Start reading the chronology after this list or click to jump to any section:
1877 - Edison made the first recording of a human voice ("Mary had a little lamb") on the first tinfoil cylinder phonograph Dec. 6 (the word "Halloo" may have been recorded in July on an early paper model derived from his 1876 telegraph repeater, but the paper has not survived) and filed for a patent Dec. 24. John Kruesi built this first practical machine Dec. 4-6 (not on the incorrect date of Aug. 22 as demonstrated by the research in 1971 of Byron M. Vanderbilt of the American Chemical Society) from a sketch given to him by Edison. When Kruesi heard Edison's first words Dec. 6, he exclaimed "Gott in Himmel!" (but these words were not recorded and thus have been forgotten).
1878- Edison granted patent No. 200,251 on Feb. 19 for a phonograph using tin foil cylinders, with 2-3 min. capacity
Edison's phonograph in Scientific American Dec. 22, 1877
1885 - A.G. Bell and Charles Tainter patent a rival "Graphophone" using wax cylinders with vertical cut grooves sold by Columbia Phonograph Co.
1888 - Edison introduced wax cylinders, but was unable to mass-produce copies
1888 - Emile Berliner patented the "Gramophone" using a flat 7-inch disk with lateral cut grooves on one side only, manually rotated at 70 rpm with 2-min. capacity; he is the first to mass-produce rubber vulcanite copies from zinc master disk
Berliner's 1st model of the Gramophone
1889 - widespread sale of commercial Edison cylinders and Berliner discs, mostly classical and Tin Pan Alley songs
1895 - Edison marketed the first spring-driven phonograph
1896 - Gramophone improved with motor by Eldridge Johnson, who founded Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1901 with the "little nipper" dog as trademark
1897 - shellac discs replace vulcanite, but the typical heavy steel stylus tracking at 9 oz. caused heavy wear
1898 - Valdemar Poulsen patented the first magnetic recorder, called the "telegraphone," using steel wire.
1901 - Edison introduced "Gold Mold" cylinders for $.50 each with improved hard wax surface and able to be mass-produced by molding process; Victor Co. released "Red Seal" 10-inch discs with 4-min. capacity for $1.00 each featuring famous European artists, such as tenor Enrico Caruso and baritone Mattia Battistini
1904 - Odeon in Germany sold the first mass-produced double-sided discs
1906 - Victor sold the first "Victrola" with enclosed horn, but the name is later applied to all phonograph players designed as furniture
1908 - Edison introduced Amberol cylinders with 4-min. capacity
1912 - Edison introduced celluloid blue Amerol cylinders to be played with new diamond stylus - produced the highest acoustic-produced quality 
1913 - Edison finally began to sell flat Diamond-Disc players and recordings (picture at right is Edison's 1915 Diamond Disc floor-model)
1914 - ASCAP founded to enforce 1909 Copyright Act
1915 - U.S. Navy seized Telefunken radio station at Sayville, Long Island, that was using Telegraphone wire recorders to send high speed transmissions to Germany
1915 - Edison suggested in 1915 that the U.S. create a Naval Research Laboratory
[Edison sculpted from life in 1926 - detail from the full-size image at the Naval Research Laboratory]
1916 - Edison's secretary Art Satherly began field recording of folk songs and race music in the U.S.
