Dr. Ernst F.W. Alexanderson --
THE FATHER OF RADIO AND TELEVISION
by George Michael

The Gavel’s editor, Kathy Greer, learned that in another life, your writer, though best known in the antiques world since 1950, had a background in radio and TV - and is a historian in this field. The radio days started in 1939 in Portsmouth, NH, thence to Boston the following year. Many experiences could be recounted, such as the Sunday afternoon when at WORL, a strangely dressed lady appeared saying she was ready for her interview. There was no notice of this on the program schedule, but your writer put her at ease and talked with her for about 10 minutes before interrupting a record program to introduce her. I asked her name again, to make sure the introduction was proper - she said, “Of course, I am Baroness Maria Von Trapp.” I must admit she did not resemble Julie Andrews, but she was a lovely lady.
   After my military service during the war, I was discharged from the Royal Canadian Corp of Engineers in May of 1945 and went to work for General Electric in Schenectady, NY. This was any broadcaster’s dream. We had one of the four experimental TV stations in the country (TV was not approved and did not spread until 1948). Also, we had the second commercial FM station in the country. GE had built WBCA for the inventor of FM, Edwin Armstrong, in Schenectady and GE built the second station, WGFM. Added to this was the 5OKW (kilowatt) AM station which is heard all over the country, as it is clear channel. In 1945 I was doing remotes with a specially built wire recorder -- the only one in the country good enough for this work. The tapes did not appear until 1947. Also, the 45 RPM and LPs made their appearance in 1947. Many stories could be told about these early days.
   However, the most important involved Ernst F.W. Alexanderson, who came from Sweden to work under the genius, Charles Steinmetz, in 1904. At the time, Reginald Fessenden had been experimenting with a system to broadcast the voice over the airwaves. Until then, only Morse code could be transmitted. He sought GE’s help and Steinmetz assigned Alexanderson to lick the problem. He did, by creating the high frequency alternator which sent out a carrier on which the voice could be carried. Fessenden set up the alternator at Brant Rock in Massachusetts and on Christmas eve, 1906, a Morse code signal was sent out to stand by for a special event. All the ships at sea were equipped with radio and the operators were astounded to hear a man talking. Then, a woman sang - news was read and a violin solo completed the program. This was the first radio broadcast in history. Alexanderson made it possible.
We have all heard the name Marconi, but his transmissions were in Morse code. DeForest is often credited with inventing radio, but this is not true. He did invent the first vacuum tube, which Alexanderson immediately used to create the first tube transmitter. By 1915, GE engineers were conversing between Schenectady, NY and Pittsfield, MA on a daily basis.
   In 1947, WGY celebrated its 25th anniversary. I was appointed to interview Dr. Alexanderson for a half hour, coast to coast on NBC. It took but a few minutes to realize that I was in the presence of the greatest giant in the industry. He was third in inventions in the electronics field, only behind Edison and Elihu Thompson, who had joined forces to create General Electric. He put WGY on the air in 1922 and wrote to Dr. W.R.G. Baker, the head of the research laboratory, that he was ready to proceed with television transmissions the following year. I researched his papers at the Shaffer Library at Union College in Schenectady, to confirm everything he told me, while learning more about his work. In 1928, he put WRGB on the air and broadcast a two hour play with a full cast. GE had placed about 300 sets in homes of executives, politicians, etc., for this event. Many had experimented with TV, but Alexanderson put the first station on the air.
   In 1928, Alexanderson microwaved Al Smith’s inauguration as governor from the steps of the State House to the transmitter atop the Heilderberg Mountains. How about being the inventor of microwave technology, which made coast to coast TV possible in 1948 and opened the country up for the telephone companies. In 1928, he went aboard a plane and transmitted a signal from one wing and received it on an antenna in the other wing. He wanted to develop a better altimeter for the aviation industry, which was limited to knowing elevation from sea level and not from ground level. He went before an aviation group to explain that he could do this, by bouncing radio signals, but they were not interested. However, the ears of the English and Germans perked up and radar was born, based on his calculations.
For kicks, Alexanderson transmitted a letter to his father in Sweden on June 5, 1925, via shortwave radio, which he perfected for GE. It was the first facsimile - so next time you use your fax machine, you can remember the man who made it possible. On May 22, 1930, he transmitted a TV signal from two locations in Schenectady to the Proctor Theatre, with symphony orchestra, etc., - unique, in that the image on the screen was in color.
I could go on relating his inventions, but it would take more pages than I am sure our editor would allow. However, I must relate how prophetic the man was. He developed the laser beam technology and used to go to schools to demonstrate it. He would set up a receiver on one side of the stage and an amplifier on the other. He would send the signal from the receiver via a laser beam to the amplifier.
   By interrupting the beam with his hand, he stopped the transmission from one to the other. He stated in our interview that in the foreseeable future, everything would be done through the air - we would live in wireless communities. He felt that even electricity would come into our homes through the air, via laser beam. I don't know if he ever envisioned how clairvoyant he was. If he could see the satellite systems, computers, palm pilots, wrist TV’s and radios, remote TV controls, wireless telephones, the world wide Iridium system (though not successful), and a host of other inventions, I think it would have astounded even him. He proposed a flying bomb with a TV camera in its nose, so it could be directed to a target. This was back in the 1920s, but we did not see its use until the Gulf War. He developed the radio controlled gun turrets for our battleships in World War II. He developed the rotating turrets for our machine guns aboard the bombers in that war. He invented a telephone system so engineers on trains, meeting, traveling in opposite directions, could converse. He built the first shortwave station at Riverhead in Long Island with antennas 10 miles long. Meeting and talking with Dr. Alexanderson was the highlight of my entire career.

