The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast January 23, 1991

     The person who invented frequency modulation broadcasting and many other basic radio inventions that greatly improved the performance and quality of all kinds of radio communications was Major Edwin Howard Armstrong.
     Armstrong was a teenager in 1908 when he operated his amateur spark-gap transmitter and coherer receiver.  These coherer receivers were only effective on strong local signals so Armstrong experimented with some new ideas using vacuum tubes.  By 1912, he invented a radically new receiver.  He called it the regenerative detector and obtained his first patent.
     Armstrong and his friend at that time, David Sarnoff, demonstrated the regenerative receiver at the large commercial radio receiving station near Belmar, New Jersey (later Camp Evans) where it clearly outperformed the others of that time.  He was recognized for his inventive ability and became an instructor at Columbia University.
     During World War I, Armstrong made 49 flights in France to test the improved performance of military radios that he was working on at the time.  He was honored by the French government.
     After the war, Armstrong continued to experiment.  He invented the super-regenerative receiver for which he received $200,000 and a large quantity of RCA stock.  Then he invented the superheterodyne receiver.  The superheterodyne invention is no doubt used in all radio receivers since the 1920s.  If it's a radio or TV, you can be sure it uses the Armstrong superheterodyne principle.
     The 1920s and 30s were the golden years of amplitude modulation broadcasting, known as AM radio.  It is susceptible to static, electrical noise and is lacking in high fidelity.  Armstrong saw need for improvement and invented frequency modulation radio.  His invention suppressed the static and electrical noise while greatly improving the high fidelity.
     When Armstrong proposed to operate a FM broadcasting station, he was met with strong opposition from the vested interests in AM broadcasting.  This went on in costly litigation for years.  Finally, in 1939, the FCC issued a license for Armstrong to operate a FM station in Alpine, New Jersey at approximately 50 megahertz.  Soon a few more stations sprang up around the country.
    Two years later, World War II started and manufacturing of broadcast radio ceased.  It was not until five years later that America made more radios.  In the meantime, the Armstrong FM system was used by our Armed Forces in World War II with great success.
     After the war, the FCC reallocated the FM band to the 88 to 108 megahertz band causing more problems.  Armstrong was frustrated with the costly delays and litigations, became very discouraged and died tragically in February, 1954.  But Major Edwin Howard Armstrong, the father of FM radio, left us all a legacy that we freely enjoy - noise-free, high fidelity radio.

January 23, 1991

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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