1918 - first wartime actuality sound recording of gas shell bombardment
1918 - Poulsen's 1898 patent expired; Germany developed improvements to the wire telegraphone
American Telegraphone model c. 1915
[Columbia Grafonola ad from Literary Digest, 9/27/1919]
1920 - KDKA in Pittsburg inaugurated the history of commercial radio
1921 - majority record sales began decline from $106 million high due to growth of live radio, but new kinds of minority music become popular
1923 - Bessie Smith's first record "Down-Hearted Blues" was an important landmark on the Blues Highway
1923 - New York's WHN broadcasted the first big band of the Jazz Age led by Fletcher Henderson
1923 - Fiddlin' John Carson's Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane became the first hit country record
logo of RCA in 1923
1924 - Chicago's WLS started National Barn Dance show
1926 - Bing Crosby recorded his first record "I've Got the Girl" with an old carbon mic; hired by Paul Whiteman to sing with Harry Barris and Al Rinker as "The Rhythm Boys" and began to use the new condenser mic developed in 1922 by Bell Labs that encouraged the "crooner" sound when held close to the singer's mouth
1927 - Nashville's WSM started Grand Ole Opry
1927 - Carl Sandburg published the American Songbook
1929 - Paul Whiteman's Old Gold Special was the first national promotional road show
1930 - Bing Crosby recorded his first solo "I Surrender, Dear" and became the nation's most famous crooner; signed by Bill Paley to CBS in 1931 and sponsored by G.W. Hill's Cremo Cigars; more radio stations began to play records of all kinds
1925 - first electrically-recorded discs, using Western Electric system developed at ATT's Bell Labs, making it now possible to record whole orchestras and symphonies
1925 - Vitaphone contract June 25 with Warner Bros, using 20-inch acetate-coated aluminum transcription discs at 33 1/3 rpm in synch with film reel by electric motors, demonstrating short subject musical films, e.g., violinist Efrem Zimbalist
1926 - Charles Brush sold the first piezo-electric featherweight stylus
1927 - Automatic Music Instrument Co. of Grand Rapids (AMI) introduced the all-electric coin-operated phonograph, the "juke box," to replace coin-operated pianos, but few built before 1934
1929 - last production of Edison cylinders and discs; merger of RCA and Victor
1931 - Alan Blumlein patented the "binaural" (stereo) recording method
1931 - RCA introduces coarse groove discs of "Victrolac" that run at 331/3 rpm "professional" speed, but fails to replace popular 78 rpm consumer speed
1933 - Homer Capehart sells Simplex changer mechanism to Wurlitzer, sells jukeboxes to distributors who install music systems in post-Prohibition grilles and taverns
1934 - first U.S. advertisement for "High Fidelity" records; Duo Junior record player attachment for radios sells for $16.50
[Rock-Ola 12-selection mechanism used in juke boxes]
1934 - Rock-Ola, Seeburg, Wurlitzer introduce multiple-selection nickel jukeboxes; number installed in U.S. increases from 25,000 to 300,000 by 1939; Bing Crosby becomes #1 selection, spurring sales of his 35-cent Decca label songs
1934 - Signal Corps General George Squier founds Muzak to sell recorded music to homes in Cleveland for $1.50 per month on 3 channels
1934 - Swing music begins in December with Benny Goodman on NBC's Let's Dance
1935 - Hit Parade sponsored by G.W. Hill's Lucky Strike
1935 - New York's WNEW is first music and news radio station; Martin Block is first DJ in his Make Believe Ballroom and earns $500,000
1935 - Elvis Presley is born January 8 and dies in 1977 after selling 41 million albums, recording 107 Top-40 hit songs, making 33 movies, and shook hands with President Richard Nixon (photo at right of meeting 12/21/71 from National Security Archives) (see the latest Elvis sighting) However, Bing Crosby who also died in 1977 recorded 1600 hit songs, sold 500 million records, made 61 movies, but probably never shook Nixon's hand.
1942 - Armed Forces Radio Service created to distribute programs to soldiers overseas. By January 1946, 1030 vinylite 16-inch transcription discs of 8240 popular and classical songs had been produced as part of the Basic Music Library for the AFRS.
1928 - Dr. Fritz Pfleumer patent in Germany for application of magnetic powders to strip of paper or film
1932 - BASF of I.G. Farben joins with AEG of Telefunken to develop magnetic tape recording using Pfleumer patent
1935 - first public demonstration of BASF/AEG "Magnetophone" at Berlin Radio Fair
1936 - first BASF/AEG tape recording on Nov.19 of live concert by Sir Thomas Beecham
1939 - independent invention of wire recorder in U.S. by Marvin Camras, who esablished Armour Research Foundation and sold 100,000 recorders to Navy by 1945; wire recorders popular with amateurs until 1955
1940 - David Sarnoff of RCA installs first secret recording devices in the White House for 11 weeks, from June to October, using the same optical Phonofilm method used in RKO films
1944 - 3M Co. (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) begins tape coating experiments in U.S. under Dr. Ralph Oace for the Brush Development Co.
