Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Today, in class, we're watching Part 1 of a documentary called "Empire of the Air." If you had any thoughts or comments about the film, during or after viewing, please post them here.

8 comments:

  1. It's a shame that none of these guys really get any serious credit for what they accomplished and how they have impacted technology. I had never heard of Armstrong before this documentary although someone said he was one of the most important inventors of the century. They both seemed to contribute in their own way but neither are remembered like Edison or Farnsworth are.

    Sarnoff, on the other hand, is much more well known because he was a businessman and knew the impact radio could have on the world. He did not invent anything but became president of one of the most powerful communications companies there is. Whether it is deserved or not, I find it interesting that those who lead the charge get a lot more credit than those who made it all possible.

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  2. I just can't imagine a world without media and information available that is able to be listened to. It's interesting to watch interviewers who are reading off a script near the camera. They're not as polished in comparison to those that we see today, thanks to projection technology, but the idea is still there.
    While watching this, it also makes it easier to more cohesively understand why the older generation of today finds the plethora of wireless technology available to be so amazing. It also provides insight as to why the patent system of today is so unorganized and behind the times.

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  3. I agree with Tim and I felt the same way about what we read in our book. I'm surprised that these guys continued to move forward with their inventions when they received no real credit. Although I have to ask myself- did they get the credit back then? And their name began to trail off as their inventions of the radio became more mainstream and more of a household item?
    Maybe we don't know about them because radio and long distance, wireless communication has become so every-day that we don't care so much about the groundbreaking men who came up with the idea.

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  4. -I work in radio, and I never thought about it in terms of just sound going through air, the phenomenon it actually is.
    -regeneration is the most important advance in the history of radio, interesting.
    -Sarnoff believing that we could bring music into American homes. We take this for granted! Listening to music while getting ready in the morning.
    -Applying for a patent is EVERYTHING

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  5. Empires of the Air illustrates in a digestible manner how three people helped radio become so great. With de Forest laying the groundwork, Armstrong making sounds travel more clearly and efficiently and Sarnoff bringing his big picture imagination and financial backing, all three inventors were key players in radio's history. Sarnoff, taking sound from one to many; Lee de Forest, transmitting music over radio waves every night; Armstrong, inventing regeneration.
    It is certainly interesting to see how all of the same dirty business that people do today existed in the fashion over a century ago.

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  6. What is radio means to me is the fact that it was really the first piece of technology that shrunk the perceived size of the United States, and the world for that matter. With a big invention like this, it really is a collaborative effort to create the final product. Everyone wants to take full credit for it, but in reality, everyone in the documentary contributed in a different way.

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  7. I find myself consistently amazed by the ingenuity of early inventors. To reiterate what has already been said, these men deserve to be way more famous and revered than what they are today. It's startling to think of where we are, in terms of broadcasting, since they opened the floodgates of sound into everyone's living room over a hundred years ago. It's also disconcerting to think of how prominent unimportant people are nowadays, while there are experts in every field pushing our society towards broader horizons and going unnoticed. Where's the love for scientists?

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  8. I'm actually stunned that so many people go unnoticed when it comes to technologies that help us sustain as a society today. It's amazing that getting a patent first is more important than creating the actual technology first, as long as you can eventually recreate it. When learning about the radio in a past journalism class, I heard of de Forest and Sarnoff, but not Armstrong. It's disturbing to know that original inventors and real fathers of technologies have disappeared in history and not given the credit they so rightfully deserve.

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