He wondered if new radio technologies could transmit music with any clarity, and so in 1915 he did a demonstration of his own, from a station in New York, broadcasting music to anyone who could – and wanted to – listen.ĭavid wrote a memo to his superiors proposing the idea of a receiver-only radio set, one that would allow an owner to listen to music broadcasts passively, but his superiors scoffed at the idea and ignored him. But there were the occasional “broadcast” messages, like weather reports, and that combined with news of voice transmission tests piqued Sarnoff’s interest.
You had a conversation, and when you were done, others took your place, like a telephone. The utility of the “wireless” had, to that point, been commonly seen as a point-to-point, two-way technology – you talked to the remote station, and they talked back. Farnsworth.ĭavid Sarnoff had already had some pretty big ideas. However, David wasn’t merely content to ride the radio wave of the present – rather, he was always looking toward the future, even then. He served at Marconi radiotelegraph stations on ships and on shore, soon becoming a manager of the telegraphers, then chief inspector and contract manager. David was a Russian immigrant who started as a mere office boy in 1906 at the age of 15, learning about electronics and wireless communications on-the-job. Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) had spent his entire adult life rising up through the ranks of the American Marconi wireless telegraph company.
GLANCING AT HIS MORNING PAPER, DAVID SARNOFF QUICKLY REALISED HE HAD A BIG, BIG PROBLEM.