1945 - Signal Corps Captain John Mullin finds magnetophones at Radio Frankfurt in Germany and 1000-meter reels of 1/2-inch ferric-coated BASF tape with 20-min capacity; 2 machines mailed to U.S. along with 50 reels of tape
1946 - Mullin demonstrates magnetophones at San Francisco Institute of Radio Engineers and Harold Lindsay tells Ampex who begins to make own tape recorder; Ampex team includes Ray Dolby
1947 - Mullin demonstrates magnetophones to Bing Crosby Enterprises in June. NBC refuses to record his show and Bing moves to ABC with Philco sponsor in the fall, brings with him Mullin's magnetophones to tape original show and dub to 16-inch transcription disc for broadcast - see Der Bingle Technology article on Bing Crosby
1948 - 1st U.S.-made Ampex Model 200 tape recorders arrive for Crosby show #27 along with 3M Scotch 111 gamma ferric oxide coated tape
1948 - Columbia introduces on June 21 the first 12-inch 331/3 rpm micro-groove LP vinylite record with 23-minute per side capacity, developed by Peter Goldmark in 1947, using players made by Philco
1949 - RCA Victor introduces 7-inch 45 rpm micro-groove Extended Play vinylite record and player; later records made of polystyrene
1951 - war of the speeds ends as Victor sells LPs and Columbia sells 45s
one of the first RCA 45 rpm players, from the Smithsonian
1947 - Big 6 record companies control majority industry: Columbia, Victor, Decca, Capitol, MGM, Mercury; but teenagers reject majority music style
1947 - Roy Brown records first rock and roll song Good Rocking Tonight on DeLuxe label (although name common in early blues recordings such as Trixie Smith's 1922 My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll)
1949 - Todd Storz of Omaha's KOWH creates Top 40 after observing customers in a bar play the same juke box selection over and over
1952 - Alan Freed starts Moondog's Rock and Roll Party in Cleveland after visit to Leo Mintz's record store
1953 - Bill Haley records first national rock hit Crazy Man Crazy on Essex label
1954 - Bill Haley records rhythmic Shake, Rattle and Roll and Rock Around the Clock on Decca
Rock-Ola 120-selection coin wall box found in taverns and diners
1948 - Magnecord makes first open reel stereo tape recorder
1954 - RCA Victor sells first prerecorded open reel stereo tapes for $12.95
1954 - Regency TR-1, first transistor portable radio introduced by I.D.E.A. Co. of Indianapolis - see note on the question of who made the first such radio
1958 - world standard for stereo records established, based on Blumlein's 1931 patent, and first stereo LPs sold; FM receivers added to stereo sets
1963 - Philips demonstrates first compact audio cassette using 1/8-inch tape at 17/8 ips, sold the next year in the U.S. with the Norelco Carry-Corder dictation machine, but blank tape demand unanticipated
1966 - U.S. cars equipped with 8-track stereo cartridge tape players
1969 - Dolby Noise Reduction introduced for pre-recorded tapes
1951 - Ampex team led by Charles Ginsburg begins work on VTR in October; Bing Crosby Enterprises demonstrates experimental 12-head VTR at 100 ips
1953 - Alexander Zworykin and RCA Labs demonstrate Dec. 1 a longitudinal VTR running very fast at 360 ips over 3 heads with AM sound
1956 - Ampex demonstrates first practical quadraplex VTR at Chicago NAB show April 14, using 2-inch wide 3M tape at 15 ips over rotating head assembly recording at a slant on tape surface with FM sound; over next 4 years sells 600 units at $75,000 each, mostly to big network stations
1956 - CBS broadcasts first show with videotape Nov. 30, the Douglas Edwards and the News for West Coast delayed broadcast
1957 - Ampex and RCA pool patents to develop compatible color and B&W; VTR
1959 - first mobile Ampex VTR unit
1959 - Toshiba and Sony demonstrate prototype helical scan B&W; VTRs with 1 head
1960 - Ampex shares VTR patents with Sony and Sony shares transistorized circuitry with Ampex
1961 - JVC (founded as the American-owned Victor Co. of Japan in 1946, but owned by Matsushita since 1953) demonstrates helical scan color VTR with 2 heads
1961 - Sony markets helical scan VTR, the PV100, adopted by American Airlines in 1964 for in-flight movies; Ampex sues Sony in 1966
1963 - Sony markets first home VTR for $995, open reel 1/2-inch helical scan deck
1964 - Ampex joins with Toshiba to market U.S.-designed VTRs in Japan
1965 - Sony introduces first consumer 1/2-inch format helical scan VTR and priced under $3000
1968 - CBS introduces EVR using film in a cassette; 20th Century Fox agrees to sell movies in EVR; but format fails by Dec. 1971
1969 - RCA demonstrates SelectaVision, but never reaches market
1969 - Sony introduces first videocassette, the 3/4-inch U-Matic one-hour tape, available in U.S. by 1971
1972 - Phillips demonstrates laserdisc playback-only deck
1972 - Sears and Wards sell CartriVision, but fails by 1973
1975 - Sony introduces Betamax consumer VCR in U.S. in November, console only for $2295 with one-hour 1/2-inch tape cassettes for $15.95
1976 - JVC introduces in October the VHS format in Japan for $885
1976 - Sony introduces Betamax VCR deck for $1300 and begins aggressive advertising claiming that it can actually videotape something off one channel while you're watching another channel and build a library of your favorite shows; MCA/Universal and Disney file lawsuit finally won by Sony in 1984
1977 - RCA announces in March it will sell VHS with 4-hour tapes
1979 - Sony introduces Betascan in April; allows visible picture while fast-forwarding
1979 - Sony introduces Walkman portable audio cassette player
1980 - Sony introduces first consumer camcorder
1982 - first digital audio 5-inch CD discs marketed, merging the consumer music industry with the computer revolution
1986 - Hitachi markets first 8mm camcorder
1986 - Sony loses battle of the formats and withdraws the Betamax from the consumer market
1987 - Digital Audio Tape (DAT) players introduced
1988 - for the first time, more than 1/2 of TV households own a VCR
1994 - Global Big 6 control $30 billion record industry: Philips (owns Polygram, A&M;, Mercury, Island), Sony (owns CBS Records), Matsushita (owns MCA, Geffen), Thorn-EMI (owns Capitol, Virgin), Time Warner, and Bertelsmann (owns RCA Records)
Angus, Robert. "History of Magnetic Recording," in Audio, August and September, 1984.
