney-Dempsey fight on September 27, 1927 becomes the first heavy-weight championship fight to be recorded on disc. The Federal Radio Commission is organized to stop signal and frequency wars between radio stations. The FRC assigns a specific spot on the dial to each station, specifies a maximum broadcast signal strength. and orders nearly a third of the country's 1,100 stations off the air. The first full-length "talkie," The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, shows in movie houses. The first all-electric jukeboxes are introduced. |
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1926 |
Edison brings out the 40 minute playing record. Victor sells out to two banking houses, Eldridge Johnson retires. Victor introduced the Orthophonic phonograph and Orthophonic records. Columbia introduces there Viva-tonal phonograph. The first electric pick-ups capable of sound amplification are sold. The National Broadcasting Company is launched. The NBC Coast-to-Coast network is established. Home radio receivers become ubiquitous. Dance bands broadcast from hotels, dance halls and radio studios, and become the main fare of radio stations. Don Juan, a Vitaphone production starring John Barrymore, becomes the first "talking" motion picture. It is shown at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. The sound source is not on the film, but on synchronized phonograph records. Now great artists can be seen as well as heard on the screen. |
ETAF Staff |
