Happy New Year from the Nation’s Capital.
Only 361 days until the new millennium, at which
time we will get to see if the millennium bug-also known as Y2K-really is a problem. But instead of looking ahead to
future nightmares (not to mention an impeachment trial), how about looking back to key events wireless has taken part
in during the century.
The first decade of the Wireless Century actually began 13 years before this century, in May
1887, when Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated sound could travel through the airwaves. Marconi established the
Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company Ltd. in 1897, changing the name to the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company
Ltd. in 1899. Marconi, the father of the Wireless Century, closed out the first decade in 1909 by jointly receiving the
Nobel Prize for Physics with C.S. Braun.
April 1912 saw the sinking of the Titanic. One of the most poignant
moments in all of the films (and I have seen more than just the recent Oscar winner) is the wireless officer-also known
as the Marconi officer-vainly attempting to get help to the location.
As the Wireless Century continued and wireless
technology improved, Congress (of course) realized it needed to get into the game so it passed the Radio
Communications Act of 1927, which later became the Communications Act of 1934, and called for the creation of a
Federal Communications Commission. If some members of Congress-Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.), and Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) to name a few-have their way, this institution could be gone by
Y2K.
Wireless technology was used extensively in World War II. The courageous Navajo tribe was able to help in
the war effort by using their native tongue to transmit messages the Japanese could not understand over the
airwaves.
The 1960s saw many wireless connections, but the one that first comes to mind is the advent of space
travel. Through use of wireless technology, we were able to talk to our heroes and marvel at the conquering of the last
frontier.
Sometime in the 1970s, cellular telephones were thought to become a reality. I never would have guessed
that watching Charlie’s Angels talk on car phones would lead me to cover an industry dedicated to just those phones.
And if my recent trip to Disney World (Epcot to be specific) is to be believed, soon, I will be able to have a watch
phone. Again, who would have thought …
