1. History of Audio
By: Sarah Launius

2. 1878
The first music is put on record, Jules Levy plays “Yankee Doodle”.

3. 1887
Edison introduces an electric motor driven phonograph

4. 1888
Emile Berliner patented a talking machine which recorded and played back sound called the gramophone.

5. 1901
Experimental optical recordings are made on motion picture film.

6. 1912
Edwin Armstrong is issued a patent for a regenerative circuit, making radio reception practical.

7. 1916
The Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) is formed.

8. 1919
The Radio Corporation of America is founded.

9. 1921
The first commercial AM radio broadcast is made by KDKA, in Pittsburgh,PA.

10. 1927
"The Jazz Singer" is released as the first commercial talking picture, using Vita phone sound on disks synchronized with film.

11. 1936
The first successful audio cassette player/recorder called the tefifon.

12. 1940
The Disney movie “Fantasia” was the first movie to use stereo sound.

13. 1941
Commercial FM broadcasting begins in the US.

14. 1942
The first stereo tape recordings are made by Helmet Kruger at German radio in Berlin.

15. 1943
Altec develops their Model 604 coaxial loudspeaker.

16. 1954
The first commercial 2-track stereo tapes are released.

17. 1959
NAB introduced the cart tape format used by radio broadcasters to play commercials, bumpers, and announcements.

18. 1965
The Dolby Type A noise reduction system is introduced.

19. 1981
Phillips demonstrates the Compact Disk (CD)

20. 1999
A record company called SubPop is the first to distribute music tracks in MP3 format.

21. 2000
The first DVD-audio players enter the market.