ROMANCE INSPIRED CAR RADIO INVENTION

1920: A beautiful night. Paul Galvin and William Lear took their girlfriends to a romantic look-out view. Paul said,“Isn’t this great?”?His girlfriend replied that it would?be better?if they could hear music.

That set Galvin and Lear on a mission to get entertainment into the car. A car radio. They were tinkerers. Galvin owned a failed battery manufacturing company. Lear and Galvin were smart but broke.

They ultimately invented a prototype radio for the car, but it was massive and complicated. No car battery could power it, the radio required its own big battery which was stored under the seat. The antenna was netting covering the roof. Their biggest challenge was?static?generated by the car’s starter, transmission, battery, lights—you name it. Galvin and Lear traced each source to correct the trouble-making components one by one. Parts of the radio had to be placed in different locations throughout the car. For example the receiver was mounted on the engine, the controls on the dash.

Finally, still broke, they drove their Studebaker loaded with radio to the bank. The banker drove the car for a night.?It caught fire and no loan was granted. Next Galvin traveled 800 hundred miles to a radio manufacturer convention. He sat outside the convention hall, played the radio loud and attracted enough orders for the radio to continue his quest.

The trouble continued. It was an expensive install; $600 for a $3000 car. Many people thought it was dangerous to listen to the radio in the car—a distraction. Municipalities tried to ban it fearing it was a driver attention hazard. Supporters of the ban argued that?many types of radio programming could put drivers to sleep. Surveys showed most Americans believed car radios were dangerous.

Oh the name was horrible: 7FT1.?Galvin came up with a new name that was both descriptive and synched with the times, Motorola. Partner William Lear went on the invent the Lear Jet.

Chevrolet installed the first reasonably priced Motorola radios in the early 1920’s.

The objections were overcome by an initiative of the Radio Manufacturers Association:?They argued that car radios actually helped people become better drivers. They pointed out that radios informed drivers about hazardous road conditions that lie ahead and weather conditions that may disrupt their travel. Supporters of car radios also said that radios actually helped to keep drivers awake when they became drowsy.

Conclusion: Are they nuts? A car can park itself but can’t handle an AM Radio, those tech challenges were solved in 1920—by the inventors of the Lear Jet and of your cell phone. Are manufacturers looking for a?“display allowance?” Satellite radio was launched by paying zillions for a slot in the dash, do carmakers want that?for AM radios??Forget the EAS which nobody has ever heard and wasn’t activated during 9/11 in New York City.?Weather, traffic, gospel, more gospel, compelling talk shows. (One Cleveland AM station runs the SAME Al Sharpton show from dusk Fridays till dawn Monday.) The better the shows, well, the better.

First published in TALKERS.COM

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