{"id":3328,"date":"2012-04-18T18:55:51","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T22:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=3328"},"modified":"2012-04-18T18:55:51","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T22:55:51","slug":"your-shortwave-could-have-delivered-the-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/your-shortwave-could-have-delivered-the-newspaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Your shortwave could have delivered the newspaper?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

1938: The Gernsback Radio Newspaper (Photo: Smithsonian Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

(Source: Smithsonian Magazine<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The introduction of broadcast radio caused some in the newspaper industry to fear that newspapers would soon become a thing of the past. After all, who would read the news when you could just turn on the radio for real-time updates?<\/p>\n

Newspapers had even more to fear in 1938 when radio thought it might compete with them in the deadtree business as well.<\/p>\n

The May, 1938 issue of\u00a0Hugo Gernsback<\/a>\u2018s\u00a0Short Wave and Television<\/em>\u00a0magazine included an article titled \u201cRadio to Print News Right In Your Home.\u201d The article described a method of delivering newspapers that was being tested and (provided it didn\u2019t interfere with regular radio broadcasts) would soon be used as a futuristic news-delivery method.<\/p>\n

[…]This invention of a wireless fax, as it were, was credited to W.G. H. Finch and used radio spectrum that was otherwise unused during the late-night hours when most Americans were sleeping.\u00a0The FCC granted a special license for these transmissions to occur between midnight and 6am, though it would seem that a noisy printing device in your house cranking away in the middle of the night might have been the fatal flaw in their system. It wasn\u2019t exactly a fast delivery either, as the article notes that it takes \u201ca few hours\u201d for the machine to produce your wireless fax newspaper.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The full article, is a must-read<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fascinating to realize that even in the infancy of wireless, newspapers already felt threatened by new technology. Goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: Smithsonian Magazine) The introduction of broadcast radio caused some in the newspaper industry to fear that newspapers would soon become a thing of the past. After all, who would read the news when you could just turn on the radio for real-time updates? Newspapers had even more to fear in 1938 when radio thought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,288],"tags":[1073,1076,4091,1075,4082,1072,1074],"class_list":["post-3328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-radio-history","tag-newspapers","tag-radio-fax","tag-radio-history","tag-rtty","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-technology","tag-wireless"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-RG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17814,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/vintage-advert-the-1938-bush-s-w-45\/","url_meta":{"origin":3328,"position":0},"title":"Vintage advert: The 1938 Bush S.W.45","author":"Thomas","date":"March 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christopher Brennen, who shares this\u00a0retro advert (above) from Retropia. I'm very curious what it must have been like to tune the Bush S.W.45. Seems the big selling feature was its ability to reliably tune closely-spaced stations. The ad claims: \"[T]he Teleflic comes to your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Click to enlarge.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Retro-Radio-Advert-772x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Retro-Radio-Advert-772x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Retro-Radio-Advert-772x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14126,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/in-pacific-islands-newspapers-are-a-luxury-item-radio-remains-the-staple-medium\/","url_meta":{"origin":3328,"position":1},"title":"In Pacific Islands, newspapers are a “luxury item”, radio remains the “staple medium”","author":"Thomas","date":"July 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Cuff, who shares the following article from The Saturday Paper. The article\u00a0speaks to\u00a0how important radio is to Pacific Islanders, and the challenges Radio Australia faces with its budget: \"For many Pacific islanders, newspapers are a luxury item. On average, each newspaper in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vanuatu-Map","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu-Map.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu-Map.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu-Map.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11899,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/shortwave-radio-recordings-a-tale-of-two-cities-via-global-24\/","url_meta":{"origin":3328,"position":2},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: A Tale of Two Cities via Global 24","author":"Thomas","date":"January 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Tuesday morning, I tuned my WWII era BC-348-Q to Global 24 on 9395 kHz. The signal, via WRMI's transmitter, was quite strong. At 2:00 UTC, I heard an announcement that The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio play of A Tale of Two Cities was about to begin. Not wanting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Elad-FDM-S2-FrontPanel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Elad-FDM-S2-FrontPanel1-1024x452.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Elad-FDM-S2-FrontPanel1-1024x452.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Elad-FDM-S2-FrontPanel1-1024x452.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35385,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/david-vaughan-on-czech-radio-and-the-role-of-propaganda-leading-up-to-wwii\/","url_meta":{"origin":3328,"position":3},"title":"David Vaughan on Czech radio and the role of propaganda leading up to WWII","author":"Thomas","date":"December 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0John Palmer (KC8RZM), who writes: Was listening to Radio Prague yesterday evening, there was a very interesting item where author, David Vaughan, was interviewed and talked about his most recent book \"Hear My Voice\" a novel which deals with the lead-up to WWII and in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ceskoslovensky_rozhlas_vinohradska_30_leta.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ceskoslovensky_rozhlas_vinohradska_30_leta.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ceskoslovensky_rozhlas_vinohradska_30_leta.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ceskoslovensky_rozhlas_vinohradska_30_leta.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7748,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/whether-fearsome-or-forgettable-the-war-of-the-worlds-left-us-with-a-gift\/","url_meta":{"origin":3328,"position":4},"title":"Whether fearsome or forgettable, The War of the Worlds left us with a gift","author":"Thomas","date":"October 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Without a doubt, one of the most famous broadcasts in radio history\u2013\u2013indeed, in American history\u2013\u2013was Orson Welles' radio production of the\u00a0H. G. Wells' classic sci-fi novel,\u00a0The War of the Worlds.\u00a0 A Halloween radio drama from the\u00a0The Mercury Theatre on the Air\u00a0series from the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS),\u00a0The War of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"orson_welles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/orson_welles-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9783,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/jerrys-flea-market-estate-sale-radios\/","url_meta":{"origin":3328,"position":5},"title":"Jerry’s flea market and estate sale radios","author":"Thomas","date":"May 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post reader, Jerry (WW0E) writes: \"Sorry I missed your table at Dayton. Managed to add 4 old 1940's 1950's era broadcast band radios to my collection, had a great time.\u00a0[Here is a]\u00a0picture of my 1938 Wards dial tone with tuning eye, $35.00.\" Jerry continues: \"Found this GE-P780 at an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"wardsradio","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wardsradio.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wardsradio.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wardsradio.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}