The history of the car radio
of reading - words
Car stereos have come a long way since their first inception. It is fascinating to see how the concept of the car stereo has evolved from clunky AM radios to ones with multiple operating systems and functions. For today, we're going to talk about the evolution of car audio.
1900s - Did you know that the first car radio was introduced as early as 1904? Lee De Forest, the “Father of Radio,” gave a demonstration at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
1920s - The first factory-installed car radio was fitted to a 1922 Chevrolet (radio brand was Westinghouse) and cost almost half the actual cost of the car itself! Talk about expensive!
1930s - Paul and Joseph Galvin, entrepreneurs and brothers, buy out the bankrupt Stewart Battery Company. The company made The Battery Eliminator, which allowed battery-powered home radios to run on house current, the equivalent of today's AC adapters. The Galvin brothers took the company's battery eliminator design and used it to make battery eliminators for their radios.
Eventually battery eliminators became obsolete as AC powered radios became the norm. Paul Galvin met William Lear and Elmer Wavering, two radio engineers, who created a radio whose design eliminated the problem of static interference.
(the first car radio marketed - The Motorola )
The brothers eventually invented the first radio which they named The Motorola , which is a portmanteau of the words "automative" and "Victrola" (a brand name for a phonograph, but eventually became a generic term for any type of phonograph). Motorola is eventually become the great telecommunications company it is today (YES, this Motorola).
1952 - Blaupunkt , a German company, creates the first FM radio. Prior to this, the only frequency option for radios was the AM frequency. A year later, Becker Mexico manufactured an AM/FM receiver with a station seek or scan function.
1955 and after (before the 1970s) was a period of trial and error for car stereo manufacturers. Chrysler Hi-Fi was the first time its own records were played in the car, and was also the first and only car phonograph. He used a mini turntable (located on the passenger side dashboard) to play his records. This, however, only lasted a few years. Indeed, one of the fatal flaws of the Hi-Fi system is that the record jumps even on the smallest bump in the road on which the car hits.
Hi-Fi eventually evolved into Earl Muntz's Stereo-Pak , which pioneered a 4-track system. Tracks didn't skip with this type of car audio (an upgrade to Hi-Fi). Muntz then developed AutoStereo in the early 1960s, which gave drivers the freedom to customize and select their personal listening experience. After that, improvements were made to Muntz's idea and the 8-track cartridge system was developed.
1970s to 80s - Cassettes eventually replaced the 8-track system. And with the invention of the Walkman in 1979, cassettes became much more common. It has improved 8-track technology with longer play times, improved tape quality, Dolby noise reduction, and auto return.
1980s to 90s - Philips and Sony were the first to develop the model for the CD which was first marketed for home use in 1982. However, it was Pioneer who developed the very first CD player car in 1984. Named the CDX-1 , this player had much improved sound quality unlike everyone else. Other than that, CDX-1 was much more durable than cassette players and had the ability to skip tracks.
( Pioneer website CDX-1 image )
2000s - car audio quality even improved significantly after the CD player phase of car audio. There was the digitization of music, and gave birth to MP3 players. They are portable devices that can hold thousands of songs and can play different types of music formats. In the mid-2000s, in-car audio systems developed the ability to connect these players to car audio systems. Features such as USB, AUX and Bluetooth have become staples on car audios.
And with the rise of smartphones and the use of apps like Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM and the use of car assistant systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, listening to music in your car has never been so simple.
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