Chapter Three

Bringing in the Dempsey Fight

over the world. From the larger centers in the United States,

the Radio Corporation of America was broadcasting music and lectures by famous scientists, and in the British Isles and continental Europe similar things were happening. Today, there are thousands of stations broadcasting all around the globe twenty—four hours a day. But in the early twenties there were only a few stations in the world broad- casting for just a few hours each day. The technology, however, was developing with the speed of a brush fire, and each day the number of broadcasters increased.

The earliest type of receiver was the crystal set which consisted of a dry cell battery, a coil, a small crystal of graphite, and a cat’s whisker—which was a fine piece of copper wire soldered to a small pivoting arm. The operator donned a pair of earphones and then patiently and gently scratched the surface of the crystal until he was able, if he was lucky, to pick up some primitive broadcaster.

The crystal set soon gave way to the more sophisticated tube—type receivers. These too, were made by people like Dad. The revenue from them in the beginning helped pay for the very expensive parts needed for experiments.

In the spring of 1921, my father had the only experimental radio license in the province—the 10—watt 9AK using batteries for all power. In the fall of 1921 under this license he began broadcasting both announcements and phonograph programs. The broadcasting was

22

B y 1922 the transmission of voice and music was happening all

sWEL‘iQ-fiVyE-hamflvmgmyiuw' ' .» , e ..;'v arm—:4 we”, .A- .m, " , ‘- ‘22-“ -”.v " '