damninteresting.com— In 1933, a guy by the name of Armstrong brought about a revolutionary change in the broadcasting business: FM radio.
Aug 11, 2006View in Crawl 4
FTA: "Utterly failing to grasp the technical facts in question, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of De Forest..."Kinda sounds like today's courts and the legislature, especially with regard to things like DMCA, Net Neutrality, etc. Except I'm not so sure it's a failure to understand the issues, although clearly that exists (witness Stevens' commentary about the Internet being a bunch of tubes). The bigger problem is ethics. If your business model is threatened because someone is innovating, just pay off the right senator or judge.
...and the birth of television pitted Darth Sarnoff against yet another small player - Philo T. Farnsworth. At least Farnsworth managed to keep himself alive...and relatively sane.
As an FM Radio personality... I enjoyed the article. It also goes to show that AT&T has been screwing people since 1933. Wow. Just let that sink it a little. I know...
I hope people realize who is really at fault here, and that is the government power. Corporations such as RCA and AT&T wouldn't have been able to stop Armstrong if they didn't have the political connections to do it by force. (In AT&T's case, they were granted a monopoly by the State).Thanks for posting, I never heard this before, but it shows that politicians have been abusing the Constitution, and their entrusted power for many many years.
Read _How Capitalism Saved America_ by Thomas DiLorenzo. The Big Business / Government mutual masturbation has been going on since there was an America. Considering that B. Franklin was able to get himself appointed Postmaster General, both before and after the Revolution, gives some indication.The more I read of real history, the more sense L. Neil Smith made with _The Probability Broach_.
mrkamikazeAug 11, 2006
The tragic death of FM..Clear Channel INC
anklebiterAug 11, 2006
FTA: "Utterly failing to grasp the technical facts in question, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of De Forest..."Kinda sounds like today's courts and the legislature, especially with regard to things like DMCA, Net Neutrality, etc. Except I'm not so sure it's a failure to understand the issues, although clearly that exists (witness Stevens' commentary about the Internet being a bunch of tubes). The bigger problem is ethics. If your business model is threatened because someone is innovating, just pay off the right senator or judge.
greenoneAug 12, 2006
...and the birth of television pitted Darth Sarnoff against yet another small player - Philo T. Farnsworth. At least Farnsworth managed to keep himself alive...and relatively sane.
rmqjrAug 12, 2006
I wonder if RCA ever paid royalties on the FM audio used by the NTSC standard. Probably not....
freshmakerAug 13, 2006
As an FM Radio personality... I enjoyed the article. It also goes to show that AT&T has been screwing people since 1933. Wow. Just let that sink it a little. I know...
Closed AccountAug 13, 2006
I hope people realize who is really at fault here, and that is the government power. Corporations such as RCA and AT&T wouldn't have been able to stop Armstrong if they didn't have the political connections to do it by force. (In AT&T's case, they were granted a monopoly by the State).Thanks for posting, I never heard this before, but it shows that politicians have been abusing the Constitution, and their entrusted power for many many years.
curthowlandAug 13, 2006
Read _How Capitalism Saved America_ by Thomas DiLorenzo. The Big Business / Government mutual masturbation has been going on since there was an America. Considering that B. Franklin was able to get himself appointed Postmaster General, both before and after the Revolution, gives some indication.The more I read of real history, the more sense L. Neil Smith made with _The Probability Broach_.