Brylawski, Samuel. "Armed Forces Radio Service; The Invisible Highway Abroad" in Iris Newsom, ed., Wonderful Inventions; Motion Pictures, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound at the Library of Congress. Washington, 1985.
Camras, Marvin, ed.. Magnetic Tape Recording. New York, 1985.
Chase, Gilbert. America's Music, from the Pilgrims to the Present. New York, 1955, 1966, 3rd edition 1988 includes a discographical essay by William Brooks, revised edition 1992. This book has long been a standard history of American music.
Eberly, Phil. Music In the Air: America's Changing Tastes in Popular Music, 1920-1980. New York, 1982. is good history of popular music on radio.
Clark, Ronald W. Edison, the Man Who Made the Future. NY: Putnam's, 1977.
Frow, George. The Edison Disc Phonographs and the Diamond Discs: a History with Illustrations. Great Britain, 1982.
Gillett, Charlie. Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock n Roll. New York, 1970, Dell paperback 1972. is good on rock as a product of urban culture.
Hurst, Jack. Grand Ole Opry. New York, 1975. is mostly a picture book but does explain the importance of country music.
Jehl, Francis. Reminiscences. Edison Institute, 1936
Josephson, Matthew. Edison, A Biography. New York, 1959. is a classic study of Edison as inventor and industrialist.
Lyons, Nick. The Sony Vision. New York : Crown Publishers, 1976.
Marlow, Eugene and Eugene Secunda. Shifting Time and Space: the Story of Videotape. New York: Praeger, 1991.
Marty, Daniel (translation by Douglas Tubbs). The Illustrated History of Phonographs. New York, 1981.
Millard, A. J. America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Morita, Akio with Edwin M. Reingold and Mitsuko Shimomura. Made in Japan : Akio Morita and Sony. New York : Dutton, 1986.
Mullin, John T. "Creating the Craft of Tape Recording" in High Fidelity, April, 1976
Osterholm, J. Roger. Bing Crosby: a Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1994.
Pugh, Emerson W. Building IBM : Shaping an Industry and Its Technology. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1995.
Read, Oliver and Walter Welch. From Tin Foil to Stereo: Evolution of the Phonograph. Indianapolis, 1959, 2nd edition 1976. is one of the most detailed histories of the phonograph.
Ryan, Milo. History in Sound: A Descriptive Listing of the KIRO-CBS Collection of Broadcasts of the World War II Years and After in the Phonoarchive of the University of Washington. Seattle, 1963.
Schiffer, Michael B. The Portable Radio in American Life. Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 1991. lacks notes but argues persuasively that the portable radio was a U.S. innovation beginning in the 1920's, not Japanese.
Shepherd, Don. Bing Crosby: The Hollow Man. New York, 1981. is a critical biography of the first crooner.
Smart, James. A Wonderful Invention: A Brief History of the Phonograph from Tinfoil to the LP: an Exhibition in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Invention of the Phonograph. Washington: Library of Congress, 1977.
Sobel, Robert. I.B.M., Colossus in Transition. New York : Times Books, 1981.
Vanderbilt, Byron M. Thomas Edison, Chemist. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1971.
Watson, Thomas J. and Peter Petre. Father, Son & Co. : My Life at IBM and Beyond. New York : Bantam Books, 1990.
Welch, Walter L. and Leah B. S. Burt. From Tinfoil to Stereo: the Acoustic Years of the Recording Industry, 1877-1929. University Press of Florida, 1994.
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