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Unique
among radio stations, WDRC has had only two owners during its entire
history.
Okay--FCC
files list more than two corporate entities, but the fact remains
that WDRC was founded in 1922 by Franklin M. Doolittle who headed
it until August 4, 1959 when the station was sold to Buckley-Jaeger
Broadcasting Corporation of Connecticut. John Jaeger later sold
his shares to Richard D. Buckley whose son, Richard D. Buckley,
Jr., heads the family corporation today.
Doolittle's
career and influence were remarkable - a true broadcast pioneer,
especially in the development of Frequency Modulation (FM). The
webmaster gratefully acknowledges the contributions from Mr. Doolittle's
son, John.
June
16, 1893
- Franklin M. Doolittle was born in New Haven, CT.
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1905
- Lee DeForest, "the father of modern radio," built
New Haven, Connecticut's first wireless transmitter at City
Point. Eleven-year-old Franklin M. Doolittle used to go there
to test his homemade receiver and spark-coil transmitter.
click
for New York Herald article, October 21, 1906
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| 1909-1915
- During school vacations, Doolittle worked as a shipboard radio
operator for the United Wireless Telegraph Company and American
Marconi Company.
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1912
- He joined the Institute of Radio Engineers.
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1917
- When World War I erupted, Doolittle attended the U.S. Naval
Academy at Annapolis, MD, and received a temporary commission
to serve on the battleship New Mexico. He served as communications
officer of the Fourth Squadron, Battleship Force 11 and at the
District Communications Office in New York City. |
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1919
- He started a small radio manufacturing business at 917 Chapel
Street in New Haven called Franklin M. Doolittle Company,
later incorporated as Doolittle Radio Corporation.
He built and sold radio receivers for $250-$300 (see photo
below).
click for Amplifone enlargement
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for 1922-23 tuner |
for Audimax |
for Decremeter
1919-25
- He taught at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, assisting
in undergraduate instruction and postgraduate instruction
of officers assigned to the Signal Corps.
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February
13, 1920 - The Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation
issued Doolittle a license for General Amateur radio station 1GAI.
He was authorized to broadcast from 167 Willard Street in New Haven
with 1kw of power on 200 meters.
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June
14, 1921
- Doolittle sold his federal patent application for "Sound
Recording and Sound Reproducing and Locating Apparatus"
to Radio Corporation of America (Serial #477,360).
click for enlargement
| November
12, 1921 - Doolittle broadcast the first football
game -Yale vs. Princeton - over his amateur radio station,
1GAI. New Haven Register sports editor Dan
Mulvey attended the game and described the play over a
telephone to Doolittle who was at home with his transmitter.
Doolittle repeated the information into his homemade microphone. |
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Click
for newspaper announcement | Click
for fan mail
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November,
1922 - Doolittle Radio Corporation applied for
a federal license for a "limited commercial land radio
station" based at 817 Chapel Street in New Haven.
December
10, 1922 - Above a shop at 115 Crown Street in
New Haven, Connecticut's first commercial radio station was
born: 10-watt WPAJ (360 meters/833 kilocycles). In
cramped quarters, Doolittle worked with engineer Italo A.
Martino and partner, Walter B. Haase. Doolittle was President
& Treasurer.
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March
13, 1923 - Since U.S. Commerce Department radio
licenses were only good for three months, WPAJ filed
for renewal. It specified its Beacon Hill antenna system was
"T-type" consisting of two 110-foot wooden masts
with a 105-foot horizontal part and 35-foot vertical part
described as "4 wire flat top 13' spreaders."
For an electrical ground, this mechanism was clamped to a
steam pipe.
Click
for enlargement
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1923
- The station shared a storefront on Chapel Street where Doolittle
sold his line of equipment, including radio receivers. Doolittle
sets sold for $250 to $300.
Click
on photos for enlargements
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| August
16, 1924 - The Federal Radio Commission opened a
three-month window for a nonrenewable authorization, permitting
Doolittle to experiment with two-channel broadcasting. Two transmitters
were used; the regular WPAJ at 268 meters (1120kc), and
227 meters (1320kc). |
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November
4, 1924 - Doolittle obtained U.S. Patent #1,513,973
for a "useful Improvement in Radiotelephony:"
"This
invention relates to a method of transmitting and receiving
radio telephonic impulses in such a manner as to evoke in
the mind of the listener substantially the same consciousness
of location of the source of the sound or sounds as he would
have obtained had he been personally present at the transmitting
station. An important application of my invention is to
the field of radio telephone broadcasting, the end in view
being to place the listener to a broadcasting program in
the same acoustical relation with the performance as though
he were present."
click
for enlarged diagram
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