About the author: Antiques Columnist George Michael was awarded the Old Timer’s Bulletin Award in 1996 from the American Wireless Association, for the best writing of the year. The AWA maintains a museum of radio and TV history in Bloomfield, NY. George Michael has interviewed many notables over the years, including Vincent Schaffer. In 1945, Schaffer was the first to “seed” clouds with iodide crystals to result in rain (the old “rain-making” days). George Michael relayed to us that this became an international incident as farmers wanted the procedure done for their crops during dry times, but others in the recreation industry didn’t and fought the idea… perhaps we can prevail upon George to write more of his “recollections” for a future issue. You can email George Michael at gitius@aol.com
 

Dr. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, General Electric communications pioneer, inspects one of the high-frequency alternators that gave America its start in the field of radio communication. This alternator, one of several designed by him from 1905 to 1920, was used to send transatlantic radio-telegraph messages from the Rocky Point, Long Island, station of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). This photograph was taken in 1922.

Dr. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, General Electric pioneer in radio and television, and an associate examine the equipment used in the first large screen television projection system, demonstrated on May 22, 1930, at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, N.Y. This television system employed a mechanical scanning disk, a predecessor to present electronic TV systems.

Dr. Alexanderson is shown here with a General Electric television set of the 1920s. Transmitting pictures via what we call television today originated with Dr. Alexanderson, who wrote to the General Electric Research Laboratory that he was ready for commercial transmission of pictures via TV in 1923. Radio had barely come on the air, and he was advised to wait a few years. Regular transmission began in 1925.

A pioneering General Electric radio and television engineer, Dr. Alexanderson is shown here with S. P. Nixdorff, demonstrating a radio-echo altimeter in a 1929 airborne test. The altimeter, based on Alexanderson’s unexpected discovery in 1928 that reflected radio waves can form a standing wave between an airplane and the ground, was one of the first practical applications of the reflecting properties of radio waves.

This handwritten facsimile greeting was sent from Dr. Alexanderson. to his father in Sweden on June 5, 1924. It was the first facsimile (FAX) message to be sent by radio across the Atlantic Ocean.