Monday, December 12, 2005

The Grandest Daddy of them all...

The Yankees were Pedro Martinez's daddy, Alan Freed was the daddy of rock and roll and Tom Donahue, the daddy of what we used to call AOR radio, more commonly referred to today as plain ole rock radio. But do you know the grandest daddy of them all ? Well, if the subject is radio it's the man who gave the world its 1st public demonstration of the medium in London and then sent the 1st wireless transmission skipping across the Atlantic Ocean all on the same December 12th date, separated by 5 years as you'll read. Who is he ? Read on...

His name was Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian physicist and radio pioneer and that's no Bologna which was where his family home was. "The Father of Radio" began experimenting with radio waves, then known as 'Hertzian Waves', compliments of German physicist Heinrich Hertz way back in 1894. On this date in 1896 Marconi gave the 1st public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall in London and by 1897 Marconi established the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company Limited and opened his 1st radio factory in Chelmsford, England in 1898. On this date in 1901 Marconi sent the 1st Atlantic wireless transmission. The message was not 'can you hear me now' as Marconi settled for a no-frills Morse-code signal for the letter "s"...

In 1909 Marconi shared the Nobel Prize in physics with German radio innovator Ferdinand Braun. Little is known about Braun but Marconi would turn his energy to shorter, more powerful radio waves after successfully sending radio transmissions from points as far away as England and Australia. Marconi was solely responsible for the birth of the BBC in 1922 and when he died in 1937, all BBC stations were silent for 2 minutes in tribute to his contributions to the development of radio...

More December 12 Memories...

1800) Washington, D.C. is established as the capital of the United States...

1870) Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the 1st black lawmaker to be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives...

1896) Guglielmo Marconi gives the 1st public demonstration of radio (feature story)...

1897) "The Katzenjammer Kids" becomes the 1st comic strip, making its debut in the New York Journal...

1901) Marconi sends the 1st radio signal across the Atlantic (feature story)...

1917) Father Edward Flanagan opens Boys Town...

1925) The "Motel Inn" opens in San Luis Obispo, California as the 1st motel in the world...

1930) Baseball changes the rule on balls bouncing into the stands from a home run to a ground rule double...

1937) NBC and RCA sends the 1st TV mobile unit vans onto the streets of New York City...

1946) Tide detergent is introduced...

1946) A U.N. committee votes to accept a 6-block tract of Manhattan real estate to be the site of U.N. headquarters (John D. Rockefeller Jr. presents the gift)...

1955) Bill Haley and the Comets record "See You Later Alligator" (the original version was by Bobby Charles)...

1964) The Righteous Brothers release "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"...

1965) The Beatles play their last concert in Great Britain at the Capitol Theatre in Cardiff, Wales...

1965) The Packers' Paul Hornung runs for 5 touchdowns, Gayle Sayers of the Bears for 6 in 2 separate NFL games...

1969) "Hello Dolly" starring Barbra Streisand premieres...

1971) Filming begins on the Diana Ross movie of Billie Holliday, "Lady Sings The Blues"...

1976) Joe Namath bows out as Jets QB in a 42-3 blowout by the Bengals...

1980) Marie Osmond's solo TV series debuts on NBC-TV...

1989) Leona Helmsley ("The Queen of mean") is fined $7 million and sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion...

1991) Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford say their "I do's" (Gere's best man is a gerbil)...

1997) The Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to a record 6-year $69 million contract...

1998) The final article of impeachment against President Clinton is approved...

2000) The U.S. Supreme Court finds the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court unconstitutional. VP Al Gore concedes the presidential election to Texas Governor George W. Bush the next day...

Happy Birthday To...

1923) Bob Barker...

1924) Ed ("hey, how'm I doin ?") Koch...

1938) Connie Francis...

1940) Dionne Warwick...

1952) Olympic gymnast and sometime Peter Pan, Cathy Rigby...

1962) Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin...

Commentary...

For those of you interested in more information on Guglielmo Marconi, a foundation bearing his name is located in Bedford, New Hampshire. E-mail can be sent to: info@marconiusa.org