History of Audio By: Sarah Launius

1878 The first music is put on record, Jules Levy plays “Yankee Doodle”.

1887 Edison introduces an electric motor driven phonograph

1888 Emile Berliner patented a talking machine which recorded and played back sound called the gramophone.

1901 Experimental optical recordings are made on motion picture film.

1912 Edwin Armstrong is issued a patent for a regenerative circuit, making radio reception practical.

1916 The Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) is formed.

1919 The Radio Corporation of America is founded.

1921 The first commercial AM radio broadcast is made by KDKA, in Pittsburgh,PA.

1927 "The Jazz Singer" is released as the first commercial talking picture, using Vita phone sound on disks synchronized with film.

1936 The first successful audio cassette player/recorder called the tefifon.

1940 The Disney movie “Fantasia” was the first movie to use stereo sound.

1941 Commercial FM broadcasting begins in the US.

1942 The first stereo tape recordings are made by Helmet Kruger at German radio in Berlin.

1943 Altec develops their Model 604 coaxial loudspeaker.

1954 The first commercial 2-track stereo tapes are released.

1959 NAB introduced the cart tape format used by radio broadcasters to play commercials, bumpers, and announcements.

1965 The Dolby Type A noise reduction system is introduced.

1981 Phillips demonstrates the Compact Disk (CD)

1999 A record company called SubPop is the first to distribute music tracks in MP3 format.

2000 The first DVD-audio players enter the market.