Throwback Thursday

Joe Grado hand-built phono cartridges in his BrookIyn home in the early 1950s and founded Grado Labs in 1953 when production exceeded the size of his kitchen table.

The beginnings of CEDIA date back to 1989 when a group of audio/video professionals who called themselves “custom installers” got together to formulate a plan to establish an industry group that would promote the interest of its members and offer professional training as well as a place to exchange ideas and exhibit new products. The Custom Electronic Design and Industry Association was borne out of those early meetings.

Just don’t tell Ken Pohlmann. Having recently proclaimed that Cassettes Are Not Making a Comeback, he’ll just laugh.

Common wisdom tells us that Hollywood is the birthplace of the motion picture industry but, no, the motion picture studio was born in New Jersey. That’s right, home of The Boss and Tony Soprano.

Radio may be considered passé by some but it has been a staple in the lives of Americans for nearly 100 years and will be around for many years to come. Ninety-three years ago this month, on the night of February 8, 1924, AT&T made history when it conducted the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast from a banquet hall in Chicago’s Congress Hotel.

Eight-four years ago this week, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, New Jersey.

Sixty-six years ago this week AT&T Bell Laboratories researchers John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley were granted a U.S. Patent for a device that would become a fundamental building block of modern electronics for decades to come—the transistor.