Ongoing History Daily: Some milestones in radio

A hundred years ago, radio was still a wild new invention. Commercial broadcasts had only been around for a few years. This brings me to a couple of milestones.

On May 13, 1897—130 years ago this month—inventor Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless radio voice message from Cardiff, Wales, to Flat Holm, which is an island in the Bristol Channel. The message was “Can you hear me?”

Three years later, Marconi sent a wireless message from Cornwall, England, to St. John’s, Newfoundland. And then 25 years after that—this is 1925—Canada figured into another milestone. The first shortwave transatlantic transmission was sent from Somerset, England, to Drummondville, Quebec.

All modern telecommunications grew from these three successful experiments.

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